I’m still catching my breath after more than two weeks on the road. I have many tales to tell from my trip to Italy and have many posts in the queue for next week. In the meantime, here are some harvest updates that people have sent me or that I have culled from the internets.

From Ar.Pe.Pe., Valtellina:

“Our harvest will probably start only around October 21st, so we will still have to be patient for a while! [This week] it’s been rainy here, so we apologize for the rainy photo! We had a fantastic weather until Saturday [of last week], so maturation [ripening] is proceeding extremely well and a bit of rain was also much deserved by the vineyards.”

From Carussin, Monferrato (Asti), who sent the photo without note (but the image speaks for itself; can’t wait to taste that Barbera!).

Loved this photo of newly harvested Vin Santo grapes, grabbed from Alessandro Bindocci’s blog, where he’s been posting regularly on the harvest at the Tenuta Il Poggione in Montalcino (his blog is probably the best in terms of frequency and regularity in posting).

I visited there last week and have my own report to post (next week) but in the meantime see Hawk Wakawaka’s excellent post here (highly recommended).

That’s all the news that fits… for now… stay tuned. Now it’s time to take my daughter to lunch!

Remember the “bacon candy” at Lou’s excellent wine bar Lou on Vine in Los Angeles?

I couldn’t help but think of those sweet nuggets when my friends and I were served masanete col coral last night in Venice terra firma (mainland Venice): it’s the time of year when the lagoon’s she crabs have already mated and they are full of sweet roe (called coral because of their bright orange color).

Posting in a hurry from the Frankfurt airport this early morning but have so much to tell about my trip…

Now I just can’t wait to wrap my arms around those beautiful ladies of mine back in Texas.

See you on the other side…

Flying from Brindisi to Rome today, I managed to snap these photos as my plane hugged the Campania coast.

That’s Mount Petrino (Mondragone) in the photo above. I thought it was interesting to note how the cloud pattern mirrors the mountain chain.

In the distance to the south, you could see the Neapolitan islands of Procida and Ischia (where Tracie P lived for nearly five years).

It’s always thrilling for me to be on domestic flights in Italy on clear days like this one. It really helps to understand Italy’s unique topography.

One more night until I get back to my girls… I can’t wait!

The often inexplicable vicissitudes of life found me on my own for dinner last night in Lecce.

And honestly, that suited me just fine. I ate a pizza and drank a beer at 8 p.m. and was in bed by 9:30, just what I needed on the night before the night before I head home to Texas.

It seems that every one of my Italian sojourns includes a dinner for one in a workaday pizzeria. And I always look forward to it: it reminds me of my years as a student here, when a pizza and a beer were a treat that aligned with the economic outlook of a hopeful Italian scholar.

At the pizzeria around the corner from my hotel, tee gee OO-noh — the evening news on the RAI1 national television network — was blasting. The owner graciously offered me a table for one, with a view of the televisore (the correct word, btw, for television set in Italian).

Things in austerity-era Italy are really rough for average Italians. And they’re only getting worse: once again driving his own agenda (this time, his bid to nullify his tax evasion conviction, which was upheld by Italy’s highest court), Berlusconi is forcing the Italian coalition government to collapse.

In our exhilaration of all things Italian, we often forget that these are extremely trying times for average Italians — grape growers and winemakers among them.

As one grower noted during my trip, the only ones surviving (surviving, she said) are those who sell their products outside of Italy.

Cum granu salis… sprinkle some extra salt on your pizza tonight (a napoletana, with capers and anchovies), I thought to myself. Remember the bitterness.

In other news…

Where would we be without her? Rest in peace, Marcella Hazan.

Scenes from a video that we shot today at Paolo’s new cooking school iSensi in Guagnano outside of Lecce. That’s Ylenia Sambati, an expert on Pugliese cuisine and local cooking instructor, teaching us how to make orecchiette. She’s awesome…

Honestly, the sushi I’ve tasted (historically) in Italy has been underwhelming and often times just plain bad.

In all fairness, I grew up in a place — southern California — where some of the best sushi joints can be found in strip malls (not kidding).

So I was a little skeptical when Paolo said that we were going for a glass of wine and some sushi at the 300mila Lounge in downtown Lecce last night.

But, then again, I thought to myself, Puglia is one of Italy’s leading destinations and one of the originators of crudo.

The readers (and not the editors) of the Gambero Rosso voted the lounge “Italy’s best bar” last year and it’s on the shortlist again this year.

We got there around 7:30 and it was already filling up. And by the time we left for dinner it was packed.

I was thoroughly impressed by the cocktail program (with a huge selection of top-shelf gin, whisky, and Bourbon)… and the sushi was awesome, very fresh, not fishy or with flash-frozen flavors… really worth writing home about!

My buddy and client Paolo put me up at the Hotel EOS on the edge of downtown Lecce last night.

I like the hotel a lot, in part because they serve classic Lecce pasticiotti (above), soft crumbly pastries filled with pastry cream or chocolate, at breakfast.

They also serve friselle (above), classic savory dried wholewheat buns.

Traditionally, they’re soaked in water and then served with savory toppings — mozzarella, tuna, tomatoes, salt, and olive oil — at lunch and dinner. But at the EOS, they serve them for the tourists (like me) for breakfast.

I couldn’t resist!

I’ve devoted my entire adult life to the study of Italian literature, language, culture, history, viticulture, and gastronomy.

But no place in Italy is closer to my heart than the gentle hills of Proseccoland.

Superb tagliatelle ai funghi at lunch today at the Ristorante-Enoteca Salis in Santo Stefano (Valdobbiadene).

I ordered without even looking at the menu: around these parts, the dish is de rigueur.

The restaurant overlooks Cartizze.

I highly recommend it.

I came here to meet Primo Franco (right) and we shared two unforgettable meals together.

He’s one of the greats of Prosecco and he insisted that Christian Zago (left), one of the appellation’s rising stars, meet us for lunch today.

These are my people, these are my tagliatelle, this is my heart, this is my Italy.

I’ll tell all just as soon as I can get back home and catch my breath… Still have road to travel and more to taste…