LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE
Most popular
The Florentine
Food and wine in Florence and Tuscany, including food stories, restaurant reviews and wineries.
Caprese, pizza margherita and pesto: where would Italian food be without basil? It is the garnish that guarantees the provenance of your plate. But there is a great deal of science behind Italy's centuries-old art of cooking. Tiare Dunlap tells us about the molecular motives behind Liguria's
Aphrodisiacal, addictive, adds punch to any dish, has wonderful digestive properties? I needed no further convincing on a recent trip to Thailand to try chilli in my morning omelette; ...
Young gastronome Alessandro Frassica wasn't particularly attached to his main product when he opened ‘ino in 2006. His idea for the wildly popular sandwich stop was even more basic than simply putting together the tastiest panino in town: ‘I wanted to bring people and products together; the
Carnival is a time to kick up one’s heels, hide behind a mask, pretend, elaborate, and eat ‘rags.’ For most people, the greatest feature of Carnival season is the elaborate ...
Tijuana dishes up moreish Mexican fare made from the finest Tuscan ingredients, freshly made and prepped that very morning.
La gallina vecchia fa un buon brodo: ‘An old chicken makes a good broth’ is one of Italy’s time-tested aphorisms. And whether you believe that tortellini-filled-pasta parcels, usually served in ...
Here comes Christmas and the chill of the December air in Florence is sweetened with the enticing aromas of artisan bakers making Tony's Bread, pan di Toni. This famous fifteenth- century Milanese Christmas cake, known in Italian as panettone, is now the national Christmas cake of Italy. Many competing
Tradition has it that in Italy old people and children spend time in the mountains during summer so that they can breathe some healthy fresh air at higher altitudes. An even older tradition says that animals need this same treatment. Come summer, my valley-dwelling friends in Umbria-one
Italy has long been the friend of both food fanciers and wine worshippers. Yet despite this, it is also a country that is viewed with suspicion by the beer-guzzling masses beyond its borders. Beer, you see, is the world's most popular alcoholic drink, and it stirs strong rivalries
We all have our passions. Luckily enough, we live in a town that caters to them through the many festivals throughout the year: cinephiles have their 50 days, lovers of contemporary art a green laser on the Cupola of the Duomo. What do I look forward to, you ask? With
Tuscan hunting season is officially open. With about 100,000 hunters renewing their licences annually in the region alone, hunting here is serious business. And, with locals from Momigno (population 1,000), a small town on the way to Femminamorta in the hills above Pistoia, the cinghiali (wild boar), don'
By now, many have become familiar with the Cibrèo restaurants in Florence and their charismatic and talented founder, renowned chef Fabio Picchi and his wife, acclaimed actress Maria Cassi. On the surface, the Teatro may simply seem a unique eatery, open at all hours and offering a theatrical
If bread is the staff of life, then some bread is la dolce vita-the sweet life. Around the time of the vendemmia in Tuscany, I like making schiacciata con l'uva, a Florentine dessert made with bread dough, red wine, olive oil, rosemary and grapes. Made only during grape
Italy is as famous for pizza as it is for design. Over the summer, I went to Gaeta, where I once lived, to see old friends-and to eat pizza. Pizza-making in Gaeta is an art. Situated on the Mediterranean coast 90 kilometres north of Naples, Gaeta also
Undeniably one of Florence's best restaurants-for the quality of the food, the vast selection of wines and the inviting atmosphere-the very cosmopolitan Santo Bevitore is really just a friendly neighbourhood eatery and drinkery located in the heart of the Santo Spirito area. Childhood friends who grew
My latest consulting job finds me working for a prince in a palace surrounded by olive groves and vineyards. Among horses and children, fields of green grass and gardens, I am organizing traditional Tuscan gourmet picnics, lunches and cooking classes to offer in the restaurant and wine-tasting room. I
This will be my fourth summer in Maine. When I first set foot in Maine, two friends of mine, Berno and Laura Hamilton, welcomed me into their home, a cottage behind a row of pine trees off the Sommes Sound. Berno drove me around the island in an old-fashioned
I went downstairs to eat at Fuori Porta the other day and was lucky enough to find my friend Donald walking in the door with some free time for an aperitivo. We enjoy chatting about politics, the weather (and how Italians always talk about politics and the weather), but our
Of all tourists, wine tourists are among the most discerning, and Italy is hosting more and more of them, from all over the world. According to a report prepared by market researchers, Censis, and presented at Bit 2010, the International Tourism Exchange in Milan, approximately six million wine lovers toured
My mother was pregnant with me the day her father took her to visit the kitchen of the cargo ship where he was working as the crew cook. My mother, being weak-stomached, immediately fell ill from the dense smell of paint, petrol, salt, moisture and fried onions in the
With spring well under way and with the puntarelle season now finished, it is time to start planting my garden for spring and summer fare: cetrioli, melanzane, pomodori, pomodorini, basilico, zucchine, cipolle rosse, and more. When the plant seller I recently visited at Sant'Ambrogio market asked if I
Fresh peas are the true sweet stars of this season! They begin to appear up now, with the first warm days after the rain. Bright green and tender, they are newborn peas with an irregular shape, some even pressed as they are not yet strong enough to support the pressure
It was an unusually warm day in February when I set out with my two roommates in search of La Raccolta, a vegetarian restaurant and specialty store here in Florence. We headed east from the city center and walked arm-in-arm, passing a picturesque park and ornate apartment buildings.
You know it is the last gasp of the artichoke season when the large, round, flat mammole and romani appear on the produce tables at the market. Mammole, the sweetest kind of artichoke, are purple with heart-shaped petals. Also the biggest artichoke, their tight, fat leaves hide a large
