Health & Fitness
The Italian Job: Lessons in Fine Living
It's the holidays again!! Stressed? Going too fast? Eating on the run? Take a moment to consider a few gems of Italian culture that suggest a different approach to work and play.
Over the last decade or so, my wife Genevieve and I have been to Italy once or twice each year as busy ambassadors of Italy’s Fazioli piano. In the process of our travels, we have discovered so much about Italian culture and attitudes that has inspired us and uplifted our spirits...
What can we take from this ancient culture to improve our quality of life right here right now in New Jersey? I think a lot!
Italy has embedded in its culture the love of leisure and quality and the passionate expression of being a human being. It’s in the fashion, the cuisine, the harvest, and the daily routines of life... “Let’s get the work done, let’s have pride in the outcome, and let’s enjoy life while we’re doing it!” Does that describe your life in 2011????
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Welcome to the land of La Dolce Vita! Where Ferrari, Fazioli and Farfalle; and Parmegiano, Porcini and Prosciutto; and Stradivari and Spaghetti reign supreme!
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Outcome>Quality>Taste>Desire>Market>Commerce.
When it comes to the best things in life, our traditional business models head right to the shredder! Everything depends on the most important component - the outcome. When quality is assured, a taste for it is developed, and a desire is created for a product to come to market. We wondered what Paolo Fazioli was thinking back when in 1979 - he decided to launch his own piano company. Why, disco ruled the music world! Venerable piano companies were going out of business left and right in the wake of the birth of the electric piano...
“Let’s take a little trip together, shall we?”
In 1979, Paolo Fazioli decided to make a piano by hand that would outshine 150 years of accepted wisdom regarding its manufacture. In spite of the obstacles, the seeds of success were planted with a commitment to abandon the industrial approach that had become necessary and a fact of life for piano factories after World War 2. In the footsteps of Stradivari himself, Fazioli went to the Val Di Fiemme in the Italian Alps for the premium wood to make the soundboard. In 1982, the first Fazioli piano was exhibited at the Frankfurt Music Messe, and the bar was set. With just over 100 pianos manufactured each year, it is not a big company, and despite the cost, the instruments remain in high demand worldwide. The United States gets 10-20 pianos a year with the remainder of the instruments going to Europe, Japan and the Far East.
Each piano takes 3 years to build and is a work of art - both as an instrument and as a moment to Italian handcraftsmanship, ingenuity and attention to detail and core values of instrument making.
We regularly present salon concerts with world class musicians on our Fazioli F-228 located right in the heart of the Rahway Arts District at LightSoundSpace.
Balsamic Vinegar
Do you like rich aromas and full, complex flavors? If you do, you will love the real balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy in the Emilia- Romagna region. This prized vinegar comes from ancient Trebbiano grapes of very high quality. The grapes are crushed into a must and simmered. Finally, they are pressed into fine barrique barrels and aged. As the vinegar ages, it is transferred from one cask to the other over a significant amount of time. The best Balsamic Vinegar is generally aged the longest. We have significant fond memories of tasting the 100 year old vinegar right out of the barrel!!!
Over time, the sugars resident in the grapes turn into alcohol which turns into acid which converts the liquid into vinegar. A vinegar suitable a for pouring over ice cream, on salads, or fish and vegetables.
Enter JD Gourmet
A few years ago at a garlic festival in Pennsylvania, I discovered a Balsamic Vinegar that was affordable and delicious.
In a market filled with overpriced vinegars and olive oils, we came to appreciate the private stock that the entrepreneurs at JD Gourmet brought to market. This Thursday, December 8, we’ve decided to hold a free tasting of all these vinegars from 5-7pm in advance of our next chamber music concert featuring our beautiful angel, the pianist Svetlana Smolina and the fabulous cellist Wendy Law who’s in from Hong Kong to play.
In 2000, I produced "The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong" for National Public Radio. During the research phase of the work, I came across some video tape in Rome that has stayed with me ever since. On a national Italian TV variety show, the host welcomed Louis to the stage, and asked, “Mr. Louis Armstrong, do you speak Italian?”
Armstrong replied, “Yeah, Daddy - ‘spaghetti!"
Today and everyday, the Italian pace and the essence of its culture continue to inform my interests, my diet, and my enjoyment of life. Everyday I take time to enjoy music, food, friends, and to take a period each day to just “slow down” for the sake of it.
Are you enjoying your life today? If the answer is anything but a resounding yes!, take a moment for yourself, smell the flowers, and visit us anytime online at lightsoundspace.com or come and say hello. We’re in the heart of the Rahway Arts District adjacent to UCPAC.
That’s what’s on my mind this week. What’s on yours?
Drop by anytime.
Jim Luce
lightsoundspace.com
