Bella Figura Quotes

“tumbling over balconies and walls, and, cutting through the green patch of the Piazza Demidoff, I passed a profusion of lilac bushes that had suddenly sprung up out of a corner, their sweet smell dispersing the usual stink of dog pee. The four-petalled flowers were so pretty I plucked a few and carried them home, clamped to my nose. As I left the green I saw a long stem of pale lavender giaggiolo straight as a sword, surrounded by blade-like leaves. Spring was coming. I was sure la mamma was right, everything had its season.”
― Kamin Mohammadi, Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way

“There were cut vegetables placed next to a bowl of a dressing so delicious I asked him what was in it. ‘Pinzimonio,’ he told me proudly. ‘It couldn’t be easier. You take olive oil – the good stuff of course – and you mix it with either balsamic vinegar and salt, or, as I have done tonight, with lots of lemon juice, some very fine pieces of garlic, and sea salt. Delicious, no? That way you can eat your celery every day – you know celery is a food of the gods?’ I had never been particularly fond of celery but, dipped in copious amounts of pinzimonio, I thought I could probably bear to eat it every day.”
― Kamin Mohammadi, Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way

“Christobel had warned me of Stendhal syndrome, the well-known condition affecting visitors to Florence who actually became ill from a surfeit of beauty, and on packing for Florence I had slipped in plenty of tissues.”
― Kamin Mohammadi, Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way