Food & Wine USA - (06)June 2020

62 JUNE 2020

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TRAVEL JOURNAL

My Year of Italy In 2019, Olivia

McDowell used all her vacation

days to visit the boot multiple

times. Now more than ever, her

memories serve as a celebration

of the regional flavors we dream

of savoring again. Viva l’Italia!

THE CHALLENGE: I wanted a significantly immersive Italian

vacation, but I knew that a week in Rome just wouldn’t

cut it, and taking a month off work seemed absurd. The

solution: a series of short trips throughout the year (five

in total across 12 nights), traveling mostly against the tour-

ist tide and taking advantage of in-season produce and

out-of-season airfares. With that strategy, the Year of Italy

started to sound totally doable, even logical.

The Year of Italy began with my husband and I ringing

in 2019 over a plate of swordfish ragout in Palermo, Sicily,

with a bottomless supply of house wine and rowdy cries

The dramatic cliffs of

the Amalfi Coast were

easier for the author to

navigate in the quiet

winter months, though

just as beautiful.

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