Brought back to Europe after the Spanish Conquest the Milanese adopted the fruit as their own. I can see your eyebrows raise into a question mark. Fruit? Zucchini mascarades as a vegetable but botanically it’s a fruit - a swollen ovary growing off the flower.

Fiori di zucca on April 2nd? È impossibile! The bright orange blossoms puckered against the plastic. I verify they are local. Nano Verde di Milano. Proprio così! It’s as it should be. Globalization is not new. Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus opened the world to new tastes but it’s a balance that dance between looking outward and in. A dance Venice has long done well. They took the best of the world and called it their own then fished their local lagoon. Mamma Mia, I just realized in quarantine I won’t get Moeche this spring- soft shelled crabs caught in molting season. Zucchini was originally a gift from the outside world. Brought back to Europe after the Spanish Conquest the Milanese adopted the fruit as their own. I can see your eyebrows raise into a question mark. Fruit? Zucchini mascarades as a vegetable but botanically it’s a fruit - a swollen ovary growing off the flower. Home from shopping I prepare to stuff the flower opening the petals carefully and an erect stamen pops out. Even the zucchini flowers are flirting with me. The butcher gave me an extra piece of veal yesterday for my Vitello Tunato. And as I handed my trash bag to the garbage man he complimented my red lipstick. The trash system in Venice is insanity. Utterly impossible If you work out of the home. Garbage men push wagons ringing doorbell as residents wait for them to ring the bell. You can’t leave the garbage downstairs or on the street due to pigeons, flying rats I call them, amazed tourists let them crawl on them for photos. If you’re not home your trash doesn’t go out. My upstairs neighbor too frail to run down the stairs lowers her garbage in a wicker basket when the garbage man rings. This system works during quarantine but in normal life is inefficient. Zucchinis would not survive quarantine. Their species would die out. Their plants produce both male and female flowers but they can’t self pollinate. Without bees buzzing around they abort themselves. I am reminded we are not made to be alone. All the world is one. We are connected. I scoop a spoonful of Stracchino inside the petals pinching them closed and roll in bread crumbs. Many use ricotta or burrata but I like Stracchino. Legend has it the cheese is made from the milk of tired Alpine cows - stracca means tired- moving up and down the mountain to graze in different pastures. I fry each perfect package in olive oil until a crispy finish and pop in my mouth. Ecstasy. Buonissimo!

OUR SPONSOR:

Truly Venice is a trademark owned by Property Solutions, a Swiss based company that operates as an agent for property owners wishing to lease their properties for short and long term stays. The company was founded in 2007 by a small entrepreneurial team that sees a great opportunity in offering people all over the world an alternative accommodation to hotels going beyond the traditional tourist trip.

We aim to offer a personalised service, organizing restaurant bookings and taxi services, finding the appropriate meeting and exhibition space as well as offering flowers, special wines and food baskets. Property Solutions is a customer focused company that values your ideas, comments and thoughts. We encourage you to give us feedback on any aspect of our business, whether it be about the website, the service or one of our apartments.

WEBSITE: www.trulyveniceapartments.com

INSTAGRAM: @trulyveniceapartments