Or shall we call it ‘The Richards’ ?! Instead of ‘The Champagne Oscars’ ? We want to sum-up the year of 2024 from a Champagne perspective. In 20+ categories we hand out awards for this years most memorable Champagnes & Champagne related topics!
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Dani Maison – Ischia – [ITA]
After our Spanish adventures, it was once again time for me, Ragni and my sun and beach loving still quite young children Leo and Nora to go on holiday to Ischia. A favorite that we visited for the first time back in 2018.
An island highly regarded in Italy, but unknown to most other nationalities. I think it’s a bit strange considering that the island strongly resembles the world-famous Capri and is only two miles away. This is where the Neapolitans go when they want to get away from their vibrantly beautiful, but noisy city at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.
Capri is probably to be considered even more beautiful with its even more dramatic cliffs and breathtaking views, but the wonderful gem is unfortunately overcrowded with tourists and all that that entails during high season. Ischia is about twice the size of Capri and considerably more genuine and, in my eyes, more charming with a suffocated air of history and Bella Notte romance from the 50’s when the movie stars gathered in droves at the newly opened luxury hotel Isabella Regina in Lecco Ameno.
The pace is slower and the people radiate a warmth that is like balm for the soul for us freezing northerners. However, the island is not completely tourist-free. The island has just now received a boost through the film adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s, “My brilliant friend”, which is partly set here. Most of the very largest luxury yachts run their regular route every summer starting in Ravello, Amalfi, Positano, Nerano, Il Faraglione off Capri before passing Ischia on their way to Liguria with Cinque Terre and Portofino to finally reach the French Riviera. This summer was still heavily marked by justified restrictions against the Russian oligarchs and the luxury yachts were significantly fewer. The boat that fascinated us the most was a British sailboat with a startlingly tall mast that Leo wondered how it could keep its balance if caught in a storm. It apparently couldn’t, but tragically sank, as is well known, moored in the same way outside Palermo a few weeks later.
‘Once back in Ischia, we couldn’t resist a fond return visit to Nino de Constanzo’s paradise restaurant Dani Maison.’
Richard Juhlin
Yes, I really think that the restaurant is probably Italy’s very best! Italian food culture is often at its best when it is simple and not complicated. The mother’s dishes with perfect local ingredients based on old family recipes where you have competed with the neighboring farm for generations can be heavenly good. The fine dining restaurants have a harder time impressing when they try to play French, but Nino has found that great balance in everything he does.
After our family trips of just over a month in Spain and Italy, it was really nice to come home and land in some kind of everyday-like state for a couple of days before I got holiday withdrawal which was settled with some nice champagne gatherings with good friends in my own garden and by the pool. As an old teacher with long summer vacations, I have always been so spoiled with the time off that I started to despair early on and can’t help but utter the idiotic phrase. “Summer is almost over” already when there are three weeks left in the holidays.
[visit Dani Maison – Ischia – [ITA]
