On their Italian journey last year, our world travelers, Jana andLorna, stopped by the little cafe in Montepagano and enjoyed Nutella crepes. Little did they realize that soon Chicago would boast the first stand – alone permanent Nutella cafe!
But first a little history on where Nutella came from…
Pietro Ferrero, who owned abakery inAlba, Piedmont, an area known for the production of hazelnuts, sold an initial batch of 300 kilograms (660 lb) of “Pasta Gianduja” in 1946. At the time, there was very little chocolate because cocoa was in short supply due to World War II rationing.[3]Ferrero instead used hazelnuts, which are plentiful in the Piedmont region of Italy (northwest), to extend the limited chocolate supply. This product, called “Pasta Gianduja” was originally sold as a solid block, but Ferrero started to sell a creamy version in 1951 as “Supercrema”.[4]
In 1963, Ferrero’s son Michele Ferrero revamped Supercrema with the intention of marketing it throughout Europe. Its composition was modified and it was renamed “Nutella”. The first jar of Nutella left the factory in Alba on 20 April 1964. The product was an instant success and remains widely popular.[5]
And now fast forward to May 31, 2017…
America’s first Nutella cafe opens!
People enter the cafe through a door shaped like a Nutella jar, which also includes pendants shaped like hazelnut flowers and a ceiling designed to remind customers of Nutella waves.
The 2nd floor of the cafe features a fireplace.
Their menu goes beyond sweet stuff with savory sandwiches and salads made with the hazelnut spread, including panini with speck ham from the same Italian region where the spread originated.
Nutella has held cafe pop-ups across the country but nothing permanent like this new one in Chicago. Chicago is well known for it’s flourishing food scene, so it was a top choice for the Windy City to be home to the first cafe.
So next time the guys are back in the U.S.A. those of you in Chicago, be on the look out for a famous Italiansinger who just happens to love Nutella.
You just never know who you may run into at this very cafe!!
Nutella Cafe, 189 N. Michigan Ave., (312) 729-5186, open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday; 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
For those of you from out of town, if you take the train, the Nutella Café is just a little over a mile from Union Station and about a 30 minute walk. If you walk, then you won’t feel too guilty about eating there! 🙂
Buon appetito!
Photo and story credits to Eater Chicago, Wikipedia and Facebook.
Naples…the city Gianluca so lovingly always refers to before they sing O Sole Mio! Beautiful Napoli….. This Naples concert was the last official concert of the Notte Magica tour for Italy. Next, they brave new cities and countries, like Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Poland! They will be back in Italy again in July to make special appearances at various summer festivals and events. It is never a dull moment for the guys…
As always, credit to all owners of pictures and videos….
To start out, here is a little something that Daniela sent my way…. What, did someone mention My Way??? “And now…. the end is near….and so I face the final curtain….” No, just a temporary intermission for Italy! 🙂
Last night our boys sang under the stars of this incredible city: NAPLES.
Naples is an Italian city of 970 214 inhabitants, the capital of the Campania region, the center of one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas of the European Union. It rises almost at the center of the homonymous gulf, dominated by the Vesuvius volcano
The “theater” of the concert is: Arena Flegrea, the great outdoor theater in Naples, was designed in 1938 by the young architect Giulio De Luca.
Constructed in semicircle, in the example of Greek theaters and amphitheatres, white travertine is set and conceived with great clarity and monumentality: grandeur of spaces, width of curves, rhythms and proportions of volumes and surfaces. The exterior solution is very intonate both in the atmosphere and in the traditional pictorial taste of the region and the landscape frames the complex with great harmony. The best technical equipment for a perfect stage and acoustic performance, a grand 1000 square meter stage, 16 individual dressers and a total capacity of 400 people behind the scenes, make it the ideal venue for music and outdoor performances for artists and great recall tournaments. The Arena Flegrea and the Verona Arena are among the most beautiful in Europe. With a capacity of 6,000 seats, it is the second arena concerts in Italy and one of the largest modern arenas in Europe.
Thank you, Daniela! 🙂
First let’s take a look at the happy meet and greeters!
June 8 – another magical night for the island of Malta. Malta, a small, island country, south of Sicily…. I have a very good friend of mine, who is Maltese. We met in the 6th grade. She said she was Maltese. I’m pretty sure I said, “where is that, never heard of it!” Lol! Of course, she proceeded to tell me and proudly talked about her background, her island, the capital of Valletta and the island of Gozo. Did you know there is a church there that was bombed in the war and the bomb never went off? It’s still in the church! Her parents were born in Malta, but she was born here. I fondly recall the memories of calling her on the phone after school, with her mom answering the phone…each time, it was the same…. her name was Mary Rose, although she preferred Mary. Her mom would answer….”Mar-ah-rose, it’s Jah-ha-na…” And so it went for many years, unless her little brother answered the phone – he was about 3 or 4 at the time and he answered it the same every time, “hello, who’s this?” 🙂
There were not a lot of videos or real pictures of this Malta concert, so I had to do a little digging to find what I could. Enjoy! Credit to all owners! 🙂
The “ WIND MUSIC AWARDS” and some other thoughts for this summer of Il Volo 2017.
I was pleased to view the “Wind Music Awards” presentation today and to see that our group, Il Volo, was presented with an award honoring the fact that their Notte Magica has achieved a Platinum album level of sales (meaning sales of a miniumum of 50,000).Also, in this category, Amazon lists “Notte Magica” as number one in sales. There are also some other awards they have won this year having to do with sales and honoring the fact that they are the bestGoodwill Ambassadors that Italy has ever had to the rest of the world.
During the presentation the guys sang Nessun Dorma again, which makes sense since this song has a very, very wide audience around the world – opera lovers or not. But only one song is not a good way to judge a singing performance. Usually we have 15 to 20 songs to use for source material, but I will say that the guys’ singing artistry was very fine as usual. If I were to make one tiny comment it would be that they sounded a little tired – vocally – which makes perfect sense. After all they have been on tour ever since the last part of January with only a few short breaks and further more they have more to do yet up to near the end of July. That is a lot of concerts. One good thing I noticed when they started here in the USA in February was that they are avoiding having two or more concerts back to back to back. That sort of poor planning really hurt them during the 2013 Latin America tour. If you play Trumpet and break it then you can go out to a store and buy a new one but if you ruin your voice you cannot go to the store and buy a new one. The human voice is very resilient, but sometimes we push it too far and it does not bounce back fast or, maybe, at all. The Latin singer Jose Jose is an example of that sort of thing. He can never sing again – ever. You may remember that for the Latin Grammy awards show a few years back the boys sang Jose’s “El Triste” on a program where they were giving him an honor. He received the award and could barely talk – sounded like gravel – too much over singing, too much booze, too much drugs, and too much bad living. Thus, Il Volo sang his song for him.
I have written about this already, but want to share it again. When the boys came to Las Vegas this March they had been already fighting the desert-dry throat since Los Angeles so here our people made sure that there was humidity on stage and plenty of water bottles. My point is that because of taking good care of themselves, vocally, they sang one of the best concerts of the whole USA tour. This sort of thing has to be handled and taken care of from one moment to the next through all 2 ½ hours of the concert. But these guys are very smart about handling themselves. I sat in the front row and (as a vocal coach) admired tremendously how well they adapted. The singing was SUPERB! Less well trained singers would have coughed or broken phrase or sang out of tune. I know because I have heard some very famous singers give way to exactly that.
But not our boys. They had it under control from beginning to end. This is what professional singing is all about. Not just the money. All that and the fact that this program is THE most demanding set of songs that they have ever put together for a concert. The famous tenors did this program when they were in their 50s, but our boys are doing it in their early 20s. Bravo !
We need to hope that they keep this pacing steady as they head into the next batch of concerts. I am so proud of these guys.
My two cents worth….(Jana)
On the 2nd day of their performance, the guys did a “360 loop,” opting for a change in dress from their formal wear for Nessun Dorma, to a more comfortable leather and jeans, to sing their cherished hit, Grande Amore! The guys didn’t miss a beat, battling downpours of rain – even stepping out from the stage to get a little wet – all for the love of their fans!
They were also presented with a new award this year. They received the “gold” award for audience attendance. This seemed to be calculated only using the concerts from Italy during May 2016 to May 2017. The gold range level was from 40,000 to 100,000 audience attendance. Per Daniela,
The concerts from May 2016 to May 2017 are taken into account. I believe, but it is my opinion that only Italian concerts are taken into consideration, at that time (2016) the concerts in Italian palasport had already been made, only Florence And Verona that you also saw (6000 + 12000) then concerts in 2017 in Italy but only until May, so the major ones were Torino 11.000 milano 11.000 Verona 24.000 (both night) Roma 12.000 (both nights) then others have more capes small Ancona, Roccaraso Livorno and Bologna.
Last night they were good, admirable for being differentiated from the rest of the performances and also brave to bring a piece so busy on a very light evening. They have shown yesterday that they are serious professionals, elegant, mature at their age. Today they are three boys in jeans and leather jackets, show their age, have been addicted, certainly more suitable to this type of audience, they were cool and nice.They sang under a rain shower and Torpedine accompanied them to the drum. Bravo in both cases, have shown two faces of IL VOLO, they can do it.
Thank you to Daniela who sent us the link to the show! Watch it before it is gone!
A little sad… this is from 2015 – listen how the crowd sings along 2 years ago!
This is Maria/medley from 2016 WMA:
Here are some pictures!
first award Il Volo Platnum Album Notte Magica Verona /5-6/17
att award Il Volo – Gold Award for audience attendance 6/5-6/17 Verona
Ignazio and the rain!
I think this is so cute – they are all looking at the award at the same time, the same way!
The last 3 years of memories for the WMA – what will the future hold for them next year? Only time will tell…. Maybe they will win a movie award of some kind for Notte Magica or Un Amore Cosi Grande?
We can only hope, but no matter what, they continue to soar upward and onward, setting their own flight path and no one can stop them!
Hope you enjoyed this post by Myron with a few bits from Daniela & I. Photo/video credits to all owners….
The orchestra, saying a fond farewell to the guys….
the fact that their Notte Magica has achieved a 
