An Interesting Car Month in Milan.

First, I caught sight of a very sleek matt-black Maserati down in the centre, only to learn afterwards that it is one of a kind and belongs to none other than Lapo Elkann who is one of the Fiat clan. Presumably Lapo was at the helm. The car was being driven rather briskly too, I might add.

Next, down by the Castello, I espied what may well turn out to be the farmers’ supercar, and distant relation of the humble tractor. Well, they are both diesel powered, or rather can be. This car, you see, was the stunning Audi R8, which has also been built with a fire breathing diesel engine. However I don’t think was the agricultural version of this particular supercar, but it did sport German licence plates. Didn’t sound like a tractor anyway.

And, then, I saw the new Jaguar XF in a showroom near to where this non-supercar driving English teacher catches his bus. Now, how can I put this, well, this new Jag looks an awful lot like a Lexus. Not a problem you might be heard to utter. No, but for the fact that I’ve always considered that most of Toyota’s finest look extremely bland. The white paint work of this particular one did not seem to do it any favours either.

Although my rather party pooping observation may delude you, by all accounts it is a very good car, at least Top Gear thought so. Still a shame it looks like a Lexus though.

For a rather more jazzy presentation of this new Jaguar, unless you are epileptic (the flashing of the flash presentation is a wee bit overwhelming…), click here and select the country where you find yourself.

Last, but by no means least, while we were coming back from our meal out last night, we followed a stretch-Hummer limo. Now, if you know what a Hummer is, you will know that these leviathans of the road are anything but small when they are the normal versions, but this thing was gargantuan. It must have been at least 10 metres long. Just the thing for the Fiat Panda sized parking spaces that are, more often than not, on offer in Milan.

Just to cap things off, this giant of the road appeared to have, as far as I could make out through the blacked out windows, those constantly colour changing fibre optic type lights beloved of Christmas trees affixed to the inside of the roof. Very nice, especially if you wish to convey the impression that you are a high-powered New York pimp (on holiday in Milan), I suppose.

What an interesting car-month February turned out to be.

Chaos in Part of Milan this Morning

When I got to the business school in the Fiera area of Milan this morning, at around 9, I found just about all the classrooms deserted. Oops, I’ve arrived far too early, I thought. I checked the time, and it was indeed around 9, on both my trusty mobiles.

Very odd. I had noticed that the traffic was a little heavier than normal, but this happens from time to time, and whenever there is an accident somewhere or other in Milan.

In an effort to understand just what had happened I asked the two or so staff who had made it into work, and was told that the red underground line had been having some problems.

The knock-on effect was incredible, with many of the students, and I imagine many office workers, not managing to arrive much before 10, and other students continued to drift in throughout the morning, even if a few did give up the struggle and return home. A couple of people I met had had to walk a mile or so to get to work. Total chaos.

The disruption of this single line managed reverberate enough to bring just about the whole of this usually fast moving area of Milan to a virtual standstill for more or less a whole morning.

Very strange. A funny start to a Friday if ever there was one.

Celanto a settembre, Milan – a great little restaurant

We went out this evening with some friends, and they took us to an interesting restaurant which, it has to be said, is a little out on a limb. This is something of a shame because the place has a nice relaxed atmosphere, and more importantly, great food and wine. Our friends had already been there a couple of times, and on both previous occasions, the restaurant had been virtually empty. What a great shame.

This restaurant, which is modern in style and attractively decorated in white, as you will see from the photos on the site, is called ‘Celanto a settembre‘ and is located about 10 minutes by car from Piazza Loretto in Via Teodosio, 102, Milan. There is a map here – click on ‘Dove Siamo’. For some reason, I cannot see the photos when I access the site via Firefox, whereas by using IE7, I can see them in all their glory…

Although the food served in the Celanto a settembre is based on Italian cuisine, it is not traditional Italian cooking, but it is this touch of originality which made it so fascinating for me, plus the fact that the food was excellent, and the standard of presentation of the dishes being very high indeed. The service was good too, but seeing as we were almost the only people in the place, this was to be expected.

Now to the good part. After starting off with a couple of glasses of a very nice Portuguese white, I ordered a ‘Gelato di parmigiano con pere e uva’, which was parmesan ice cream (really!) with pear and grapes, and it was very good. My other half, Cristina, and friend, Sergio, had ‘Timballo di spada con crema di melanzane’ – a sort of mini-flan made with swordfish and served with cream of aubergine, again very tasty. Giorgia, our other friend, opted for the ‘Timballo di carciofi pecorino e bottarga’, which again was a type of flan, only this time with artichoke, pecorino cheese, and ‘bottarga’, which was thin slices of what I think is smoked tuna fish. It too tasted as good as it looked.

The starter was followed by a first course of Spaghetti with prawns, squid, and clams, served with dwarf tomatoes and spinach shoots, which Giorgia went for. My other half ordered Gnocchi stuffed with baccala, again with dwarf tomatoes and clams. The presentation was lovely and the taste did not disappoint either.

The guys, Sergio and myself, instead chose a main course of the intriguing squid stuffed with sea bass and artichoke, all on a bed of stir fried artichoke and served with scampi. Wonderful. The first and main courses where served together, so no waiting around while someone finishes the first course before the main course is served.

For pudding my other half went for the ‘Crema Catalana’, which is an oven cooked cream dish, whereas Giorgia got the hot chocolate tart which came with a pineapple and rosemary sauce. Instead I chose a more traditional chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce. The desserts where superb too.

Wine? Oddly enough we went for a red with all the fish, and the owner recommended a bottle of wine from the Alto Adige (Trento) area, and it was an excellent, quite light, red, a 2002 Sass Roà, Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact one of the other attractions of this restaurant is the very extensive selection of wines on offer. Over 400 of them in fact!

The price of all this goodness? Just over 200 Euros (about £30 a head) for the four of us, however we did have a bottle and a half of wine and the red we went for was not the cheapest the house had to offer.

The Celanto a settembre is open at lunchtimes and stays open until midnight during the week, although it is closed on Saturday lunchtimes and all day Sunday. They do, however, accept orders for private parties on Saturday lunchtimes and on Sundays at lunch and dinner time, if requested. I don’t know if English or other languages are spoken, but I’m going to ask them for some photos, so I’ll update this post when I find out.

Would I recommend this place? 100% yes. The food is fabulous and the menu is highly original. Everything is prepared by the owner, Carlo. It’s just a slight shame it is a little off the beaten track, although a tram does pass right in front of it. But, I think it is well worth, as is often the case, moving off the beaten track to check it out.

Good food, good wine and good company, which all added up to a lovely evening. What more can you ask?

Cefalu

I dug this little video up on You Tube, and yes, I am thinking about holidays. By the way, if you did not know, Cefalu is down in Montalbano country, otherwise know as sunny Sicily.

My, it looks as though it is a quiet little spot.

And here is another, longer video tour of Cefalu, with titles, so you know what you are looking at. No narration this time, only some soothing music.

I Blame Di for this silliness!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:

Emperor Alexander the Paragon of Fishkill St Wednesday

Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Cheers Di for excavating this from the worldly wonderful web!

The Innovative Mr Alberico and his Sports Centre

Here is another story of a ‘Good Italian Thing’ that I discovered while starting a new English course last week which is tied to a part-time master in Sports Business Management. As you might expect, many of the participants are ex-sportsmen and women, and they are a fascinating bunch of people too.

A Chat With a Student

Well, after a lesson, I had a chat with one of the participants, one Donato Alberico, who it turned out is the director of a sports complex down in the deep south, and also happens to be an ex-national Italian tennis champion to boot. Mr Alberico told me a little about the sports centre he runs.

Running Costs

This centre is the Centro Sportivo Meridionale in San Pietro al Tanagro, and can be found some 80 kilometres to the south of Salerno (map) near Naples. The Centro Sportivo Meridionale has only quite recently, I understand, been brought back into service, in fact, the sports centre had been badly damaged by an earthquake.

However, although the centre is up and running, the problem appears to be keeping the 150,000 square metre complex going due to the high running costs it incurs. The covered swimming pool for example, which was recently refurbished, costs a small fortune to heat. And although the enterprising management have managed to obtain some sponsorship and finance, there never seems to be quite enough to keep the place running, and, more importantly, expanding.

Unfortunately, and in part due to indirect funding difficulties, the facilities that this complex offers are not yet fully exploited, despite demand for them being high. Part of the problem appears to be the cash strapped local schools, which although they would be more than happy to use all the centre has on offer, cannot send groups of pupils to swim and play tennis etc simply because the local authorities cannot afford to make the overtime payments to the teaching staff who are required to supervise the excursions to the sports centre. If the sports centre could possibly pay the teachers directly, then that might encourage the schools to use the centre more.

An Innovative Solution

Notwithstanding these odd indirect funding problems, the non-profit organisation, Meta SPA (the site is in Italian), which manages the complex, has been actively attempting to develop other non-sports related income streams, and, the student of mine is doing the Sports Business Management Master in order to understand better how to run and raise funds for the centre. But prior to doing the master, Mr Alberico and his team were not simply swinging their heels. Oh no.

The Centro Sportivo Meridionale also functions as a form of management training school and has been working with a similar organisation from business school infested Milan to develop the Centro Sportivo into a sort of business school of the south.

The Centro currently runs around 14 post graduation master type courses which have a distinctly practical orientation, and this should help stimulate business in that area of southern Italy, and, may prevent, in some small way, the South-North brain-drain that is taking place. At present new graduates, who wish to undertake a little practical training in order to prepare themselves for the world of work, usually end up in Milan or Rome. And the main reason for this is the lack of business schools down in the areas of southern Italy they come from.

Enhancing Prospects for South Italy

Mr Alberico and his staff are doing something that is potentially extremely worthwhile for the under-resourced and undervalued south of Italy. However, what the centre needs for both its sports and training activities is more exposure, and, with a little luck some financial assistance. Hence my reason for writing. It’s only a small contribution, I know, but any contribution is better than none at all.

Support this Cause!

So, if by any chance, you my kind reader, happen to be an Italian or of Italian origin and are resident abroad. Maybe you have been treated well by life, and maybe you would like to do something to help out the ‘old’ country. Then, I cannot think of a more worthwhile cause.

Do not hesitate to drop me a line, and I’ll see about putting you in touch with the innovative Mr Alberico, who, by the way, has no idea that I am writing this, and I hope that he won’t object. Don’t worry, I’ll tell him the next time I see him.

Not that I think you will, but please don’t offer to send me donations and the like.