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BBC News
07-07-2025
- BBC News
Want Italy's best food? Head to its national parks
With so many famous cities and coasts to explore, most visitors to Italy never think to stop by its national parks, but these wild landscapes produce epic Italian culinary adventures. Whenever we visit my husband's family in Calabria, at the tippy toe of Italy's boot, we invariably take the train; it beats the six-hour drive down an autostrada (motorway) full of lorries. But this time, we're taking the car since we'll be making a detour to a national park. For us, and for many Italians, that means one thing: we're bringing back food. Italy has so many renowned cities and coastlines that most visitors never think to explore its parchi nazionali (national parks), let alone know that these wild areas are some of the best food destinations in a nation famous for its cuisine. Italy has 26 national parks marching from its rugged Alpine spine in the north to its saw-toothed heel in the south, encompassing mountain ranges, waterfalls, centuries-old forests, picturesque villages and ghost towns. But within these biodiverse landscapes are also farms, generational vineyards and orchards. Hikers may pass herds of dairy cows, hogs and sheep and then wander past artisanal food stands and restaurants offering park-to-table dishes made with ingredients sourced directly from the surrounding land. A nature lover's paradise? Certainly. An in the-know, Italians-only foodie secret? Absolutely. National parks – Italian style It may come as a surprise that Italy's national parks produce some of the country's finest food. After all, in many places – such as the US – private farms are rare on protected land. But in Italy, where many national parks were created around ancient villages and centuries-old agricultural businesses, it's a different story. "In Italy, people and nature go hand in hand. They aren't two separate things. It's really a philosophical idea," says Paolo Iannicca, a tour guide based in the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise. As a result, Italy's rich biodiversity combined with its ancient pastoral footprint have birthed an enormous variety of enogastronomic products – cultivated throughout the centuries and revered to this day. Travelling to a national park to source the best ingredients may be the most Italian travel experience of all. "It's in our DNA," says chef Maria Nasso, who frequently collaborates with the Parco Nazionale del Circeo's culinary initiatives. "Italians structure their days around food. Even the choice of accommodation when visiting a park during holidays – good food is always a constant." That's why national park food experiences hit so hard for Italians. Though famous overseas for dishes like lasagna or pizza, within Italy, food culture is passionately tied to single ingredients and each village is often renowned for a locally cultivated product. You may have heard of Parma ham and Marsala wine. Go deeper: the provola of Agerola; the artichokes of Sezze; the lentils of Pescasseroli. Italians may love pasta alla carbonara but we lose our minds over a strain of ancient wheat, gifting artisanal products to each other as though offering jewels to our liege. "I've been to the Dolomites," we'll say. "I bestow upon you the prized rhododendron honey." Italy's wild parks are the epicentre of chilometro zero (zero-kilometre) products, from cheese to meat to native vegetables. "For Italians, typical local products are non-negotiable," says Iannicca, who runs La Bottega di Gaia, an artisanal shop selling products from the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise. "They want to eat authentic, typical food, and that's exactly what [parks] provide." Teresa Maradei, founder of the farm Terrægusto in Calabria's Parco Nazionale del Pollino, echoes this sentiment: "In Italy, food is part of the emotional geography. Visiting a park to savour its flavours means living the landscape with all your senses. It's a uniquely Italian way of doing ecotourism." So why are Italy's national parks – and their culinary riches – off many tourists' radars? "Because Italy's tourism narrative abroad is still too focused on art cities and iconic destinations," says Maradei."Parks are seen only as natural reserves, not as places of food culture." But with the rise of the Slow Food movement in the late 1980s, dining in national parks – which widely encourage organic, eco-sustainable farming practices – is becoming increasingly popular. "More and more, travellers seek slow, immersive and genuine experiences – not just eating, but seeing where the product is born, who cultivates it and how it's transformed," says Maradei. Italian national park websites typically list the park's endemic products, restaurants, dairies and enogastronomic itineraries. "[National parks are] what you might call a 'lesser known' Italy, but not a lesser Italy," says Iannicca. "Italy is a nation made up of thousands of small, scattered towns. If you only go to the usual places… you're missing the real Italy." Hence, us in our car, ready to devour the bounty of Calabria. The Parco Nazionale del Pollino Stretching 193,000 hectares, the Parco Nazionale del Pollino is Italy's largest protected wilderness area. It straddles both the Calabria and Basilicata regions and is home to epic mountain climbing, Bosnian pine forests and the nucleus of Italy's Arbëreshë (Italo-Albanian) population – the descendants of Albanians who found refuge here in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries. Among its famed products are the fagiolo poverello bianco (white beans) of Mormanno, the white onions of Castrovillari, the caciocavallo cheese of Sila and the peppers of Senesi. After our six-hour drive, we base ourselves in the village of Mormanno and visit the Neolithic ruins of Frascineto – believed by some locals to be an ancient solstice clock. At a trattoria, we refuel with an antipasto platter heaped with park-produced prosciutto and polenta draped with melted caciocavallo cheese. The next day, we hike through massive Bosnian pine groves over carpets of wildflowers, passing mooing herds of Podolica cows. But the highlight comes in the town of Civita, with an Arbëreshë meal at Ristorante Kamastra. First we are served a selection of pickles made from Castrovillari onions, fava beans and oily hunks of cubed prosciutto. Then there is cavatelli con ricotta e nenesa (cavatelli pasta with ricotta and local nettles) followed by cinghiale alla bracconeria (boar in a savoury sauce). The standout is the krustul, an Arbëreshë dessert made of fried dough, cinnamon and Pollino honey. Before leaving the park, we stop at the Catasta Pollino museum and culinary outpost and buy: One sack white beans of MormannoOne sack lentils of MormannoOne box park-grown almonds and figs covered in chocolateOne fat round of caprino cheeseOne bottle Timpa delle Fave white wineOne bottle Gëzuar Magliocco red wine Back home, we soak the beans overnight then sauté them in tomatoes, peperoncino and garlic to make a stew, which we serve alongside hunks of the cheese and bread torn impatiently from the loaf. The prized beans are small, tender and flavourful, like pearls of butter on our tongues. "Because every ingredient tells a story – of a family, a landscape, a season," says Maradei. "Italians cook the land itself, and endemic ingredients are markers of belonging. It's not just about taste – it's about recognising oneself in a shared past." -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
SBS Australia
03-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Ep.376: Nige has waited 16 years to see his wife again. But he may never do so
DOWNLOAD the script in Italian and English side by side. English A cooking class is underway at a small café in the leafy Melbourne suburb of Warrandyte. Chef Nigethan Sithirasegaram ((NEE-GATE-AN SIT-RAH-SAY-GRAM)), known to friends and family as 'Nige', is preparing a feast from his homeland Sri Lanka. For the 49-year-old, cooking is a vital connection with his Tamil culture. 'I'm going to teach lamb curry, one of the iconic curries in Sri Lanka and also cook beetroot Curry and also raita, rice, the full package meal. When I'm cooking here, actually I'm really proud everyone likes my food. ' And that means a lot to Nige who fled Sri Lanka in 2009 at the end of the civil war, leaving behind his wife and young son. '16 years, almost 16 years [ago] I left my wife. Every day is very torture and the painful. I'm struggling and also panic. I want my family with me all the time.' As a Tamil, Nige fears he can never return to Sri Lanka. He now has a permanent protection visa in Australia, and has applied for a spouse visa for his wife Thusa, who remains in Sri Lanka. '[It's] A very hard time. My wife asks me every day 'when you take me to Australia?' It's very painful for me and also painful for her. ' Immigration is a hot election issue. The federal budget predicts net migration of 260,000 in the next financial year. Asylum Seeker resource centre deputy CEO Jana Favero. 'It's really disappointing. What we should be doing is increasing in our humanity and our generosity and our compassion. It's really a tactic used by politicians that are playing into fear and division.' With almost 140-million people forcibly displaced worldwide, according to the UNHCR, Jana Favero calls for an earlier pledge to increase Australia's humanitarian intake to 27-thousand places. 'Australia can and should do more to increase our humanitarian intake in response to global catastrophes that are happening around the world. If you have a look at what's happening in Gaza, in Yemen, in Sudan... We've had many conversations with the Albanese government about their commitment to increase the places to 27,000, but [we] only have them at 20,000. This is insufficient, and we should do more. We feel that the figure should actually be 50,000.' For Nige, who worries daily about his wife's safety, the long wait is agony. 'It's really killing my heart. I know the situation; [for] a single woman [to] survive in Sri Lanka in [the] east part or [the] north part is really hard. So, that [is] situation for my wife, it's so breaking [my] heart.' As a Tamil born in Sri Lanka's east, Nige grew up as conflict raged between government forces and the Tamil Tigers. His earliest memories are of fleeing violence. '[For] My whole life, [I saw] war and bombing and disaster. I'm Tamil, so they suspect me and also they tried to kidnap me. I saw lots of torture equipment, lots of civilian kidnapping and killing them on the street, dead bodies. That's why I escaped from Sri Lanka without my wife and son'. At the end of the war and fearing for his life, Nige fled to Singapore and then Malaysia. What followed was a harrowing 46-day boat journey to Australia. 'The fuel is not enough, fuel run out. And also the boat is [a] very old boat and wooden boat. Also very big storm and rough sea. Many people got seasick. Then finally the Australian border posts took to me Christmas island.' Nige spent the next six years in various Australian detention centres. '[The time in the] Detention centre is [a] very hard time because we can't go outside. I'm really struggling [in the] detention centre [for] six years, mentally and physically'. At the Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre in Broadmeadows in 2014, Nige met café founder Derek Bradshaw and the connection would change his life forever. 'We had a house out the back of our café that we decided that we wanted to use to try and support people to get the start that they so badly needed after coming out of detention. And Nige went on to cook and that's when we started doing our Tamil feasts. ' A decade later the pair remain good friends and in 2023 Derek Bradshaw obtained a student visa for Nige's son, Ruksi. Being reunited with his dad was a day the teenager will never forget. 'Touching him, hugging him. It's so crazy: when I see him, I have a hug and it's all the feeling about my dad. It's like feeling in real life in front of my eyes and I can feel it. This is my dad!' It was a great moment for Derek Bradshaw, too. 'When we picked up Ruksi from the airport he looked at me and said, 'this is the best day of my life', and sorry, I'll get emotional, but as a father of four kids, I just cannot imagine the trauma and the grief that Nige has gone through. ' Nige and his son Ruksi now live in north Warrandyte rent free, thanks to the generosity of a local couple Reg Ellery and Olive Aumann. 'Our children had left home Nige's been living with us since 2016. He's a wonderful, wonderful man and his son's a wonderful young fellow. ' Nige and Derek Bradshaw continue to host Tamil feasts at the 'Now and Not Yet' Café, raising raise funds to resettle refugees and asylum seekers. 'When you hear the stories and understand the atrocities that they are escaping - civil war and genocide and things that [happen] if we're in those situations, we would absolutely run and escape as well. I'm proud that this sort of sacred community space has become a space where people feel loved when they walk through the doors, that people come in here and connect with others.' Nige is also working in aged care while he waits for his wife's visa to be granted. Jana Favero says the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre already supports more than 7,000 people seeking safety. 'We need to invest in family unification so that people can be with their families. That story is extremely sad. And what's sad is that family reunion probably will be one area that is cut, which would be absolutely devastating not only for that individual but for tens of thousands of others who are waiting to be with their family. For now, all Nige can cling to is hope. 'This process takes a very long time. I don't know what's the reason. I don't know still how long I'm going to be wait. Every day is painful. But I believe one day, me and [my] wife [will be] reunited in Australia.' Italian In un piccolo caffè nel verdeggiante sobborgo di Warrandyte a Melbourne è in corso una lezione di cucina. Lo chef Nigethan Sithirasegaram, conosciuto da amici e parenti come 'Nige', sta preparando un banchetto tipico del suo Paese natale, lo Sri Lanka. Per il 49enne, la cucina è un legame vitale con la sua cultura tamil. 'I'm going to teach lamb curry, one of the iconic curries in Sri Lanka and also cook beetroot Curry and also raita, rice, the full package meal. When I'm cooking here, actually I'm really proud everyone likes my food. ' E questo significa molto per Nige, che è fuggito dallo Sri Lanka nel 2009 alla fine della guerra civile, lasciando in Sri Lanka la moglie e il figlio piccolo. '16 years, almost 16 years [ago] I left my wife. Every day is very torture and the painful. I'm struggling and also panic. I want my family with me all the time.' In quanto tamil, Nige teme di non poter più tornare in Sri Lanka. Ora ha un visto di protezione permanente in Australia e ha richiesto un visto per coniugi per sua moglie Thusa, che rimane in Sri Lanka. '[It's] A very hard time. My wife asks me every day 'when you take me to Australia?' It's very painful for me and also painful for her. ' L'immigrazione è un tema elettorale caldo. Il bilancio federale prevede una migrazione netta di 260.000 persone nel prossimo anno finanziario. La vice direttrice generale del Centro risorse per i richiedenti asilo, Jana Favero: 'It's really disappointing. What we should be doing is increasing in our humanity and our generosity and our compassion. It's really a tactic used by politicians that are playing into fear and division.' Con quasi 140 milioni di sfollati in tutto il mondo secondo l'UNHCR, Jana Favero chiede un impegno anticipato per aumentare l'accoglienza umanitaria australiana a 27mila posti. 'Australia can and should do more to increase our humanitarian intake in response to global catastrophes that are happening around the world. If you have a look at what's happening in Gaza, in Yemen, in Sudan... We've had many conversations with the Albanese government about their commitment to increase the places to 27,000, but [we] only have them at 20,000. This is insufficient, and we should do more. We feel that the figure should actually be 50,000.' Per Nige, che si preoccupa quotidianamente della sicurezza della moglie, la lunga attesa è un'agonia. 'It's really killing my heart. I know the situation; [for] a single woman [to] survive in Sri Lanka in [the] east part or [the] north part is really hard. So, that [is] situation for my wife, it's so breaking [my] heart.' Nato nello Sri Lanka orientale, Nige è cresciuto mentre infuriava il conflitto tra le forze governative e le Tigri Tamil. I suoi primi ricordi sono quelli della fuga dalla violenza. '[For] My whole life, [I saw] war and bombing and disaster. I'm Tamil, so they suspect me and also they tried to kidnap me. I saw lots of torture equipment, lots of civilian kidnapping and killing them on the street, dead bodies. That's why I escaped from Sri Lanka without my wife and son'. Alla fine della guerra, temendo per la sua vita, Nige fuggì a Singapore e poi in Malesia. Seguì uno straziante viaggio in barca di 46 giorni verso l'Australia. 'The fuel is not enough, fuel run out. And also the boat is [a] very old boat and wooden boat. Also very big storm and rough sea. Many people got seasick. Then finally the Australian border posts took to me Christmas island.' Nige ha trascorso i sei anni successivi in vari centri di detenzione australiani. '[The time in the] Detention centre is [a] very hard time because we can't go outside. I'm really struggling [in the] detention centre [for] six years, mentally and physically'. Nel 2014, nel centro di detenzione per immigrati di Melbourne a Broadmeadows, Nige ha incontrato il fondatore del caffè Derek Bradshaw e conoscerlo ha cambiato la sua vita per sempre. 'We had a house out the back of our café that we decided that we wanted to use to try and support people to get the start that they so badly needed after coming out of detention. And Nige went on to cook and that's when we started doing our Tamil feasts. ' Un decennio dopo i due rimangono buoni amici e nel 2023 Derek Bradshaw ottenne un visto di studio per il figlio di Nige, Ruksi. Il ricongiungimento con il padre è stato un giorno che l'adolescente non dimenticherà mai. 'Touching him, hugging him. It's so crazy: when I see him, I have a hug and it's all the feeling about my dad. It's like feeling in real life in front of my eyes and I can feel it. This is my dad!' È stato un grande momento anche per Derek Bradshaw. 'When we picked up Ruksi from the airport he looked at me and said, 'this is the best day of my life', and sorry, I'll get emotional, but as a father of four kids, I just cannot imagine the trauma and the grief that Nige has gone through. ' Nige e suo figlio Ruksi vivono ora a nord di Warrandyte in affitto gratuito, grazie alla generosità di una coppia locale, Reg Ellery e Olive Aumann. 'Our children had left home. Nige's been living with us since 2016. He's a wonderful, wonderful man and his son's a wonderful young fellow. ' Nige e Derek Bradshaw continuano a ospitare feste tamil al 'Now and Not Yet' Café, raccogliendo fondi per il reinsediamento di rifugiati e richiedenti asilo. 'When you hear the stories and understand the atrocities that they are escaping - civil war and genocide and things that [happen] if we're in those situations, we would absolutely run and escape as well. I'm proud that this sort of sacred community space has become a space where people feel loved when they walk through the doors, that people come in here and connect with others.' Nige lavora anche nel settore dell'assistenza agli anziani mentre aspetta che venga concesso il visto alla moglie. Jana Favero afferma che il Centro risorse per richiedenti asilo sostiene già più di 7.000 persone in cerca di sicurezza. 'We need to invest in family unification so that people can be with their families. That story is extremely sad. And what's sad is that family reunion probably will be one area that is cut, which would be absolutely devastating not only for that individual but for tens of thousands of others who are waiting to be with their family. Per ora, tutto ciò a cui Nige può aggrapparsi è la speranza. 'This process takes a very long time. I don't know what's the reason. I don't know still how long I'm going to be wait. Every day is painful. But I believe one day, me and [my] wife [will be] reunited in Australia.' Report by SBS News Listen to SBS Italian every day from 8 am to 10 am. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
