3004 Dolce Vita Show

Went along yesterday and thought it was a fantastic improvement on the year before's, came back with bags of cheeses, truffle salami to die for, balsamic jams, pistacchio, almond and white chocolate, coffee and milk chocolate spread/dips....wow.

Went to wine tasting area to find every wine available apart from the entire Puglia region which had been drunk :-(

...see told you it was quaffable!!! :eek: :eek: :p

What did you think?

Category
Food & Drink

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/20/2006 - 12:36

So it sounds like it was to promote all the Italian foods they want to sell in England? Is that right? Thought the intention was to promote Italy as a place to visit and buy property?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/20/2006 - 14:12

The hall was divided up into groups - cars - food - property - clothes/ jewellery/art, and a central eating area.

There was a seminar area, and a kitchen area where you could learn to cook italian. We were only there 2 hours, and tbh, I don't think there was enough to keep us there for a lot longer. The wine tasting looked good, but when you're driving.....

What we saw we liked, but we both felt that there was a spark (for want of a better word!) missing. But I suppose it's a learning curve. If it was better than last year, hopefully next year will improve too.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/20/2006 - 18:29

Mmmm... know what you mean. We had a long journey so made a day of it, seemed silly not to. Did enjoy ourselves but a lot of the stands were companies already familiar to us anyway, from surfing the net. reading Italy mag etc. Expect many Italiophiles found the same. Lots of nice goodies to taste and try and copious quantities of FREE espresso. Limited for a bit of lunch to a sandwich/pannini, slice of pizza ( expensive! ) and perching somewhere. We reckoned a place to have a proper sit down and a plate of pasta or something and linger for a while "Italian style" and they would have cleaned up. Nice to meet a few people in the flesh who we knew only previously by talking on phone or internet. Oh and by the way guys, thanks for advice about car. Took the train and it was a piece of cake.... and cheap!:)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/20/2006 - 19:01

Bud..

Glad you found it easy to let the train take the strain! I am amazed that from what you say there wasn't an Italian Style trattoria or pizzeria.. perhaps a good business opportunity for someone next year?

:) :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/21/2006 - 04:45

I know what you mean, a real central piazza with trees and stone flags, would really sum up Italy, I think that the essence of Italy and its many areas wasnt shown, there should be a central piazza with all the different areas, around it with more informative. The wine area was aweful, you couldnt see the wine area and its was far too small an area, far too small.

However it was better than last year, and since I miss the old country buying a few cheeses, wines and meats cheered me up.