I often asked myself which territory I belong to: in Genoa, by birth, roots, family, or in Milan for work, children, home, habits. A half-life, with some doubt of not belonging to anyone. But what happened in Genoa this summer has removed long-suppressed emotions. Other reasons have forced me to return to my hometown for an unusually long time, used as I am on my way and back in the day. So I plunged back into those smells, that light, those streets, those habits, those offices, those voices that used to be, I took the same buses thirty years ago, I saw people I had forgotten and places that I had deleted from memory e I met a book, (meet is the right verb) that has opened my heart to the most tormenting nostalgia.
I got lost in Genoa by Maurizio Maggiani (published by Feltrinelli), has a subtitle as a guide, but it is not, at least in the classic sense of the term. It's, an intense love story by the writer La Spezia against the Ligurian capital known as a child and frequented throughout life. It is a lesson of feelings for me that, to live the second part of life, I tried to forget the first, a guide to the soul of the city, to its deepest guts, its difficulties and its beauties, a declaration of unconditional love that is not made for tourists, the result of a knowledge that I envied and that I would have for both my cities.
Yes, because if now I understand the essence of this intense affection, I also know that, unlike Maggiani, I can not make it absolute because my roots are in Milan. And this is where I will taste Genoese meat ravioli, typical once of Santo Stefano and Carnevale. The ingredients of this recipe are not easy to find, but the result is superb. For a simpler version, you can try the recipe of my sister-in-law Angela, a Genoese doc and a lover of good food. However, one or the other are excellent for enjoying a corner of my land in my other land. A bit like Giano Bifronte.
ON SALE & PEPPER IN NOVEMBER, YOU WILL FIND ALSO
Pasta and mushrooms
Fruits for vegetables
Autumn in a quiche