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Informazioni di contatto, mappa e indicazioni stradali, modulo di contatto, orari di apertura, servizi, valutazioni, foto, video e annunci di Numenvia, Organizzazione viaggi, Irsina.

27/08/2026

Recipe and story by Carol Turturro. Carol lives in New York; her family is from Giovinazzo, Puglia.

She writes:

“The aroma of this recipe says Christmas to me more than any other.

I was my mother's assistant and pupil. She'd tell me stories of how my grandfather grew almonds in Italy while I'd watch in eager anticipation as she stirred the nut mixture, never believing that the sugar would crystallize and then glaze over all of the almonds. And then, magically, every year, it did. My job was to shower the freshly-cooked nuts with colorful candy sprinkles. (Now that task has fallen to my daughter, Sophia.)

Unfortunately, over the years, my American family experienced a diaspora of our own, with family dispersed throughout the country from New York to California, Florida to Pennsylvania.

But, every year when I make this recipe, I'm back at my childhood Christmas table, surrounded by those I love most.”

For Carol’s recipe, comment 'torrone.'

The Bitter Honey Project gathers recipes and stories of the Italian diaspora.

Have a recipe you want to share? DM me!

Thanks for watching. -Giuditta

26/08/2026

Fave e cicoria — dandelion greens with fava beans — was the first dish Adele's mother Anna ever cooked, when she was five, at her nonna's farm outside Pisticci.

Adelina was born after her mother emigrated to Toronto. When her family moved from Little Italy to Toronto’s suburbs, classmates called her 'w*p,' so she changed her name to Adele. Foraging for dandelion greens from vacant lots with her parents made Adele ashamed—and she dreaded her mother's fave e cicoria!

Then Adele grew up and dandelion greens become her comfort food.

Anna died in March 2025. Cooking was what she and Adele talked about at the end, when her dementia made conversation challenging.

Adele Newton is retired from a career in technology and is writing a cookbook about the food and women of Basilicata. You can read more about her at her Substack, Dandelion Greens.

The Bitter Honey Project gathers recipes and stories of the Italian diaspora. For Anna's recipe, and the beautiful story Adele wrote about it, comment 'dandelion'.

Have a recipe of your own you want to share? comment 'diaspora'!

Thanks for watching. -Giuditta

All photos and videos are by Adele and Giuditta, except the dandelion field which is by Andréa Villiers on Unsplash

14/08/2026

My grandmother died in February 2016. I moved to Oregon later that year. But I found my way back—I now organize tours to Tuscany and Basilicata.

For a copy of her seadas recipe, comment “seadas.”

This post is the first in the Bitter Honey project, collecting the recipes and stories of the women and men of the Italian diaspora carried across the water. Have a recipe or story you want to share? Comment or DM me, and I’ll help you tell it.

Check out the link in bio for more about Bitter Honey.

Thank you for watching.

21/07/2026

Podere le Fornaci, in the Chianti hills. Valentina and Nicolò run an intentionally small herd of Camosciata goats, each with a name, and make raw-milk cheese. I love the quiet of the farm. And the goats are adorable! Come learn how to make cheese—and sit and laugh at their table.

It's less than an hour from Florence.

For Valentina’s story, see link in bio.

Podere Le Fornaci

21/07/2026

Donati’s words bring tears to my eyes. Here’s the full passage (I adapted it). She starts by quoting from Emanuele Trevi’s Due vite:

“We live two lives, both destined to end: the first is our physical life, blood and breath; the second is the life we live in the minds of those who loved us. And when the last person we were close with also dies, well that is when we truly dissolve.”

But for Donati, memories also live on in the places we lived. She continues:

“A village, however, can preserve memories even longer, because actions get snagged in the cobblestones, the fields, the woods.”

17/07/2026

Castelmezzano, Basilicata — a village clinging to the spires of the Dolomiti Lucane.

It’s exactly the beautiful, quaint mountain village you expect from Italy, with narrow cobbled streets nestled against the raw rock. But don’t visit just for the scenery. Pina Caruso sells her gelato from a tiny shop. Her Acheruntino gelato is made with local cream, cooked wine, almonds, and toasted Matera breadcrumbs—and it took first place at the Gelato Festival World Masters. If you can, come when she’s there herself. She’s one of the most genuine — and generous — women I’ve met.

This area has been inhabited for at least 2,500 years. The Normans built a castle around the 12th century, and bandits roamed the streets in the 19th. If you’re adventurous, try the Volo dell'Angelo, a zip line that connects Castelmezzano with Pietrapertosa across a 400-meter-deep gorge. If you’d like to do the same journey at a much more leisurely pace, try the Percorso delle Sette Pietre, an artistic walking route.

What are your favorite places in Italy—that most people don't know about?

Gelateria Caruso Volo dell'angelo

16/07/2026

That’s me on the main street of Craco, Basilicata.

Those walls look solid, but Craco has been uninhabitable since the landslide of 1963. That red helmet is mandatory—the rocks move.

Craco is one of the most filmed ghost towns in the world. You can see it in Quantum of Solace and the Passion of the Christ. But what draws me here isn’t the fallen walls—it’s the story of the Crachesi, the people of Craco. Long before the walls tumbled, they were going over the sea to New York, escaping the terrible poverty in Italy’s South. The Crachesi helped build America, and they took their culture with them.

Joe Rinaldi, the president of the Craco Society, spent his first years in a house up the street behind me. His family moved over the sea, but they took Craco with them. In his own words:

“inside our home, Craco lived on. In spring we celebrated Easter with roasted lamb and homemade taralli. In summer my father planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cicorie, parsley, and basil.. In the fall we made wine. At Christmas, seafood filled our table on Christmas Eve, followed by savory zeppole and sweet chestnut-filled pastries... Through these rituals, my parents ensured that although we had left Craco physically, Craco never left us.”

for more about Craco, see link in bio.

Did your family come over the sea? Tell me a little of their story!

The Craco Society Page

15/07/2026

This isn’t a story about the ruined walls of a ghost town. It’s about the people of Craco, the proud Crachesi who carried their saint and their customs wherever they went.

I shot the video and images of Craco in October 2025. The archival photographs show immigrants crowded onto a steamship bound for America, a seamstress in New York, and worker building the New York subway around 1900.

The Società San Vincenzo Martire di Craco was founded in New York in 1899; the banner was made the next year.

Joe Rinaldi is the current president of its successor, the Craco Society (The Craco Society Page). The quotations are from a letter he wrote to be read during our April tour, in front of his house. Here's the full passage:

"But inside our home, Craco lived on. In spring we celebrated Easter with roasted lamb and home made taralli. In summer my father planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cicorie, parsley, and basil. My mother preserved tomato paste for the winter. In the fall we made wine. At Christmas, seafood filled our table on Christmas Eve, followed by savory zeppole and sweet chestnut-filled pastries. In January, there was salami and pancetta. Through these rituals, my parents ensured that although we had left Craco physically, Craco never left us."

For more about Craco, and to read Joe's full letter, see link in bio.

PS: that's Adele Newton and me in red hard hats in Craco.

09/07/2026

I’m from Florence—I love Basilicata, in Italy’s deep south. The generous people who insisted that I shouldn’t pay. The stark, eroded badlands, the sharp peaks.

The opening shots are of the ghost town of Craco, Matera, the Lucanian Calanchi (badlands), and the mountain village of Castelmezzano.

The Sassi of Matera (caves carved into the stone) have been inhabited for nine thousand years.

That’s Mariantonietta Vaccaro’s father calling the Podolica cows at Podolico Reale

Adele Newton is talking to Rosetta in Pisticci. Rosetta isn’t quite sure how old she is 🙂

Elena Fucci chose to stay to tend her family’s vineyards on the slopes of the volcano, Monte Vulture. Her Aglianico has received Gambero Rosso's Tre Bicchieri award over 15 times. Azienda Agricola Elena Fucci

Pina Caruso serves her gelato herself. Her Acheruntino is made with local cream, cooked wine, almonds, and toasted Matera breadcrumbs. It took first place at the Gelato Festival World Masters. Gelateria Caruso

Andrea Subetti bought Mantenera in 2014. The olive grove contains the patriarch, a massive olive tree planted around 1640. Azienda Agricola Mantenera

The final shots are of Matera at dusk, and Craco in the golden light of early evening.

I could only fit the first part of the Pavese quote. It continues:

"Having a village means not being alone—knowing that in the people, in the plants, in the earth, there is something of yours, that even when you’re not there, it stays and waits for you."

Putting together this story really moved me—the stubborn Lucani boarding the boats with nothing, building new lives in America, while never forgetting their saints or their villages. And now they're building a new Basilicata.

For more about Basilicata—including our October tour—see link in bio.

07/07/2026

Pamela Sheldon Johns made Tuscany home thirty years ago. She literally wrote the book on cucina povera—Tuscan peasant cuisine. Poggio Etrusco

We spend the day with her in our Val d'Orcia tour.

Indirizzo

Irsina

Sito Web

https://numenvia.com/, https://letter.numenvia.com/, https://numenvia.com/bitter-honey

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