Given the pandemic, and travel restrictions, our trip to Venice is on hold for the moment. However, let's take an imaginary trip to Venice and indulge in some of the amazing cultural and cookery delights of La Serenessima.
Alla Mattina - first thing in the morning
Let's start with tailored morning routine and breakfast alla Veneziana. Go to your Web Radio and switch on Radio Venezia or if you prefer classical music, Venice Classic.
Start your coffee preparation with your Caffettiera or make a strong Espresso in your Espresso Machine. Indulge in a heated up Cornetto or small croissant (recipe below).
If you want to be authentic, use a fabulous quality coffee which Venetians prefer, such as Caffee Afribon from the Laboratorio di Torrefazione Giamaica Caffè. It is one of Italy’s premier artisan coffee roasters. This artisan roaster from Verona has been roasting coffee since 1947, and continues to use its original roasting machine, making it one of the last torrefacteurs in the world to roast its own beans directly with an open flame. Found in only select top restaurants, cafés and gourmet shops around the world, Giamaica Caffè is all about small production. It produces as much coffee in a year as other ‘well-known coffee houses’ make in one day! And you can buy it online! Alternatively, you can try the coffee from Caffè Del Doge. This coffee roaster and cafe was founded by Cavalier Ermenegildo Rizzardini in the spring of 1952 in Venice, a stone's throw from the Rialto Bridge. This Venetian artisan roasting company (then called ExtraDoge) immediately distinguished itself for the production of very fine blends of coffee for espresso, as well as for the delicious coffee for homemade mocha, quickly becoming a point of reference and service for hundreds of cafes and shops in Venice and for lovers of fresh roasted coffee to be enjoyed at home. And a number of their roasts are available on Amazon. And if you feel game enough, you can try to bake your own cornetto (brioche). Below the recipe and just in case also a video to inspire you.
Why not indulge in tailored Venetian espresso cups? Just for that additional touch of authenticity? Buy a set of Caffè Del Doge set of espresso cups online or splash out on real espresso cups from the famous Cafe Florian! Or be very artistic by purchasing a set of Venice Biennale Espresso cups from Illy.
Authentic Venetian Cornetto - Brioche
Ingredients
Manitoba flour 600 g Sugar 150 g Brewer's yeast 1 Eggs 2 Orange flavor 1 vial Lemon 1 Salt 1 pinch Fresh milk to taste
For the Layer of Butter:
Butter 250 g Eggs 1 Flour 100 g
Preparation:
Pace a little warm water in a bowl where you will let the yeast dissolve.
In a large bowl pour flour, sugar, salt, lemon, eggs, the previously dissolved yeast, the orange aroma and then milk at room temperature, kneading and obtaining a soft ball. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in volume.
While the dough is leavening, start preparing the butter stick by pouring the butter, egg white as it is and flour into a bowl. Work the mixture with your hands until the flour has been completely amalgamated then wrap the dough which must have the shape of a brick in the film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
To complete the leavening of the dough, resume processing giving it the shape of a large square. In the center place the stick of butter and proceed to close it starting from the right side that you will fold inwards. Then continue with the left side and then with the other two corners.
Then exert a light pressure on the dough with a rolling pin, pressing it lightly and place everything in a squeegee, then in the fridge for about ten minutes. Then take the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin trying to give the shape of a strip.
Then repeat the operation to close the dough on itself by pressing it again with the rolling pin and then put everything in the refrigerator for a further 10 minutes. This operation must be repeated at least 5 times. At the end you will get a strip of pasta that you will press to a thickness of about half a centimeter.
Place the dough horizontally and cut out triangles starting from one side in order to use all the dough. These triangles must have a shorter base than the other two sides. Now roll each triangle starting from the shorter one and ending with the tip.
Place each croissant on the baking sheet covered with baking paper, taking care to space them well from each other so that they do not stick together and leave them overnight in the oven to rise.
In the morning, take them out and turn on the oven at 200 °, while the oven heats up, beat an egg and spread every single croissant, then with your hands spread over a little sugar and bake until the croissants take on a nice golden color. If you prefer before serving them, you can sprinkle with icing sugar.
Now you may nearly feel as you are in Venice, equipped with the right music background, fabulous coffee and a cornetto. So let's take a tour through bella Venezia!
Let's take a virtual tour thru Venezia
Take a couple of virtual tours through Venice - explore the Musei Civici di Venezia through a totally new perspective. Thanks to the collaboration with the Google Cultural Institute, the Civic Museums of Venice are now part of Google Art Project: an online platform through which the public around the world can access high-resolution images of works in the collections of museums partners in the initiative, with the goal of democratizing access to culture and to promote its preservation for future generations. Explore the splendid museums interior with the Street View virtual tour and admire particular aspects of masterpieces in the collections in Gigapixel resolution: https://www.visitmuve.it/en/virtual-tour/
If you feel like a tour with a gondola through Venice, join can join this sensational 360-degree tour of Venice courtesy of Technology entrepreneurs Geneeo.
Live stream Venice - Gaze upon an empty, silent Venice through the dozens of live webcam feeds accessible through YouTube. The I Love You Venice YouTube channel plays rolling footage from hotels’ CCTV to the accompaniment of vivacious Vivaldi-esque classical music.
Relax with these fabulous Venice Coffee Table Books
Serge Ramelli's Venice book is an amazing summary of the most beautiful sights in Venice. With its breathtaking marble palazzi and cathedrals, labyrinth-like azure canals, and palpable spellbinding energy, Venice is a veritable feast for all the senses--and especially the eyes. Whether through casual iPhone snaps or professional-grade images, Venice is, without a doubt, one of the most photographed locations on earth. But it's never been captured quite like this before. Inspired by its myriad charms and undeniable allure, French photographer Serge Ramelli set out to photograph the mythic Italian city with his signature dramatic flair. Francesca Bortolotto Possati's book Venetian Chic is an insider's view of Venice as a Venetian art connoisseur, interior designer, and hotelier she knows the intricacies of Venice. To have her as a guide is to experience firsthand her passion for the private side of the mythic city whose daily visitors outnumber its population. Join her to visit artists' studios, elegant Venetian friends, and palaces' secrets. Everywhere one wanders, a sense of history saturates the buildings and landscapes, harking back to the artists of the Renaissance and the chic masquerade balls of centuries past. Venetian Interiors by Guiseppe Molteni, takes the reader behind the fabulous facades of Venice to explore the greatest achievements of contemporary Venetian interior design and decoration. The residential interiors included here range from fabric designer Mirella Spinella's house, full of Asian influences and the blue-and-white harmonies of the Palazzo Pisani Rubelli, to the cutting-edge geometrics of London-based architect Michael Carapetian and the home of DJ Spiller, who combines high-tech electronics with frescoed ceilings and rocaille wood paneling in an ancient noble mansion. Featuring a lively anecdotal text and stunning color photographs of private interiors otherwise not open to the public.
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