If you had the good fortune to eat at Portico Italian Social Food in Sebastopol before the pandemic, you probably spent this past year hoping they’d survive to feed you again. Thankfully, Paolo Pedrinazzi and Kat Escamilla not only survived this tough year (offering wonderful take out meals), they are back. They offer inside dining in their safely distanced, but intimate, dining area, and an expanded alfresco seating in an outdoor alcove.

I was fortunate to travel in Italy several times as a presenter at the International Guitar Meeting in Sarzana. The festival was held in a medieval fortessa, where luthiers displayed handmade guitars in the cool, thick-walled rooms at the base of the fortified walls. At the end of each day we ate simple, but simply delicious, meals and drank glorious local wines.