Where does the name Sanremo come from? My first thought was that it would have something to do with Romulus and Remus, famous in Rome, specially as I saw a San Romolo nearby on the map! But I was completely mistaken. San Romolo is the city’s patron saint. The name Sanremo is a contraction of “Sant’Eremo di San Romolo”, Sacred Hermitage of St Romulus. So there you have it..
The first thing I noticed walking through the streets was the plethora of scooters. Yes, the Italians love their Vespas, but I have honestly never seen so many scooters!
It would seem that there are more parking spaces marked out for scooters than for cars. Also, a scooter can ride anywhere (read La Pigna’s narrow steep streets), park anywhere, and above all pass static traffic in the middle of the road!
Outside the market is a humungus scooter parcheggio. I was incredulous! I had to wonder HOW anyone could find their scooter in this haystack!
Then one day I came past just as the school came out. The pupils poured down the steps and onto the parcheggio, talking at the top of their voices, and in no time the parking area was deserted…
Another thing about Italy is the relationship between the topography (very mountainous) and the cars they drive. You will mainly find tiny cars and a wonderful little three-wheel farmer’s or delivery vehicle called Ape (pronounced ah-peh and meaning bee because of the sound it makes). The Vespa, by the way, is a wasp because of the sound it probably made when it was first produced.
This is the city of palms. You see palms everywhere. But just as ubiquitous as the palms are the cycads. I am told that a lot of them are indigenous to China, but the rest is from South Africa.
Most people here live in apartments. That is a lifestyle very different from my own. Washing goes on a line in front of the balcony,
Your balcony is also your garden. There you have flowers, but also herbs and gnomes. Outside your apartment block someone will clean the paving tiles regularly.
At night you let down a steel roller blind, a modern version of the oldfashioned shutter, and in the morning the sun greets you with a love letter on the wall :))
Every afternoon at five it’s time for aperitivi. People don their finery, go to Corso Matteotti, the main shopping street, a pedestrian zone, walk up and down window shopping, and seat themselves at a sidewalk bar for their aperitivo. If the place is called a ristorante, they will probably not serve aperitivi, but a bar, caffetteria, osteria or pizzeria will serve a range of free snacks with your aperitivo.
Walking past the shops I had the occasion to stop and stare: exorbitant prices for a simple South African soul like me!!
These prices, however, blew my mind! It seems the higher the platform, the higher the price!
South Africans make a big deal out of Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, the only Saffa ever to acquire a Michelin Star, but here in Sanremo there are apparently three Michelin Star restaurants!
There are three main theatres in Sanremo: the Casino, the Ariston and the Centrale. And in front of the Ariston a statue of Mike Bongiorno throws open its arms with the exclamation “Allegria!”
And then every Italian region has its own cuisine and specialities, a fascinating phenomenon. You can ask for Ribollita in the Marche, and they will say “What’s that?” – ”Ooohhh! That’s Tuscan fare!” Here in Sanremo the signature biscuit is Baci di Sanremo (Sanremo kisses), a butter biscuit made with dark chocolate and ground hazelnuts and stuck together with a butter cream.
There are quite a few places that specialize in the Sanremese traditional fare: Torta Verde, Farinata, Focaccia Ligure, Sardenaira, Brutto e Buono, etc.
We all know focaccia and pesto, but who has tried Farinata? It is a flatbread made of ground chickpeas – delicious! Sardenaira looks like pizza, but they promise you it’s NOT. It is a base spread with tomato sugo, with olives and anchovies laid on it. However, my favourite is Torta Verde! It is a wafer-thin crust, top and bottom, filled with a tasty pie filling of green vegetables, usually spinach and peas, but also whatever else the cook has on hand: asparagus, artichoke hearts, young fava beans. I discovered an amazing bakery that sells slices of everything, and their Torta Verde was to DIE for! Some places add rice to the filling, but I definitely like it without. Look for PASTA MADRE in Via Francesco Corradi, next to WineNot, the wine boutique.
Torta Verde
Brutto e Buono (Ugly but Delicious)
Sardenaira and Focaccia
Aragostini, yum! Filled with cream
Strudel Tirolese, an Austrian confection that infiltrated North Italian cuisine through the annexation of Trieste, a city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and main Austrian port from 1382 until 1918. This is also how the Italians acquired Speck.
Regarding the meat dishes of this region, I must mention coniglio, rabbit, for the meat is available everywhere. Salsiccia is sausage, plain old boerewors.
It is also interesting that they sell Capra, goat, besides lamb or mutton.
To wind up I’ll leave you with two signs I found in the streets:
I will suffer, I will die, but as long as there’s sun, wind, wine, I will trallalla!
Ilse Andrag's Blog 