Saturday, May 14, 2022

Wine and Food of the Giro 2022 Stage 8: Napoli


Where are we? Campania. To be specific, Napoli, or if you prefer, Naples. 

Napoli: The Giro says: The age-old history of Naples goes back to the first Greek colonies in the area of modern-day Castel dell’Ovo. The settlers later founded a new city, nea polis in Greek, which is where the place name Napoli comes from.
The city long retained its Greek values and mores even after being taken over by the Romans, under whom it became a major cultural pole. Naples grew into a grandiose, majestic city over the centuries, under different prominent rulers, reaching all the way to the surrounding hills.
Naples holds a remarkable historical and artistic heritage, and an endless cultural legacy, in a stunningly beautiful natural setting at the foot of the Vesuvio, overlooking the sea.  
I particularly appreciated this from Visit Naples: It may sound weird that the first thing to do or see in a city is actually something to eat, but this is, after all, the birthplace of pizza (probably Italy’s most popular food export) and the locals take their signature dish very seriously. Make sure you go to a pizzeria that’s serving “pizza vera napoletana,” true Neapolitan pizza, and you’ll be good to go. 

The food: The visitor who arrives in Naples will be attracted  not only by art and landscape, but he will also appreciate the local gastronomy which is rich and variegated.
Generally, the use of french words for neapolitan food is impressive. For instance  gâteau, made with potatoes or the famous meat ragoût, croquets also made with potatoes, are just some examples. The reason is that once the rich neapolitan families used to have in their houses french chefs called monzù (from the french word monsieur) that introduced french terms into the  neapolitan gastronomic culture. The most famous food is pizza. According to the tradition  it was prepared for the first time by the end of the XIXth century in honour of  Margherita of Savoy, queen of Italy. So the most important version of pizza with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella is called Margherita.  In the city centre people use to eat in the street the so-called “pizza a portafoglio”, a small pizza fold as a “wallet”, as well as the “pizza fritta” fried into hot oil.
Concerning the local bakery “pastiera” is very appreciated. It is filled with wheat, ricotta cheese, sugar and eggs and it is the typical Easter cake. But it is also eaten during the whole year as well as babà and sfogliatelle, typical of the local bakery too.


The stage: Sort of a circuit race that the announcers delighted in calling a cracker. 
The average speed for the first hour was 47.1 kilometers per hour. Our break of the day was 21 riders strong: Guillaume Martin (COF), Diego Ulissi (UAD), Sylvain Moniquet (LTS), Harold Tejada (AST), Davide Gabburo (BCF), Jorge Arcas (MOV), Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (TFS), Edoardo Zardini (DRA), Lilian Calmejane (ACT), Mathieu Van Der Poel (AFC), Fabio Felline (AST), Thomas De Gendt (LTS), Wout Poels (TBV), Andrea Vendrame (ACT), Simone Ravanelli (DRA), Mirco Maestri (EOK), Jasha Sütterlin (TBV), Mauro Schmid (QST), Biniam Girmay (IWG), Samuele Rivi (EOK), and Harm Vanhoucke (LTS). With 100 kilometers to go, they had a 2 minute gap.
Under 50 kilometers to go and the gap was about 2:22. We had lost one rider, Jasha Sütterlin, from the breakaway group, so they were 20 strong. Attacking from the group, to the surprise of no one at all, Mathieu Van Der Poel. He would soon have company. That bit of excitement brought the gap back up. The new lead group: Davide Gabburo (BCF), Jorge Arcas (MOV), Thomas De Gendt (LTS), Simone Ravanelli (DRA) and Harm Vanhoucke (LTS). They would stay away for many kilometers.  Two kilometers to go and the gap was down to twelve seconds to the chasing group. To my delight, holding off for the stage win, Thomas DeGendt.



The wine: Marisa Cuomo Rosato
Back to Dig for this pink delight. They say: Cuomo’s tasty rosato blends 50% each Piedirosso and Aglianico, After a 10-12 hours maceration it ferments in controlled temperature stainless steel tanks and is aged four months in stainless steel. Pure red fruit scents, some herbaceous notes, crisp, mineral, savory. 

The food: Pizza!
If you are motivated, this is our go-to dough recipe. 
But eight stages in and a lot of early morning wake ups, it may be a day for takeout. 


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