Thursday, November 14, 2013

In the Land of Pesto

Fun fact: Italy is divided into many regions that weren't unified into a country until 1861! Each region has maintained its unique character and culture by priding itself on the food that originated there.  One of the regions of northern Italy, Liguria, is the birthplace of pesto and home to Cinque Terre, meaning that Courtney and I took full advantage of some of the best pesto in the world while we were there!
Here's where and what we ate:

Night 1: Trattoria Locanda Il Porticciolo
 We wandered into this restaurant on the first night with hungry stomachs after a long day of traveling by train. It had a great patio, really friendly staff, and delicious seafood! We ordered mussels as an appetizer to share (the broth was to die for) then we split a lobster ravioli and some sort of pesto pasta. The lobster was rich and lemony, and the pesto was extremely light and fresh. Plus, you could tell the pasta was made in-house, making everything 10x better. 

Day 2: Lunch
The day that we hiked, we bought food for a picnic in the morning at a local market: fresh ciabatta, a big wedge of pecorino cheese, some sliced spicy salami and a container of fresh pesto. Picnic's became one of our favorite ways to enjoy lunch because it was always cheap and easy! If you're traveling in Europe, I'd 100% recommend it!

Night 2: Da Aristide 
When my parents visited me in Florence, they took a quick trip to Cinque Terre for one night, and this is the place they had dinner. They couldn't stop bragging to me about how good this restaurant was, so Courtney and I made sure to eat here. I've never doubted my parents opinion on food and this was no exception: their pesto gnocchi was just as incredible as my parents had described it to me. There's nothing better than the fresh, pillow-like gnocchi in Italy.  
Promise me you'll get some.
I can't remember exactly the reason, but I'm guessing our phones were dead, which is why we have zero pictures from this meal. Luckily, my parents had taken some drool-worthy pictures to make me even more nostalgic (and hungry!)

Next stop... Roma!

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