This year’s substack is dedicated to celebrating my 40th year in Italy and my 70th on this crazy place called Earth. I feel so blessed to be living my life in Italy.
I come from an international backround on my mom’s side. Her mom was Ukrainian, but born in Tblisi, Georgia. Her family moved to Shanghai where she met my grandfather. His mom was British and his father was Turkish. He was born in France and then after his dad died when he was 3, they moved to Istanbul ( then Constantinopoli) and then to Texas.
My grandparents met and married in Shanghai. My mom was raised there with her brother until she was 14. My mother encouraged me to travel and was happy I was living here. It also gave her a reason to come and visit for long stays in Florence.
Welcome to my story.
Celebrating the big 70
I have always preferred experiences to gifts. I would rather not buy anything if it means I can take a trip somewhere. To celebrate my 70th, a simple day trip called a zingarata, to the sea. I plan on celebrating all year with these short trips and meeting up with friends.
We headed to a favorite town, Livorno, where we could arrive by train.
I grew up in California and lived in San Francisco for seven years before moving to Italy. When I lived in San Francisco, I could hop on a cable car after work and be at the bay. Taking deep breaths down near the sea is so relaxing.
Sea air, which contains iodine, salt, and magnesium, encourages respiratory health and can reduce the symptoms of asthma, promote respiratory health, improve allergies and skin problems, and stimulate the immune system
I dream to live by the sea for part of the year, and Livorno is on the list of possible places. Yesterday, we wanted to sit at Piazza Mascagni and eat at a smaller local trattoria. The Piazza is like an optical illusion with the black and white pavement. The weather had been weird; it had just rained in the morning when we boarded the train, but when we arrived, the clouds had blown away, leaving this beautiful blue sky.
Our friend Alberto met us in Livorno and was our cicerone—guide. He is from Florence but bought a place in Livorno to spend weekends and eventually move when he retires.
He met us at the train station and led the way.
He had planned where we would eat lunch based on our requests for a simple local trattoria and Cacciucco, the local specialty.
There is the official version with the five fish; there are five c’s in the name. We have attended Cacciucco Pride, a festival where the restaurants celebrate the classic recipe. There are as many versions of cacciucco as there are cooks; that is a classic. I prefer it made without the whole bone-in fish. I use squid, cuttlefish, octopus, palombo ( a type of small shark), prawns, and mussels.
My husband, Andrea, adored this version. It had a nice thick sauce like the one his Aunt made. I was lucky enough to cook with her several times and have a few of her recipes.
Andrea spent his summers down in Cecina, on the Tuscan coast. His Aunt had a restaurant, and then the family would go down and help. His job was selling freshly fried donuts on the beach with his brother. Not bad!
Other similarities? San Francisco has Irish Coffee. Livorno has Ponce alla Livornese.
I was gifted a bottle of the liquore they use to make the Ponce. It’s not a simple rum but rather a special recipe with some spices.
This bottle is the only “ponce” still made in the city of Livorno. Note: it’s 40% alcohol.
It’s made in this short glass called a “gottino”.
The lemon zest is called the “vela”, a sail.
You add sugar and lemon zest to the glass with the ponce. It’s then heated to boiling with the espresso machine steamer. The ponce is half the glass.
Then, the espresso is added and stirred.
Drink hot.
There are other versions with other liquor, but this is the classic.
They also had a large jar on the bar filled with sugar cubes and spices.
I have only seen this in two other places. They are boozy spiked sugar cubes!
They simply brought it in a glass, I thought you would put it in your coffee, but my friends just ate it!
Livorno has a beautiful market, opened in 1894. It’s one of my favorite markets.
This map was printed on the paper my cheese was wrapped in. It shows how the old center of Livorno is islands.
There is a part of Livorno called “Venezia”. There are canals you can take a small boat tour from the port. I think it is a great way to see the city from a really special view.
Just in front of the mercato is this tiny shop with no sign. It is Gagarin. They make the famous chickpea flour crepe, baked in the oven. You can order as is or in a panino.
It is called Torta di Ceci.
In Florence it is called Cecina other towns it’s called Farinata. Names in different regions make it complicated. The same dish in Nice, is called Socca.
Traditionally, people would order a 5 e 5, 5 lira of bread and 5 lira of torta.
This is the panino today. They also sell it with grilled marinated eggplant slices.
The plain cecina, served in slices always topped with ground pepper.
If you want eggplant ( melanzane) you have to ask! Understood?
The cecina is baked in these large copper pans in really hot ovens. The batter is ground chickpea flour and water.
I wrote it up on my blog years ago with various ideas from versions I have had around Italy.
As my birthday gift to everyone, I am opening the recipes to everyone this week.
The recipes are usually part of the paid subscribers section. If you become a paid subscriber, you have access to all the archives, as well as the Markets of Italy maps and guides I created.
Here is my Video and recipe for Cacciucco as well.
This video is with my husband’s good friend Daniele Trambusti, who is an actor and musician.
Buo
Buon Livorno!
So many cruise ships dock here and everyone takes off to Florence or Chianti. Livorno is worth a stop.
Happy birthday, Judy, and I love that you're in Livorno. Do you know why it's called Leghorn in English? (That's not a trick question, I really want to know!)
Happy Birthday! May you have many more.