Transporting Aperitivi

As much as we talk about where to go, I also love to share our finds that transport us without actual travel. As we learned during the pandemic, the imagination is a powerful tool, and we can all stand to harness it more. One of my favorite books that I have learned so much from—about wine and Italy—is Joe Campanale’s  Vino, which takes a deep dive into Italian wines. While I’m certainly not a wine geek, I do love learning about places and people through the lens of wine: Italy has the most indigenous grape varietals in the world, and each story of a different winemaker opens up a new world to me and gets me excited about going somewhere very much off the path. Plus, I’ll sound much smarter the next time I’m ordering wine in a restaurant. On another note, my husband  Matt  was inspired when we were in the Aeolian islands and made a martini that swapped an olive for a  caper leaf. (You can watch the  how-to  here, and get the full recipe  here.)

And here are a few transporting playlists for you:  Summer-Make it last forever;  Issimo Italian Summer 60s-80s;  Cycladelica  and  Yolo in Italy!