Rat Diet No. 20

What I read, wore, and bought in May.

Ciao! Γεια σας! Greetings from Milos!

After hanging out in Rome with the new Pope earlier this month, I took a train up to Florence for a three-and-a-half-day workshop in Tuscany. Hosted by Mia Frances LaRocca and Emiko Davies, it was titled “The Ecology of Luxury,” and the idea was to draw connections between food, nature, and luxury, specifically perfume. Now, I’m in Greece with my mom. More on that later.

I first met Mia in Sicily at Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School, where she took part in a gardening residency. I was there in October for the olive oil workshop (I love workshops and think they’re worth every penny you can spare), but she did a brief demonstration of enfleurage, which is a perfume-making technique that uses pork fat to capture scents from freshly-picked flowers. When she told me she was doing a more in-depth workshop on the subject this spring, exploring the deep historical connections between what we eat, what we wear, where we live, and how/what we smell, I was like… Sign me up.

I learned so much and visited the coolest-yet-emptiest museum in Florence, which is called La Specola. If you want to better understand what I’m talking about, I suggest you read and subscribe to Mia and Emiko’s wonderful newsletters. They’re both super knowledgeable on an impressive range of subjects: Mia is a Fulbright-winning beekeeper, cheesemaker, gardener, and creative based in Abruzzo, where her family is from. Emiko is an Australia-born cookbook author and food writer with a Fine Arts degree from RISD. After studying abroad in Florence, she moved to the city in 2005. There, she met her now-husband, Marco Lami, a sommelier from San Miniato, and the rest is history.

After the workshop, Mia generously hosted me in Abruzzo, the mountainous region of Italy, where my family is also from. (Piccolo world!) She’s in the process of launching an artist residency in her town of Pacentro, which I think is going to be really special. (If you’re interested, you can learn more here.)

While I was in Abruzzo, Mia took me to Castel Di Sangro, where my great-great-grandfather, Pietro Petrarca, immigrated from. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find… I was just curious! But the name Petrarca was everywhere—and not as a reference to the famous Renaissance poet, whose name is all over Italy. Seeing it attached to the names of people who actually live(d) there—on signs and at the cemetery—was really meaningful to me, and I’m dying to go back to learn more.

Below is everything else I read, wore, and watched in May, including the Knicks game on a plane. Go Knicks! Knicks in seven? Am I doing it right?

---

What I Wore

I was home a grand total of seven days this month… So most of what I wore came from a suitcase. As I mentioned in my last roundup, I went a little crazy on the Polo Ralph Lauren website in April… But I wore these high-top sneakers all over Rome and Athens, and left with red wine stains on the bottom, which I think is a good souvenir. I also invested in another pair of Officina del Poggio shoes because they’re very Italian and very comfortable. (Zero blisters! Insane!) A Roman girl asked where I got them, so they paid for themselves. During the day, I wore my High Sport gingham pants, Dôen capris that I got hemmed (these are also cute), Flore Flore shirts, and an &Daughter matching cardigan set (ON SALE). At night, I dressed up with TL-180 knits and Martiniano heels, and slept in my Cou Cou tank top. (They just opened a pop-up in NYC!) I know the prices are steep on most of these items, but I think I could live in them exclusively for many years and be happy, which is what you want when traveling. (Who knows, maybe I’ll never come back…)

emiliapetrarca

A post shared by @emiliapetrarca

---

What I Bought