Prosciutto e Melone, Caprese Salad, and Palazzo Paparo
We’re enjoying absolutely gorgeous weather here today in the toe of the boot, which often means a quick, cold lunch like this one:
Prosciutto Crudo e Melone and a pseudo-Caprese Salad — this time with oregano because I didn’t have any basil, but hey oregano is still green, so the whole “colors of the Italian flag” thing still works.
Grab a chunk of Italian bread and a glass of red wine and head out onto the balcony, and all is right with the world…especially now that the old palazzo of Baron Paparo across the street from us is being freed of its scaffolding (previously attached to our house, for the past 10 years!).
I’ll be following up on this palazzo, by the way, taking some photos, posting them here, and hopefully sparking interest in wealthy investors who would like to help us (the town) restore the palazzo to its former grandeur. The first time I walked inside, I felt like I was in a scene from Titanic, when you see the ship underwater but then it magically transforms into what it *used* to be…. *le sigh*
In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might be interested, let me know! I know it would mean the scaffolding would have to go back up, but it would be *so* worth it.
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend too!
14 Beans of Wisdom to “Prosciutto e Melone, Caprese Salad, and Palazzo Paparo”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
You already have good Tomatos? grand, summer is on the way!
These aren’t *our* tomatoes, and they’re not as good as they’ll be, but they’re pretty good 🙂
.-= Joshua ´s last blog ..Sweet Coffee for Bitter Coffee Lovers: Il Caffè Sant’Eustacchio in Rome =-.
i want to dive into my flatscreen and have some of that insalata! Growing up my Mom would alternate between fresh basil and the oregano as a garnish…if roasted peppers were involved, oregano was always the garnish, with olive oil, salt, black pepper, and fresh garlic…your picture is awesome too!!
Mmm roasted peppers…now I want some of those too!
Gorgeous weather up here as well. No ocean view though…sono molto gelosa!!
I just bought some prosciutto yesterday. I need to make this salad.
I was so psyched when I saw a cantaloupe at the market…and it was delicious too!
.-= nyc/caribbean ragazza´s last blog ..Flashback Friday – Duran Duran – Rio =-.
How wealthy does that investor have to be?
This palazzo is enormous, AmyEmilia, with probably the best view in the village…my guess is we’re looking at an easy 7 figures (euros) to both buy it and fix it up.
Both that simple dish and the stonework look amazing. Perhaps I should have that for today’s Champions League final since I will be cheering for Inter Milan
Haha…auguri allora 😉
Have melone on the counter and prociutto in the fridge. The prociutto is the real deal, imported (I live in the US for now) and it costs me our children’s inheritance. However it will be enjoyed.
I never buy the fresh mozzarella here; it’s made from cow’s milk and is insipid. Once you’ve had the mozzarella di bufala in Campania, you’re spoiled for life.
Enjoy your weekend!
You’re absolutely right about the mozzarella…it’s a double-edged sword really 😉
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Such a beautiful building! Will be making this for lunch soon…tomorrow is grocery day..yum!…thanks girlie!
Enjoy Pam! I know you will 🙂
Buonissimo! Two of my favorite quick, easy and delish Italian appetizers all on one plate Enjoy!
This has been a regular lunch the past few days…yum!
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hey just catching up on my blogs and re read this post and am now going to go the fridge and get some prosciutto and bread and maybe some tomato…I have bottomless pitt today in my stomach
I’ve been having that bottomless pit a lot lately…I think maybe my metabolism has sped up with the warmer weather? I don’t ever remember that happening before I moved here though….
I think I have the same palazzo across the street from my house in Orsara di Puglia! Same railing too! Last year I could faintly see green algae through the window. Eeeeewwww! the people downstairs were then trying to locate the owner-the great grand niece of the original owner. I’m sure fixing it will cost more than it’s actually worth, but it would be beautiful. I can’t wait to arrive in late July to see if there has been any progress in the saga of the Palazzo Terlizzi! Ciao, Cristina
My fingers are firmly crossed for “your” palazzo, Cristina!
Michelle, yuuuuuuummmmmmy, it looks delicious and I could just eat it off the computer screen! I love your recipes….very healthy.
My friend and I will be visiting Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria next year for a few months so we will visit your site and find those great places you mention.
Excellent Mary! Keep me posted 🙂
I can’t wait to sink my teeth into some delicious and fresh: melon, tomatoes and mozzarella di bufala this Summer!
Woohoo! Best time of the year here for food IMHO 😉
Forgot to ask, were the wooden planks on the staging already rotting away or starting to rot? I can’t remember all of the places that we saw in Southern Italy, especially Sicily, that had staging up so long that the planks were rotting away. My daughter claimed that the new construction was stopped because there were no permits to build!
I don’t know for sure as I wasn’t here when the scaffolding went up…I’d imagine, though, that they deteriorated a lot in the last 10 years as the building was actually still in use up until probably 20 years ago (Paolo actually did “asilo” there) 😉
Thanks for publishing the nice Palazzo-pictures. It’s very sad, but all the descendents I know are not able to finance the reconstruction of the family domain – which does not belong anymore to the familia. It means first re-buy then re-construct.
Yes, a development company owns it right now from what I understand. A gorgeous building indeed.