The Milan Garden Show

I had a friend in town from Rome for the weekend (with her two-year-old daughter) so it was a good excuse to do the kinds of things that my husband won't do with me. We ate Indian food, watched 'Mary Poppins', and went to a garden show in the nearby Giardini Pubblici.


The Giardini Pubblici are always lovely but were made even more so by the gigantic trade show taking place over the weekend. Obviously, plants were for sale and we saw a huge variety of flowers (I lost track of the different types of roses), herbs, and green things. I often felt tempted to add to my balcony collection but stayed calm, remembering that we are already halfway through our time in Milan and will leave before next summer even starts.


As I am now learning, it seems to be a requirement that any show or fair have multiple booths selling food that is produced locally or typical to the region. The garden show was no exception and this olive oil vendor came well prepared with huge vats in his little truck. Still well-stocked with the olive oil I bought last fall from a colleague's family production near Salerno, I walked past - only to be waylaid by the most amazing raspberry jam. Second only to my granddad Blum's homemade jams, this was world-class.

Amazingly, the two-year-old made it several hours without complaint, perhaps distracted by all the fake animals (made of stone, metal, and topiary). Glad for an afternoon with a friend, we headed back for bedtime and movies.