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Recipes of the tradition: At Berlingaccio we make Berlingozzo!

Fat Thursday is the last Thursday of Carnival, before Lent, when people once allowed themselves to eat more "fattily" than usual to prepare for the Lenten fasts.On this date, the Berlingaccio, so called in Tuscany, was celebrated in Florence. The name refers in a way to the act of filling...

Recipes of the tradition: Christmas Stump Cake

It's not easy to end the Christmas lunch on a high note after tasting the most delicious family recipes. However, if you are looking for a dessert that is both tasty and beautiful to look at, you can’t go wrong with a great classic: Tronchetto di Natale (Christmas Stump).This dessert...

Curious Florence: buchette del vino

Walking down the streets of Florence you might have seen them: tiny arched shaped doors on the walls of buildings in the city center. Many wonder what they are, even some florentines don't know their history. They are called "buchette del vino" (litterally "wine holes"), closed with little wooden doors...

Recipes of the tradition: Florentine Zuccotto

Florentine zuccotto is a semifreddo liqueur dessert invented in the mid-sixteenth century by Bernardo Buontalenti, the same Buontalenti to whom we also owe the invention gelato. It is also called Caterina de' Medici’s Helmet, since it seems that originally, to make this dessert, the helmets worn by the infantry at...

Recipes of the tradition: Pan di Ramerino

Pan di Ramerino is a sweet bun typical of the Tuscan tradition, that used to be prepared on Holy Thursday. "Ramerino" is a Tuscan word from the 14th century with which the Florentines still call rosemary,  the fundamental ingredient of Pan di Ramerino, to which this preparation owes its unmistakable...

Pizza, from its origins to today

The ancestors of pizzaPizza, the most famous Made in Italy product in the world, has very ancient origins. Its first ancestor dates back to the time of the Ancient Egypt, when yeast was discovered, a fundamental ingredient for creating the dough for bread and focaccia which were then filled or...

Recipes of the tradition: Ricciarelli di Siena

In Tuscany they are much loved and are often given as gifts to friends and relatives during the Christmas period, yet no one knows the exact origin of the Ricciarelli of Siena.According to a legend, it was the knight Ricciardetto Della Gherardesca who brought back from the Crusades these sweets,...

Olio Nuovo season in Tuscany

Between October and November is the season of the Olio Nuovo or Novello (New Oil), and every Florentine lover of this green gold can't wait for this time of year to arrive in order to get a bottle of it. In fact, getting a large stock of it is no...

Autumn Recipes: Castagnaccio

Autumn is a bittersweet season. Not everyone appreciates the cooler air and the fiery colors of the changing leaves, because that means the end of hot summer days and the arrival of gray skies and rain.    From a culinary point of view though, autumn agrees almost with everyone: pumpkins, chestnuts,...

Recipes of the tradition: Pappa al Pomodoro

It is cooked with beans, cabbage, onions and finally with tomatoes: the Tuscans' love for stale bread is unparalleled. Nothing has ever been wasted in Tuscan kitchens, and when there was some left-over bread, it was reused in all possible ways. The most famous recipes of the Tuscan tradition that...

Coffee: moka or espresso?

Coffee is consumed in large quantities all over the world, but it is a known fact that Italians are particularly fond of this drink, so much so that they have made its preparation an art. Coffee beans arrived in Italy, more precisely in Venice, from the East around 1570. Initially,...

Recipes of the tradition: Peposo dell'Impruneta

Today we offer you a truly delicious and substantial dish of the Tuscan culinary tradition: Peposo dell'Impruneta. This recipe, originally from Impruneta, a village in the hills near Florence, is similar to a stew and takes its name from the copious amount of pepper that is used in its preparation. This...

Baci: the chocholates of lovers

In Italy they are a big hit, even 100 years after their creation. We mostly give them as presents for Saint Valentine’s day, but also on Mother’s Day and a variety of other occasions. In fact, we love them so much, that we eat them all year round. They are...

Carnevale desserts: Cenci

During Carnevale each of us should let go and have some fun, no more diets, but rather, it is time to indulge in sweets! That's why there are so many pastry preparations related to this period. In particular, a dessert ever present at carnival in Tuscany are "Cenci" (rags), sweet...

Panettone or Pandoro? The age-old dilemma

Nothing divides Italians more than the choice between Panettone and Pandoro, the Christmas cakes par excellence. Between the two, Panettone is certainly the one with the most ancient origins. In fact, we’re talking of a recipe that has its roots in a tradition dating back to the times of the...

Autumn recipes: Necci, the cousins of Castagnaccio

Autumn is the time for chestnuts, and Tuscan cuisine is full of dishes based on this highly nutritious ingredient, once an important source of sustenance for the poorest populations and especially for those who lived in the countryside. Among the traditional Tuscan recipes that use chestnuts, the one best known...

Recipes of the tradition: Schiacciata con l'uva

Tuscany is particularly beautiful at this time of the year. The days are getting cooler, the leaves slowly begin to change color and the warm and genuine dishes of Tuscan cuisine return to delight us. Furthermore, the harvest took place and produced, in addition to the grapes for the famous...

Tuscan summer recipes: Panzanella

Eating well in the summer can be difficult when the heat makes you want to give up cooking on the stove, but there is a traditional Tuscan dish that will solve this problem and will also stimulate the most refined palates, despite its simplicity: it’s Panzanella! A fresh and substantial...

Recipes of the tradition: Tuscan crostini neri

Tuscan crostini, also known as crostini neri (black), are the Tuscan appetizer par excellence. Exceptionally tasty, they are perfect for all seasons as they can be consumed both warm and cold, and are perfect for a light aperitif with a glass of good red wine, or as a snack before...

Recipes of the tradition: Florentine Lenten Biscuits

In the period of Lent (Quaresima in italian), that is from Ash Wednesday until Holy Thursday, in all Florentine pastry shops we find Biscotti Quaresimali, Lenten biscuits: typical cocoa biscuits connected to the period of abstinence from animal-derived foods imposed by the Christian tradition, in respect of the days of...

Traditional Carnival season recipes: Frittelle di San Giuseppe

After binge eating over Christmas it is already time to fill our stomachs again with new delicacies. It's the Carnival season! This means it is time for Schiacciata alla Fiorentina, Cenci and Frittelle di San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph’s fritters)!Tuscan sweet rice fritters (frittelle di riso) are one of the most...

The Chianti Classico Wine and its Black Rooster: a 600-year-old “logo”

Every company, every organization can’t do without a logo, a symbol to be recognized immediately, placed on  products, websites, letterheads, documents, advertising, labels, wherever possible. It has a strong evocative and commercial power and companies often invest heavily in this graphic representation to which an important industrial design sector is...

Leonardo da Vinci's wine was cloudy and hard to digest

An original letter from Leonardo da Vinci has come down to us, we try to give here a translation. It speaks of wine, the wine he himself produced in Fiesole:"From Milan to Zanobi Boni, my farm manager. 9 December 1515. The last four jars were not as expected and I...

Recipes of the tradition: Panforte

One of the most typical desserts made in Tuscany - in Siena to be exact - is panforte. A spicy and sweet cake that is consumed during the Christmas period along with the well-known panettone. This dessert has very ancient origins, it is the direct descendant of the pan melato,...

Ribollita: a symbol of Tuscan cusine

Ribollita, along with with the steak, is a symbol of Tuscan cuisine. A thick and nutritious soup characterized by simple flavors and healthy ingredients, perfect for cold winter days. Already in the Middle Ages, it was the custom for the poorest families to prepare a vegetable-based soup on Fridays, since...

Recipes of the tradition: Gnudi

Traditional Tuscan dishes never disappoint, always substantial, simple but tasty. They do not allow themselves to be corrupted by peculiar and refined ingredients, by embellishments and superfluous additions, they go straight to the point and above all to the taste! Gnudi are one of the many dishes of our territory...

The Tuscan “pane sciocco”

We can all agree that Italian bread is what dreams are made of; for us a good meal is not the same without it. But did you know that Tuscan bread is very different from the other Italian breads? Alas, for once, we’re missing something the rest of Italy isn’t:...

Recipes of the tradition: Torta della Nonna

We must admit that Tuscan cuisine is not renowned for its desserts, but the few that are part of the tradition are really special and delicious. One of them is the famous Torta della Nonna (Grandma’s Cake), everpresent on the tables of the Florentines. With a name such as this...

Tuscan traditional dishes: Schiacciata alla Fiorentina

It is known that Tuscan cuisine is a “poor” cuisine made of simple ingredients, but very tasty nonetheless and much appreciated worldwide. The typical Tuscan dishes are inked to the rural tradition and the products that come from the countryside, most of them have a story to tell. The desserts...

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