Spritz and Grits: a podcast by Sally Tucker and Mary Gray

Recorded prior to the 2020 US presidential election results and amid Italy's second wave of Covid, this episode features reflections on our takeaways from Italy's spring lockdown, our memories of experiencing the November 2016 election in Florence, and our hopes for the future. Heaviness here is served with a side of bubbly (always).

Food Person extraordinaire, fellow existentialist, and "somm lady" (get it? A female sommelier–but also "just some lady") shares her insights on why Italy pulls us in, why Picasso would make a perfect dinner guest, and how her half Iranian heritage affects her pantry. (Among other topics!)Learn more about Coral and food culture in Florence and beyond on her website.Our apologies for the mild mic issues in this episode.

We go a little off the rails in this rowdy episode with our friend and fellow American abroad, Eric Millman, an erudite, currently Florence-based film scholar and writer who would happily opt for a mushroom suit when that time comes.Since recording this episode, Eric has launched non-literary literary mag Perdigiornale, a "journal for enlightened hobos," with his co-conspirator Fede[rico] Poggiali (aka Sally's husband).  Eric's first book, the travelogue Pearl and Pavement: Unwashed America from a Magical Chool Bus, is available from The Place that Shall Not Be Named. You can learn more about his work and scholarship on his website.Also, Mary would like to give a disclaimer for the three people that might actually care that she knows Marcello Mastroianni wasn't actually in I Vitelloni.  And she will also make a disclaimer on Eric's behalf that he knows Star Wars and Annie Hall date from 1977, not 1997. No Spritzes were consumed in the recording of this episode, obviously...

Carthusian monasteries, Chianti wines, polarizing Italian figures, Moorish castles, outlet malls and Spritzy bits all collide in this episode exploring Tuscan autumn through the lens of a day we spent "in the wild."Tiny disclaimer: we share some thoughts on the kaleidoscopic Sammezzano Castle in a non-chronological fashion. If you were to follow the itinerary we lay out in this episode, the Certosa di Galluzzo, not the castle, comes just after the Allori Cemetery.

Two friends who met in Florence, both thirty-something women hailing from the southern United States, get down to the "nitty gritty" and solve all the world's problems (read: shoot the breeze over Spritzes and introduce themselves by way of interview). Like a slinky little black dress paired with magenta patent leather combat boots, they're (we're) good old "basics with a twist.""Tuck" away tour guide Sally's info for your next trip to Italy: here's her website. (Instagram: @tuckedawaytravels)Browse Mary's writerly portfolio and virtual course offerings on hers. (Instagram: @VeryMaryGray)