Terronia: Discovering the wines of Italy's lesser-known regions

What if I told you that the Italian wines you know and love barely even scratch the surface of Italian wine culture?

For nearly 20 years, Silvestro Silvestori has been teaching international visitors about food and wine at his culinary school in Puglia, a fascinating region on Italy's heel. 

Silvestro has welcomed students from 59 countries to The Awaiting Table, and I was one of them. What makes his approach unique, both from an international and local perspective, is Silvestro's passionate commitment to inspiring a different kind of tourism.

Silvestro offers a new way of thinking about Italian food and wine, connecting schools of thought that are often disconnected.

​"I love teaching the relationships between disciplines, because in wine you can understand everything here in southern Europe." Silvestro explains how wine allows us to understand history, geography, cuisine, cultural identity, even economics. "I wish someone would have taught like this when I was growing up."

Silvestro's different classes immerse visitors into authentic experiences, such as shopping for fresh ingredients and local wine at small grocers, making regional dishes from scratch, picking olives and learning about olive oil, making and bottling homemade tomato sauce. But underlying each of these experiences is Silvestro's main goal: to highlight what makes lesser-known places in southern Italy special, while reinforcing tourism in an authentic way that allows regional industries to thrive long-term.

Silvestro never stops learning and researching. In his downtime every year, he spends two months travelling the south by bicycle to research southern Italian wine and to learn directly from local producers. It was on those bicycle trips that Silvestro realized that so much of what he wants to teach cannot possibly be summarized on a chalkboard in a class. Instead, he felt inspired to create a television series to bring the intricacies of southern Italy to us, straight into our homes. 

Silvestro's passion for video is not a secret. For years, I've been a fan of his short educational films on different facets of the region. Through Silvestro's creativity and compelling storytelling, I've learned about topics like rosè, baroque architecture, wine tasting, how to read an Italian wine label, how to choose a knife, how to make orecchiette, and how geology influences wine. 

I can't wait to see where his Terronia episodes will take us, how they will enchant us and make us yearn to discover these unique regions in a meaningful, sustainable way.

Silvestro has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to fund part of his ambitious project. I invite you to watch his trailer and read all about his project on his campaign page. If you're passionate about authentic travel and Italian culture, you can back his project and select a "perk" based on the grape that inspires you!

I have no doubt that Silvestro's creativity and multidisciplinary teaching style will leave a lasting impression on anyone who watches his Terronia series.
​Silvestro: I wish you the best in this passionate endeavor!

From my heart to yours,
Kristina