Calabria Archives - Set Your Own Scene

When I first arrived in Bari early in January 2020, it didn’t feel conceivable that I’d still be here almost two years later and in a relatively settled state. However, a series of events, namely Covid and a re-evaluation of certain life priorities, has meant that Bari has begun to feel strangely like home.

Some of the most familiar sights from around Bari; September 2021.

I finished teaching in the final week of July and immediately embarked on a five day-long road trip back to Britain via Northern Puglia, Emilia-Romagna, Switzerland, the Rhine-Neckar region of Germany and the Hook of Holland (Covid restrictions at the time meant that driving through France was a no-go). I spent nearly a month back in the UK in August and despite having weather that was mediocre at best, had a great time seeing old friends and family after 18 months of enforced estrangement.

There were two festivals (Soul II Soul headlining South Facing Festival in Crystal Palace Park and Green Man in Crickhowell, South Wales), a boozy Mexico-inspired South London barbeque courtesy of my mate Mark, a Newbury reunion of ‘The Dream Team’ (a somewhat ironic moniker that my friends Anna, Jen, Matt and I created for ourselves, aged 17), a sojourn to Southend-on-Sea with Virginia to meet Rufus, Emily and Matt’s one year-old baby, an evening putting the world to rights at The Bowlers Arms with my old bassist and all-round-good-bloke Roger, a trip to a Thai restaurant in Surbiton with Chris, Jenny and Scott and lots of other catch-ups with old friends with whom it has been far too long.

It was also a chance to spend some quality time with my parents at the house I lived in from the age of 11 until 18 in Highclere on the Berkshire / Hampshire border and to see my sister, brother-in-law and nephews at their home in Buckinghamshire. My sister Rachel and her family had a trip to Italy planned for Spring 2020 but this was obviously shelved due to the pandemic. Never did I imagine upon leaving the UK that it would be nearly two years before we saw each other in-person again. It was particularly fun to meet her new dog Sandy though; a very cute, lively and mischievous golden Labrador puppy with a penchant for stealing running shoes and food from plates on the table…

Fun times back in the UK, August 2021.

My return journey was a more leisurely trip through Northern France (restrictions had been lifted by this point), deliberately avoiding Switzerland (my unplanned overnight stop in Lucerne on the outbound trip set me back a small fortune) and travelling through Germany, Lichtenstein and Austria instead. It was more eventful too; I went to an electro-pop night at the curiously-named Le Bistrot de St So in Lille (it is definitely not a bistro), had an incident with an incompetent hotel in Saarbrücken, Germany locking me out at 3am, left my favourite leather jacket behind in a wardrobe in Baden-Württemberg (it has thankfully now been posted back to me in Bari) and even made friends with the friendly owners of a newly-opened Celtic medieval re-enactment bar Taverna Le Madragola in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna (highly recommended to anyone visiting Ferrara looking for something unusual). It turns out that the region has Celtic roots and that there’s even a Welsh-speaking town nearby called Baldi.

Parts of the drive were really stunning though and had an almost meditative-like quality; particularly the remote mountains of Lichtenstein, the area surrounding Innsbruck in Austria and the Alpine countryside near Salem and Friedrichshafen in South Germany. After travelling through Trentino (I stopped overnight in the pretty town of Lagundo), Emilia-Romagna and final stops in Vasto, Abruzzo and Mattinata in the Gargano National Park, I arrived back in Bari in early September.

The highlights of the return journey back to Bari; Highclere > Lille > Saarbrücken > Salem > Lagundo > Ferrara > Vasto > Mattinata.

At first, it was a little strange to be back. The novelty has well and truly worn off and the city now feels very familiar. After the excitement and merry-go-round of constant socialising whilst being back in Britain, it’s a somewhat grounding experience to be back in a country where you still have limited ability with the native language and where the network of people you know is far smaller. However, I decided that the solution was to re-immerse myself in Italian culture…

Within a few days of being back in Puglia, I had been to open-air concerts by Niccolò Fabi in Molfetta and Max Gazzè in Mola di Bari; both established and much-loved names from the canon of Italian popular music over the past 25 years. Along with Daniele Silvestri, they also perform as the Fabi-Silvestri-Gazzè group and whilst virtually unknown in the UK, are national treasures in Italy. Fabi’s music is more delicate and sincere, whilst Gazzè’s live show was more muscular and leant a lot on the earnestness of Springsteen, as well as some more electronic influences.

Niccolò Fabi live in Molfetta and Max Gazzè live in Mola di Bari. September 3rd and 5th 2021.

I’ve made it a mission this year to discover more Italian music, in particular those from the underground and alternative spectrum such as Napoli’s Nu Guinea, Bari hardcore band Strebla, local funk / soul artist Walter Celi and electronic producer Indian Wells from San Donato di Ninea in remote Calabria. I managed to squeeze my trusty cream Fender Strat and a small solid-state modelling amp into my car on the return journey so am hoping to find some likeminded Pugliese musicians to collaborate with this time around. Bari has some great venues – of all sizes – and a lot of potential for touring.

I’ve also already managed to get down to the Stadio San Nicola to see SSC Bari play – crazily, nearly two years after my first visit. In the first game I saw, the team convincingly beat Monterosi Tuscia 4-0 and at the time of writing, are currently sitting top of the table, with a gradual buzz starting to build in the city about the team’s chances. Perhaps this is the season for that re-promotion to Serie B after all? Is a return to the David Platt, Paul Rideout and Gordon Cowans-era glory days just around the corner?

SSC Bari 4 – Monterosi Tuscia 0. 5th September 2021.

There have also been a few mini-road trips prior to the start of term; namely to Laureto near Fasano in Puglia, the small town of Ceccano in Lazio (luckily, the town’s annual music festival was taking place the same weekend we visited) and a week-long tour around Calabria, the “toe” of Italy’s boot. Beginning with a fleeting overnight visit to the Medimex music conference in one of my favourite Italian cities Taranto, I then visited Crotone, Le Castella, Santa Severina, Le Cannella, Pizzo, Tropea, Belvedere Marittimo (the last place I visited just days before the start of the first lockdown in March 2020) and San Donato di Ninea. With the balmy weather now starting to turn colder, it made sense to enjoy the south whilst it was still hot and to reserve the city breaks for autumn and winter instead (Firenze, Perugia, Roma and Siena, I’ll be coming for you).

A snapshot of my travels, post-arrival in Bari. In no particular order; Laureto, Lazio, Taranto, the Calabria road trip.

With some new colleagues arriving at my school, there have already been some lively (and late) nights out in Bari, often ending up at the downtown drinking institution Piccolo Bar. Piccolo’s has been a staple of Bari nightlife for many decades and it seems to close when it wants; 6am or 7am? No problem. However, whilst nights out with other teachers are good fun, as with last year, I remain determined to mix with more locals and continue making Italian friends, acquaintances and connections. My Italian has definitely improved but I think that this year demands for a day per week set aside to learning the language. The Duolingo app has been very engaging and great for vocabulary but it’s time to up my game…

It was whilst sat on a beach in Tropea a couple of weeks ago that I decided to write down some aims, intentions, goals and themes for the year ahead (you can tell I spent 11 years working in PR). The ‘to-do list’ section is below:

1.) Write book number one (whilst I enjoy writing this blog, it technically is never-ending. A book feels like something more complete – I have some ideas)

2.) Increase Italian competence (one day a week dedicated to practising?)

3.) Continue with blog (what you are reading right now)

4.) Begin business plan (I could be onto something here or I could be dreaming in Cloud Cuckoo Land, let’s see…)

5.) Explore musical opportunities in Bari and practise guitar 3-4 times a week (for the first time since the age of 16, I’m not playing regularly with other musicians in a band. However, I do now have two guitars in my flat; an early 1960s Harmony Sovereign acoustic and a Fender Relic Strat, if you happen to be of the guitar geek persuasion).

As you can see, I’m hoping to do rather a lot over the next coming months. As a result, the Set Your Own Scene blog will become more of an occasional creative outlet for me than something to be updated every week. Some months might see me posting several articles but then others might be quieter, depending on what else I’m up to.

Please keep reading though and as always you can keep in touch with me on Instagram @clivedrew and Twitter @CliveD.

The famous onions of Tropea

Calabria is the rugged, sparsely-populated and partly mountainous region that begins south of Naples and extends down into the “toe” of Italy’s “boot”, towards Sicily. As well, as the notorious ‘Ndrangheta criminal syndicate, Calabria is famous for the spicy spreadable salami ‘Nduja, the Calabrese soppressata dry sausage, peperoncino (red chilli peppers – Calabrian cuisine is notably hotter than in the rest of Italy) and the distinctive Tropea red onions. They grow between April and October and the most famous and revered variety cipolla da serbo are in season in May and June.

They resemble giant spring onions but with a bright red bulb and they are renowned for their sweet and more delicate taste. In fact, Calabrians claim that when a Tropea onion is ripe, it should be able to be “eaten just like an apple”. Having bought some of these prized onions for the first time earlier this week, I can concur that they certainly are sweeter than their brown and white cousins and were equally at home being finely chopped raw into a salad and also, cooked and softened over a heat to form the base of a casserole. This versatility means that Tropea onions are frequently served in Italy as part of antipasti cold cut spreads, as a panini filling, as pizza toppings, in pasta dishes and even grilled or barbequed whole (in Catania in Sicily I saw a variation of this where the whole onions had bacon or in some cases, intestines wrapped around them and they were then cooked outside over charcoal).

*Red Tropea onions hanging alongside peperoncino di Calabria (photo: Caterina Policaro).*

Tropea onions have been awarded PGI status (Protected Geographical Indication) and are known locally as the “red gold”. That said, I’ve noticed that Italians do seem to have a particular penchant for referring to edible items as “gold” – peperoni crusci (dried sweet peppers) is known as “the red gold of Basilicata” and the residents of Bronte in Sicily, a town renowned all over Italy for its high-quality pistachios talk about the humble nut as its “green gold”.

The origins of these Tropea onions have been disputed but it’s now widely agreed that they were most likely introduced to Calabria by the Greeks and Phoenicians from present-day Lebanon around 3,000 years ago. Tropea’s sandy soil, proximity to the coast and more moderate climate meant that the conditions were ideal for these unusual onions to flourish and eventually become one of the region’s best-known culinary exports. The reason for their sweetness is due to a lower level of pyruvic acid than normal brown onions and this makes them less pungent and harsh – also less likely to induce tears as you slice them.

Red Onions “Cipolle di Tropea” (photo: Martin Mboesch), my own purchases and a wholewheat lampascioni and wholewheat pasta I made with them.

The cipolla da serbo also reputedly has numerous health benefits and the Roman author, naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder (his first solo album went massively under-the-radar) detailed the 30 ailments which can be treated by these particular onions in his then-groundbreaking encyclopaedia “Naturalis Historia”. Pliny also pointed out that any dishes containing onions are curative as well as more nourishing. Good to know…

Just a few examples of the different landscapes Calabria has to offer; Tropea, Belvedere Marittimo, Condofuri and Scalea.

I have been to Calabria twice; a week before the first Covid lockdown when I stayed in the coastal villages of Belvedere Marittimo, Diamante and Scalea and then last September, when I spent several hours winding my way through its mountainous landscapes on my way to Villa San Giovanni, to then take the short ferry hop over to Messina, Sicily (and then all the way back again). The ‘vibe’ is noticeably different to that in Puglia; the scenery is more varied (craggy mountains, hilltops towns, scenic coasts and then fertile plains), the people slightly less open and welcoming and overall, it seems more wild and remote. Puglia is by no means a developed region – apart from the bigger towns and cities, a lot of its rural areas appear to be just row upon row of olive trees and vines. However, parts of Calabria feel a long way from civilisation. Having said that; I was still pleasantly surprised by the fare available in the various Calabrian service stations I stopped at; ‘Ndjuja and mozzarella panini were the order of the day (historically, the region’s hot and humid climate led to food preservation techniques being key and cured meat and salsiccia are popular staples here).

To find out more about Tropea’s unique red onions, you can watch the video below (it’s in Italian but English subtitles are provided):