First, the picnic needs to be distinguished from the pranzo al sacco (packed lunch). The packed lunch is what Italians do when they are going hiking or cycling in the country, the meal being of secondary importance to the physical activity. A picnic is a much weightier affair. If you want to have an Italian picnic, you first have to familiarise yourself with the picnic code. To begin with, you must travel in convoy. Two cars is the absolute minimum, and these should be packed to capacity with screaming adults and their patient children, and enough food to feed everyone for a week. The boot of your car must also be stuffed with any equipment you might ever consider that you might possibly find useful. This equipment will vary according to the kind of picnic you want to have. There are three types: the Sunday lunch picnic, the barbecue picnic, and the deceptively named no-cook picnic.
You must travel in convoy. Two cars is the absolute minimum, and these should be packed to
capacity with screaming adults and their patient children, and enough food for a week
The Sunday picnic, as the name implies, is Sunday lunch outdoors. This was one of my first experiences of picnicking Italian-style, and the memories have stuck with me. I remember Giuseppe handing me a wedge of Parmesan and a grater as he emptied a packet of spaghetti into a 15-litre cauldron of boiling water while Carla spooned tomato sauce, meatballs and sausage from a tupperware container into a large saucepan. Somehow pasta takes on a completely different flavour when eaten outdoors in a beautiful setting…