The dog days of summer…the old expression rings true throughout Italy when the heat hits. A visit during the summer months can offer many festas and beach-side fun, but it also means looking for shade and ways to keep cool.
While you’ll not find glasses teeming with ice for your soft drinks or (somewhat ironically!) iced tea, there are lots of drinks that fit the bill. They are widely available, whether you’re at a beach-front bar or a city caffe.
Frappe. Fruit-flavored milk shake type of drinks, they’re thick and rich. Sometimes available in chocolate or vanilla flavor, too.
Granita. Basically a slushy, granitas are crushed ice drinks with flavored syrups added. The best ones are made in the south where hand-grated ice is used.
Caffe Shakerato. A shot of freshly-brewed espresso is put in a martini shaker with simple sugar syrup and is shaken with ice. It comes out with a frothy top and is served in a martini glass.
Caffe Freddo. Quite simply, cold coffee. Espresso is brewed and lightly sweetened, then refrigerated. It is generally not served on ice.
Limonata. There are several brands of bottled fizzy lemonade, which is also sometimes called Lemon Soda. An orange version, called Aranciata, is also available.
Te Freddo. Cold tea. Some bars make it fresh, others use a mix or sell canned tea, which always comes sweetened with either lemon or peach flavoring. Plain iced tea is not available (but can certainly be easily prepared in the kitchen of your vacation rental).
Succo or Spremuta. Bottled juices are served cold and a piece or two of ice can be added on request. Choose from popular succhi like apricot, pineapple, blueberry, or peach. Spremuta is freshly-squeezed orange juice, especially good when made from red "blood oranges".
Birra. A nice, cold beer is appreciated as much in Italy as anywhere else.
The villages scattered all around the Cilento coast maintain a very ancient fishing technique, but non so closely tied to it than the pretty town of Pisciotta.
If you have searched the web looking for activities to do while vacationing on the Amalfi Coast, there is no doubt that you have already read about Mamma Agata and her incredible cooking school in Ravello.
Once you have peeled your eyes away from the stupendous scenery of the Amalfi Coast, one of the first things you’re bound to notice is the large lemons hanging from the trees.
The hills that surround the city of Salerno and stretch from the Amalfi Coast to the Cilento National Park give an extra-virgin olive oil with an intense colour and a unique fruity taste.
Agerola is known as "Città del Pane" - city of bread – nationwide popular brand that recognizes some Italian towns where this product assumes a special value due to the peculiar characteristics.
At Summer in Italy we do care about our guests, and this is why, in order to help you making your food shopping in Italy just perfect, we would like to share a few tips about high-quality local products.
Its unique and special characteristics, very much appreciated even abroad, gives the name to "Fico Bianco del Cilento": once dried, the sweet peel gets light yellow coloured rather than chestnut brown if oven-cooked.
Amalfi Coast
Sorrento Coast
Tuscany
Cilento National Park
Lake Como
Rome and Latium
Umbria
Capri and Ischia
Venice
Puglia (Apulia)
Liguria
Sicily
Lake Maggiore
Lombardy
Sardinia
Lake Garda
Abruzzo and Marche
Calabria
