April the 6th is a time to remember the people of L’Aquila and celebrate a culture whose splendid cuisine continues to recapture the spirit of ‘home’, whilst so many are still in differing forms of ‘temporary’ accommodation following the earthquake in 2009.

Photography Competition to Celebrate L’Aquila Post the Earthquake

We’re holding a photography competition with 3 fantastic prizes for food lovers that celebrate the province of L’Aquila’s scrumptious cooking style and divine ingredients.

Local dishes combine a cornucopia of delicious local & seasonal ingredients from the high meadow grazed lamb that provides a simple grilled brace to  the regional speciality the arrosticini, succulently morish skewers of salty mutton which were and still are a favourite of Abruzzo shepherds, as well as most children & parents! Ewes’ milk produces the slightly salty, sharp, delicate pecorino cheese, which becomes food of the gods when combined with chestnut honey.

Bitter-sweet Navelli saffron-based sauces glaze fat ravioli stuffed with ricotta, walnuts or pistachio, whilst silky chitarra is paired beautifully with either wild mushrooms and shavings of local black truffle or the sweetest glistening sugo sprinkled of metabolism-boosting peperoncini.  There are organic nutty lentils (lenticchie) that grow on arid ledges up to 1450 masl of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, the hilltop town 17 km down the road from the actual city of L’Aquila, and who lost their historic Medici Tower in the earthquake.

Families themselves or the family butcher create taste sensations from the addition of fennel, chilli & orange in ventricina & fegatazzo  (liver sausage); peardrop-shaped scamorza, a local variation of mozzarella, whose smoked variety melted onto a slice of prosciutto is nothing short of bliss.  We could go on & on but must stop…

There are 3 wonderful prizes that you can win, all of which celebrate the cuisine & artisan gastronomy of L’Aquila:

1st Prize – Dinner or lunch for 2 at the boutique medieval restaurant, Locanda sotto gli Archi, owned by Sextantio in Santo Stefano di Sessanio and acclaimed by the likes of The Guardian for “taking restoration to new heights”; valid for 1 year.

2nd Prize – Artisan Cheese Basket from Marcelli Formaggi – a beautiful cheese  basket with a selection of award-winning organic pecorino & smoked ricotta cheeses made at La Porta dei Parchi who provided the cheeseboard to the leaders of the G8 Summit last July; read a full review about the company in The Washington Post.

3rd Prize – Breaking Bread in L’Aquila by Maria Filice – the highly acclaimed new Italian cook book published on the 6th April.  The book’s net profits will be generously donated to the fund whose goal it is to make L’Aquila European Cultural Capital 2019, and ensure that the city is restored in a timely & appropriate fashion.  Read our review; as has been said “relief has never been sweeter”!

Two ways to upload

Facebook

Visit the LifeinAbruzzo page on Facebook and log in with your Facebook account.  Once you “Become a Fan” of LifeinAbruzzo on Facebook, you will be able to post your Celebrating L’Aquila photos on LifeinAbruzzo’s Wall.  On the LifeinAbruzzo  fan page on Facebook, click inside the “What’s on your mind?” box; an option to add photos will appear.  Please include Celebrating L’Aquila at the bottom into you caption so that we know your submitted photograph is for consideration for the competition.

Flickr

Log in with your Flickr account, upload your Celebrating L’Aquila photo to the LifeinAbruzzo Flickr Group and Tag it with “celebratinglaquila” to add it to the Celebrating L’Aquila photo gallery.  As soon as it has been approved it will be available for all entrants & fans of Lifeinabruzzo to view.

Uploading your photo into the Celebrating L’Aquila Photo Contest indicates that you have read and understood the Photo Contest Rules and are knowingly & voluntarily participating in the Celebrating L’Aquila Photography Competition.

Photos will be judged by the LifeinAbruzzo team on creativity, spirit, uniqueness, and on the extent that they capture the food & flavours that define L’Aquila, as well as taking into consideration comments on Facebook & Flickr by fans & followers.

The first place winner will win a dinner for 2 at Locanda sotto gli Archi, the second place winner will receive an artisan cheese basket by Marcelli Formaggi, the third place winner will receive a copy of Breaking Bread in L’Aquila, the new cookbook by Maria Filice.  Please note due to Australian restrictions on the import of raw milk cheeses we will be unable to award the 2nd prize to any entrants from this country.

You must be 18 or older to upload photos to enter into the contest.  Only legal guardians of minors (persons 18 years & younger) may submit and upload photos in which a minor appears.   Photos entered must be in good taste and will be removed from posting and from the contest if judged inappropriate by LifeinAbruzzo.

Entries must be uploaded to Facebook or Flickr between April 6th  and midnight on 18thApril 2010.  Winners will be notified with a message via their Facebook or Flickr account.

Uploading your photo to Facebook or Flickr designates your entry into the photo contest. Photos entered could subsequently be used in other means of communication (including  marketing efforts and advertising via Web, print, video, audio or television) by LifeinAbruzzo, Locanda sotto gli Archi, Marcelli Formaggi & Telos’ Food & Fate Publishing.

Uploading your photo into the Celebrating L’Aquila Photo Competition indicates that you have read and understood the above rules and are knowingly and voluntarily participating in the Celebrating L’Aquila Photo Competition.

Author: Sam Dunham

Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 11 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance travel and food web content manager and copywriter and EFL teacher - she is the founder of English in the Woods. She is the co-founder of the social enterprises: The Abruzzo Blogger Community and Let's Blog Abruzzo. She is currently writing the book 'Abruzzo: Folk and Food.