photo and copyright by manfredi
bellati
Carbonera: Tesa dei Tiepolo –
Agricultural Folklore – Panevin. In the fields of the park of the sixteenth
century Villa Tiepolo Passi near Treviso, just north of Venice, the Panevin
bonfire party took place. In Northeastern
Italy, the celebration Panevin or bread and wine, is held on the evening of
January fifth, the eve of the Epiphany. Traditionally a straw witch dressed
with old clothes, is placed on a bonfire and burned to ash. The witch
symbolizes the past and the direction of the smoke indicates whether the New
Year is going to be a good one or a bad one agriculturally.
Host Alberto Passi lights the
bonfire.
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. From the direction of
which the smoke and the sparks take, it will determine the favorable or the unfavorable
auspices for the New Year. The Nursery
Rhyme in Veneto dialect tells the story:
Se ‘l fumo
va a marina
bondansa de farina!
Se ‘l fumo va al mare
Ghe xe tanto da penare!
Se ‘l fumo va a montagna
‘a saran a gran cucagna!
El fumo verso sera
Tanta poenta s’a caliera!
El fumo a matina
Tote el saco e va a farina!
If the
smoke goes towards the harbor,
an abundance of flour!
If the smoke goes to the sea,
much to suffer!
If the smoke goes to the mountains,
it will be a great year!
The smoke goes towards evening,
a lot of polenta in the pot!
The smoke goes towards morning,
gather the sack and go search for
flour!
Hostess Barbara Passi.
Bright young aristos. Engineer in
the works Cristina Franchin and events organizer Lucia Passi.
Bright young aristos. Multimedia
developer specialized in museum installations Luigi Tommaseo Ponzetta and The
Guardian’s Rebecca Turner.
A waiter brings, from the Tesa dei
Tiepolo, hot vin brule to warm the guests in the field around the bonfire.
Bright Young Things*. Former graphic
designer Valentina Pietrobon now owns and runs, during the season, a bar,
restaurant and disco on the Baia Cea beach in Sardinia called, Mi casa Es TuCasa.
Contessanally note: Bright Young
Things*is the title “borrowed” from Brooke
De Ocampo’s book about young entrepreneurs in New York and London, published by
Assouline.
Bright Young Things. Chef Andrea
Conte and Ruth Morehouse who heads up the Menwear design team at Benetton.
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. The bonfire of Panevin has a
purifying meaning; it clears all the evil and the old things of the past year,
paving the way for the new and a rebirth.
Children watch the flames of the
bonfire.
photo and copyright by manfredi
bellati
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. The Tesa dei Tiepolo is the former hayloft
and cowshed building of the Villa Tiepolo Passi. It has been restructured to serve as a venue for
elegant parties, receptions and weddings and is available for rental. It was here that the Panevin party was held
with rustic traditional food, as the occasion requires.
photo and copyright by manfredi
bellati
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Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. In the cowshed of the Tesa dei Tiepolo the
befana is hung. In Italian folklore the befana
is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on the Eve of
the Epiphany. She fills their socks with candy and presents if they are good or
a lump of coal or dark candy if they are bad.
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin – Pinza #1. “This cake is from Veneto region: It's traditionally made
the Twelfth Night 's eve and it's eaten coming home from the bonfires. The cake
is dense and moist, made with paysan "poor" ingredients.” Nigella
Lawson.
Nigella’s Recipe: Pinza Veneta (Meal FlourCake from Veneto)
Ingredients:
300 g meal flour (farina gialla) - 200 g flour -
200 g
butter, softened
- 200 g sugar - 50 g sultanas, soaked in some aniseed liqueur
- 10 dry figs, cut in small pieces -
1 apple cut in small pieces -
1 tbsp
aniseeds - 1 tsp baking powder.
Method:
1. Put the meal and white flours in a pan with sugar.
Add hot water and cook to obtain quite a stiff polenta.
2. Keep on mixing and after 20 minutes add the butter,
sultanas, liqueur, aniseeds, dry figs and apples.
3. Cook for a further 20 minutes, always stirring the
mixture
4. Pour in a rectangular cake tin lined with wet
greaseproof paper and cook in the preheated oven at 170 until brown on the
top.
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin – Pinza #2. Another Pinza made with another type of
flour. The cake was served with
Mascarpone and/or Mostarda Veneta, made by the Contessa Passi herself. Mostarda Veneta is a sweet-spicy fragrant mixture that contains whole
pieces of candied fruit and is ideal served with festive cakes, Panettones or
boiled meats.
Bright young aristos. J.P. Morgan’s
London based Giovanni Ciani Bassetti, journalist Gaia Passi and Montcler’s
worldwide entertainment and events manager Gian Luca Passi. Giovanni and Gian
Luca also produce the Fiol wine label, made with grapes from their family
vineyards. “We
are a group of friends, wine enthusiasts, in love with Italy and Italian wines,
with a passion for Prosecco. We live and travel around the world and we all
came to the conclusion that nothing out there truly embodied what Prosecco is
for us.” They state. The name Fiol
comes from the 1400s Venetian slang used by the young to address the "cool
guy".
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. Contessa Barbara’s Cotognata is made with quince
from the Villa Tiepolo Passi agricultural estate, where they are grown using
completely natural methods. Cotognata, preserves, candied fruits, piquant,
sweets and Mostarda Veneta are prepared using an ancient Venetian process which
dates back to the 1300s and is a specialty of the Villa Tiepolo Passi.
Bright young aristos. Florentine based antiquaire Aloisia Marzotto
Caotorta, Marco Passi who takes care of the family Palazzo Tiepolo in Venice, a
charming B & B on the Gran Canal, architect Raquel Pedrali designs Italian
furniture in China for the Chinese market and Luca Innocenti who runs the
Colombini furniture domestic market and finance department in Bejing, China.
Cute
Coco enjoys the party too.
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. A mix of radicchio salad leaves
from Treviso and a cream of lentils for good luck at the beginning of the
year was served. This hearty rustic dish is
traditionally served with fagioli or beans (rather than lentils) and should be
topped with a splash of vinegar.
Tesa dei Tiepolo: Panevin. Last but not least, the befana who
is usually portrayed as an old lady riding a broomstick and wearing a black shawl.
Being a good housekeeper, many say she will sweep the floor before she leaves.
To some the sweeping meant the sweeping away of the problems of the year.