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A Year in the Village of Eternity: The Lifestyle of Longevity in Campodimele, Italy
Welcome to the Village of Eternity. Campodimele, Italy, has for some time attracted the interest of the medical community: the people here lead extraordinarily long lives, enjoy low blood pressure and low cholesterol, and stay active and healthy to their last years.
What is it about this place that makes it so easy to live well and long? In A Year in the Village of Eternity...more
What is it about this place that makes it so easy to live well and long? In A Year in the Village of Eternity...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
August 16th 2011
by Bloomsbury USA
(first published August 17th 2010)
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Tracey Lawson takes on a year long food preparation and dining tour of an ancient walled city in Italy, named Campodimele. Sauces, breads, pizzas, pastas and sausages are shared in abundance. We find the smallest of occasions to gather round and have a community feast. The wood cutters are done cutting and loading wood on their ponies for the season, so lets gather up on the hill and have a community picnic! Tracey adds to this wonderful moment by adding pictures of the horses to the book.
Campod...more
Campod...more
The description of this book tells you most of what you need to know. I wanted to read it the way one might read A Year in Provence, but I couldn't do it. The Author is extremely respectful of the characters, and it isn't really about the characters as individuals --they're just all interchangeable pieces in the perfection that is Campodimele. They eat perfectly. And the data indicates that their perfect eating and lifestyle make them healthier than the rest of us.
So this is a description of a...more
So this is a description of a...more
The village of Campodimele, Italy, is known for the longevity of its residents, and also the low levels of cholesterol and blood pressure that allow the village folk to stay active and healthy even into their 80s and 90s. The author of this book spent a year in this village, and came to know the people and their traditions. The secret of their longevity seems to be eating seasonal foods based on what the land provides. The diet uses meat only occasionally. All the villagers have their own garden...more
May 26, 2012
June Pecchia
is currently reading it
I was sold on this book from the beginning, since my husband's grandfather was born in Campodimele, and his grandmother in Lenola, just a hilltop away. We visited Campodimele and saw the family home in June 2006, right before author Tracey Lawson began her stay. The village is full of friendly people and wonderful food, we know! Two places where we had wonderful meals were "La Ruela" and "E... Spunta La Luna!" (that means 'Hey... up popped the moon!"
Still, I wasn't expecting great writing to go...more
Still, I wasn't expecting great writing to go...more
Wonderful memoir and cookbook. A year spent in the village of Campodimele, Italy...where the residents have been known for their long lives, staying healthy and active into their last years. Dividing the book into the 12 months of the year, the author recounts the seasonality of the foods available to the people and the ways they are prepared. The text is peppered with Italian sayings that give life to the reading. The recipes are very simple and basic. There are numerous colored photographs of...more
Interesting look at how a small village in Lazio, Italy (between Naples and Rome, about an hour north of where I'm living) has above-average health and life expectancy rates. The author is English and is interested in how the locals have kept a traditional approach to eating what they grow or raise (or the nearby producers and farmers). The book has some themes that become a bit repetitive (even though I'm on board), but overall it's an enjoyable look at the benefits of the "super-Mediterranean"...more
This is a real treat for foodies everywhere. The book is divided into months of the year so that we follow the villagers through their year of cultivating, harvesting, preserving and sharing their food with friends and family. We become familiar with many of the villagers and the author describes the preparation, cooking and eating of the food so vividly, my mouth waters almost constantly. Sadly, the quality of ingredients available to us in the UK means that it isn't posslble to recreate most o...more
A heart warming account about 'The Real Olivio People', as Tracy Lawson spends a year in the small medieval town of Campodimele in an attempt to discover the secret to why they live to an average age of 95 and remain so active. Genes, environment, social interaction and exercise are among the factors, but Lawson concentrates on what they eat 'cibo genuino' or genuine food, which is almost totally home produced 'tutto cose nostre'. From picking the olives in January for oil to harvesting the whea...more
Step by step, this memoir takes you through each month in a year that the author lived in a small, mountainous medieval village in Italy. This town is renowned for the good health and long life of the inhabitants, mostly due to the healthy, organic, homegrown food they consume and the generous amount of physical exercise they enjoy.
For each month, there are several vignettes concerning the various food-centered traditions and recipes using seasonal foods. For example, making tomato sauce in July...more
For each month, there are several vignettes concerning the various food-centered traditions and recipes using seasonal foods. For example, making tomato sauce in July...more
A fun read about an older, hilltop town in Italy existing much as it has for centuries. The author's objective is to show how the lifestyle of the residents, (making most of their own foods..bread, chickens, gardens), and diets, (Mediterranean and seasonal), contributes to their long, healthy lives.
Recipes for all the various times of the year are included, some of which are easy to copy, others not so much..boar sausage anyone?
Recipes for all the various times of the year are included, some of which are easy to copy, others not so much..boar sausage anyone?
In A Year in the Village of Eternity, Tracey Lawson chronicles twelve months of life in Campodimele, highlighting the villagers' cooking and eating habits, which many believe are key to their long, healthy lives. Their meals are simple and wholesome, dependent on high-quality meats and cheeses, local olives, homemade pastas, and hearty legumes. Lawson provides a year's worth of recipes for cooks at home, accompanied by sumptuous illustrations and peppered with sensible health advice and transpor...more
An affirming look at a lifestyle I try to emulate, the author captures life in this small Italian town by presenting anecdotes and recipes for each month. Her intent had been to see why the townspeople experience such longevity and health and she became enamored of their lifestyle. She primarily deals with non-working people and the main meal of the day, versus a typical day. I do love that the cooking is al about proces and not recipes. A small hiccup - the intro focuses greatly on health and t...more
This book is completely satisfying. The author has organized this book by months. For each month she has written charming essays and records her experiences in a magical region of Italy. Each entry is followed by several seasonal (of course) recipes.
We might all live longer if we lived as the residents of Campodimele live. Bella fortuna!
We might all live longer if we lived as the residents of Campodimele live. Bella fortuna!
I am ready to move to Campodimele after reading this book. Yes, my father was born there so the book is full of people that I am related to. Can't wait to try some of the recipes even though I know it is not going to even be close because it's not grown in my own orto. Wonderful book!
Part cookbook, part homage to life in a small countryside village in Italy where people are passionate about eating local, in-season, preferably home produced food. Romanticised the life and of course sucked me right into thinking how wonderful it would be to be able to live like that.
Almost finished with this book. Reading it is like a drinking hot tea in a cozy chair - refreshing, peaceful, reinvigorating, inspiring. Lawson vividly describes a small Italian village-its history, its people, a simple and meaningful way of life and most importantly, its culinary marvels based on home-grown and home-made food (with recipes!). This book reminds me of my grandmother and my upbringing - large gardens, most food made from scratch, canning and preserving for winter. I love the princ...more
I loved the story of the passing seasons and the description of how centuries old tradition and food are woven together.
It was ok. The recipes were all extremely simple and anything that was actually new to me included ingredients that I could never get.
This was an interesting book, one that makes me re-think what I eat and what I cook. Though some of the recipes were not what I would make, eating simply, seasonally and locally is shown to be something that can be enjoyed, no matter where we live. And much healthier for us and the earth.
Warning, this book will make you hungry and have the intense desire to travel to Italy's countryside.
More of a lifestyle book than anything else. It is illuminating as a look into someone's else's way of life, but it is unlikely I would like to be able to live like that in my little patch.
i abandoned a few chapters in. I got the point. The book made me just want to pick up husband & children and move to an Italian mountaintop and grow my own food.
Half travel book, and half cookery book. A real pleasure to read, but makes you hungry!
May 16, 2013
Marita
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2013
Jessica Derise Zolondek
marked it as to-read
May 11, 2013
Sarah
is currently reading it
May 10, 2013
Mary
marked it as to-read
May 07, 2013
Aimee Chanhatasilpa
marked it as to-read
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