Italian
Convenor: Nuala Baxter 9050 8515
Tutor: Annabella Noviello About
Improvers group meet: Thursdays at 11am-
The next session of classes will begin in late May WATCH THIS SPACE.
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Italian Beginners.
Tutor: Loiri Moreo
Beginners group meet: Tuesdays 9.30-11.00
Italian beginners will potentially continue but only if there are a few more members taking it up. Loiri cannot continue unless there are more in the class. Please contact Karen if you are interested in joining. It’s on Tuesday mornings 9.30-11.00
10 week course costs £30
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The group are planning two trips to Italy one in May and one in November, and would be happy for any interested people to join them on these trips. See at the end of the page.
In November 2017, the East Antrim U3A Italian Group spent a wonderful week in Italy, at the Friuli Venezia Giulia Food and Wine event. Our guide Annabella Noviello, our Italian Tutor, is a native of Trieste and has an intimate knowledge of the Friulian Region. This region is close to the Austrian border and has an interesting history but that’s for another day.
The travel arrangements were very well organised and the accommodation was excellent.
The itinery was detailed and planned to provide us with a comprehensive daily schedule. A coach was laid on for our exclusive use.
During our trip, we visited many local wineries and learnt a lot about the local winemaking industry.
In the evening we dined at some of these establishments where we were treated to many local dishes.
One of the highlights was a visit to Rosazzo Abbey, which is now tastefully converted to a cellar/winery, but has managed to retain some of the original cellars where again we were treated to some very fine wines accompanied by an entertaining and enlightening talk on the winemaking process. We then had a stroll around the magnificent grounds before heading back to the coach to visit another winery, where we had a gourmet dinner – with matching wines of course!
The visit wasn’t all eating and drinking though. Annabella had organised a visit to the most important world famous Mosaic International School in Spilimbergo, which draws students from all over the world. We felt very priveleged to have the opportunity to observe students at work in the workshops, and admired the skill with which they produced such beautiful art.
Also on the itinery, was an interesting visit to a factory which produced Prosciutto ham. We had the opportunity to sample this delicious ham during lunch in their restaurant.
Other highlight were: A fascinating tour of Venzone which is an ancient town entirely rebuilt stone by stone after the earthquake in 1976.
A James Joyce Trail guided tour which took place in Trieste.
A tour of the ancient Roman Port of Aquileia where we could wander around and see all the interesting artifacts and visit the ancient church:
A visit to an authentic bakery which produced a sweet bread called Gubana to the original recipe:
We had the opportunity to watch this bread being made and to sample it after it had been baked.
All in all, this was a great trip and an opportunity, thanks to Annabella, to see an Italian Region which is less well known, but gave us a true ‘Taste of Italy’
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Due to the resounding success of our first Italian trip, Annabella and the Italian Group plan to have another one this year and would like to invite other group members to join us.
Those who are interested, please contact our office in Nelson Street, or alternatively contact Annabella or an Italian Group member, if you would like to sign up to this event.