For its 10th anniversary, the Tuscan Sun Festival is introducing new culinary traditions of excellence. From June 11 to 18, the festival will bring the world’s best chefs, artists and musicians to Florence for a jam-packed week of food and culture that promises to delight all tastes. The move from the medieval hamlet of Cortona to Florence promises exciting new opportunities, among them partnerships with some of the city’s most prestigious art institutions and events with a handful of Italy’s Michelin-rated food and wine stars.
Indeed, the Tuscan Sun Festival will feature art not only at Florence’s finest cultural venues and theatres, but also from Italian kitchens.
In an attempt to tantalize the tastebuds of the Renaissance city’s ever-growing international community of foodies, a selection of events at this year’s Tuscan Sun festival will feature some of Italy’s ‘new’ culinary traditions. The menus will include a fusion of traditional and modern Italian flavors made with ingredients of only the highest quality, taking participants to a new level of fine dining as they taste dishes prepared by five critically acclaimed and Michelin-rated chefs in some of Florence’s most exclusive venues.
Two of the five chefs featured during this year’s festival are the stars of Siena’s Il Canto and Modena’s Osteria Francescana, both of which are among the three Italian restaurants that made the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2012. Bravely breaking the mold with innovative dishes, these chefs still maintain the traditional essence of authentic Italian cuisine. Chef Paolo Lopriore of Il Canto will delight even the most particular diner’s tastebuds as he challenges notions of what Tuscan food can be, meanwhile chef Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana, whose motto is ‘impossible is nothing,’ describes his kitchen as ‘tradition seen from 10 kilometres away.’ The return to old-style principles of simple, local products combined with avant-garde culinary experimentation make the festival’s five food exhibitions a ‘must see and taste.’
The festival’s other featured chefs are Davide Scabino of Combal.Zero, which made the 2011 World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and who has two Michelin stars; and chef Carlo Cracco of Ristorante Cracco, who has also been starred twice and is critically acclaimed in major Italian guides for his talent and fearless cuisine. The 2012 Friends of the Festival lunch will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, with executive chef Vito Mollica, who received his first Michelin star earlier this year. Each of the four other featured chefs will host a lunch at the chic boutique hotel J.K. Place in piazza Santa Maria Novella.
The five-course gourmet lunches will each begin with a chef’s demonstration describing in detail the concepts and techniques behind one of the dishes and the carefully chosen wine pairings. For each lunch, only 30 reservations are available, ensuring an intimate atmosphere that allows for candid discussion during the question-and-answer sessions that follow. Tickets are 250 euro and include both food and wine.
TUSCAN SUN FESTIVAL
June 11 to 18, various locations in Florence
Tickets for individual events on sale now. Visit the website for the entire program and menu lists:
CULINARY+WINE EVENTS
Tuesday, June 12
with Paolo Lopriore, head chef, Il Canto, Siena
@ J.K. Place, piazza Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Thursday, June 14
with Davide Scabin, head chef, Combal.Zero, Rivoli (Turin)
@ J.K. Place
Friday, June 15
with Carlo Cracco, head chef, Ristorante Cracco, Milan
@ J.K. Place
Saturday, June 16
Tuscan Sun Festival 2012 Friends of the Festival lunch
with Vito Mollica, head chef, Four Seasons, Florence
@ Four Seasons Hotel, Borgo Pinti 99, Florence
Sunday, June 17
with Massimo Bottura, head chef, Osteria Francescana, Modena
@ J.K. Place