Freya's Florence

THE FABULOUS DISHES OF MILAN

2012-02-26T00:50:00.004+01:00

Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - a common meeting place for the Milanese

Milan is not usually the first city which springs to mind when thinking about food in Italy. However, like every other area in Italy, Milan has some fabulous dishes, ones that have interestingly acquired international fame without necessarily being associated with their origin. Here are some of the most important:

One of the most famous signature dishes of the city is the risotto alla Milanese, characteristically yellow from its star ingredient, saffron.

Risotto alla Milanese

Saffron is a spice which comes from the flower commonly known as the Saffron Crocus. Each stem carries up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas.

Saffron Crocus

Together with the stalks that connect the stigmas to their host plant, the dried stigmas have been used for centuries in various cuisines as a seasoning and colouring agent, as well as a dye for materials. It is native to southwest Asia and was first cultivated in Greece. It is one of the world’s most costly spices in weight, as the flower’s stigmas need to be collected by hand. One thousand five hundred flowers are needed to make one kilo of saffron spice. Iran now cultivates 90% of the world’s saffron.

Saffron fields in Iran

In the 1300s, rice was extensively cultivated in the area around Naples. Due to the close political and parental relations between the Aragonese in Naples, and the rulers of Milan (the Visconti ruled Milan during the years 1277-1477, and afterwards the Sforza family) rice plantations made their way to northern Italy, where the plain of the Po river was particularly conducive to its success in cultivation. Risotto alla Milanese, which combines both saffron and rice, is thought to have originated in the 1500s. There are some fantastic legends explaining its origin. One of them tells of a very well known and talented glass maker from Flanders who had been called to Milan to work on the windows displaying the cycle of Saint Helen for the cathedral, who had a very talented young craftsman in his workshop, particularly talented in the rendering of colours. His nickname was ‘saffron’ as he put a tiny dose of the plant into the vitreous paste to achieve a brilliant yellow. When his master’s daughter was getting married, in order to increase the magnificence and spectacle at the wedding feast, he did the same for the risotto as for the stained glass windows and added some saffron to the rice, and the rest is history!

Costoletta alla Milanese (called cotoletta alla Milanese by the locals) – is another one of the staples of Milanese cuisine. The name means ‘little rib’ because of the rib that remains attached to the meat during and after cooking. The veal cutlet is breaded and browned in butter.

Costoletta alla Milanese

This of course immediately reminds many of us of the Weiner schnitzel.

Milan, as well as most of northern Italy, was under Austrian rule for most of the 18th and 19th centuries, after the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which ended the war of the Spanish succession and assigned Spain’s Italian possession to Austria. Both the northern Italians and the Austrians exchanged cultural and culinerary practices. It is maintained that the Austrians imported the cotoletta alla Milanese to their native land, and not the other way round. The Weiner Schnitzel (Viennese Schnitzel) differs in that there is no bone, and it is thinner and typically crunchier.

Weiner Schnitzel - the Viennese schnitzel

The cotoletta a orecchio di elefante (elephant ear cutlet) is a slight variation also found in Milan, using a thinner larger cut of meat, deboned and tenderized prior to frying. It is called ‘elephant ear’ due to its shape.
Ossobuco – the name translates into 'bone with a hole’, a reference to the marrow hole on the centre of the cross-cut veal shank.

Raw cross cut veal shank showing the marrow bone

It was first documented in the 1800s. Most recipes start by browning the veal shanks in butter (some recommend vegetable oil or lard) after dredging them in flour. The braising liquid is usually a combination of white wine and meat broth flavoured with vegetables. The shanks are cooked in a low heat for 1-1.5 hours. Five minutes before the end of the cooking time, the gremolata is added (a chopped herb condiment of parsley, lemon zest and garlic). Ossobuco is often served with risotto alla Milanese, or creamy polenta.

Ossobuco with risotto alla Milanese

Cassoeula – is a great winter dish. It is a thick hearty pork, sausage and cabbage soup.

Cassoeula

Variations with the pork cuts can occur depending upon taste (trotters, ribs, rind, head, intestines) and sometimes, in the countryside, variations of the type of meat such as chicken or goose. Either way, they all share the common ingredient of cabbage.

Finally, the national Italian Christmas cake, the Panettone, is originally from Milan.

Panettone

One charming story as to the origins of this traditional Christmas cake dates to 1495, when the head cook of Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, having too many things to organise for the sumptuous Christmas dinner for the duke and his guests, burnt the cake that was for dessert. A kitchen hand, called Toni, had made a cake that morning with the remains of the ingredients used for all the other meal’s dishes (flour, butter, egg, lime peel and some raisins. Toni presented his creation to the cook, who in desperation took the strange cake, in the shape of a large bread loaf, to the duke’s table. Proving to be a huge success, all the guests wanted to know the name, to which the chef replied that it was ‘Toni’s bread’ or Pan di Toni, which morphed, over time, into panettone.
Another explanation for the origin of panettone is documented by Count Pietri Verri, who described the ceremony of the breaking of bread that both rich and poor families would perform at Christmas time. The ‘ceremonia del Ceppo’ would be when the whole family would gather together and the head of the family would break a loaf of bread into pieces, enough for each member, so that all would share from the same loaf, symbolic of the strong family ties which bind all together. The poor man’s bread was made from millet (pane di miglio, called ‘pan de mej'), and the bread of the wealthy and nobility was white bread (called micca). It was decided however that on Christmas day everybody should use the same bread as in the Ceremonia del Ceppo, as a symbol of equality and togetherness. This bread, made from butter, pure flour and sugar was called the pan de’ sciori or pan de ton meaning the luxury bread. In 1919, Motta, the Milanese company, produced the first industrial panettone.

TIMELESS WISDOM AND A WARNING TO ALL POLITICIANS FROM THE MEDIEVAL SIENESE

2012-02-18T02:57:00.000+01:00

Security, holding a proclamation and overseeing the countryside on the outskirts of Siena, with peasants working the fields and noblemen riding ( c.1337) detail from Good Government fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Siena is, historically, the closest great rival to the Republic of Florence. The families of the two wealthy banking republics vied for the role of papal bankers during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as well as fighting it out on the battle field, before Florence rose supreme. After a brutal siege which began in 1554 and lasted nine months, the Sienese surrendered to Duke Cosimo de Medici and the Spanish Imperial troops who were camped around the city and who had been starving the Sienese to death. Shortly afterwards, Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence, became Duke of Florence and Siena.

Cosimo de Medici's triumphal entry into the newly conquered city of Siena, pedestal bronze bas-relief on the equestrian sculpture in the piazza della Signoria by Giambologna, 1590s.

From the thirteenth century Siena had been a wealthy republic with a developed government body. She made her wealth from the trade generated from the via Francigena (the ‘French road’, as called by the Italians because it lead them to France, called by the French the via Romea, as it lead them to Rome - it was the highway from northern Europe to Rome) which ran straight through the city.

Map of the via Francigena as documented in his diary by the Archbishop of Cantebury, Sigeric, in 990.

The Sienese became money lenders and merchants to an international community. The high road of Siena is indeed called banchi di sopra which translates into 'the banks of the high road'. By the thirteenth century, Siena was a wealthy city-state and of course began to invest in the urban landscape. The remodelling of their cathedral had already begun the century before as well as the building of their government building – the two most important centres of the city. They are both splendid displays of the sophistication of the city during this period.

The cathedral of Siena

The town hall of Siena

Inside the town hall of Siena is one of my most favourite fresco cycles. The Good and Bad Government cycle was commissioned by the Republic of Siena to one of their leading painters, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, for the walls of the room where the Council of Nine, the highest and most important government elected body at the time in the Republic, met to discuss matters of state in private.
Lorenzetti finished the cycle of freschi parlanti (called speaking frescoes due to their highly communicative nature) in 1339, as can be read in the border below of one of the three major scenes.

The room isn’t overly large and the exquisite allegorical cycle covers three of the four walls. Each wall depicts a complex scene: an allegory of Good Government virtues and characteristics represented by personifications, The Good City urban landscape, and thirdly, The Bad Government and City. The remaining fourth wall, with the only window, looks down onto the town hall square below, and provides a reminder to the Council of Nine of the civic responsibility entrusted to them.

On the opposite wall to the window is the allegory of Good Government, a series of personifications of the virtues and objectives which represent, allegorically, what the priorities and moral ethic should be of all those involved in governing.

Allegory of Good Government fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Sala dei Nove

The inscription of the personification is written in Latin above. Sapentia (wisdom), with her book in hand, holds the scales of Justice which are regulated by Justice herself, seated below. There are two equally important parts, distributive and communitive justice. Two ropes descend below the scales which are entwined by Concordia (harmony), who in turn passes the unified rope to a series of twenty four men, of equal standing, who represent the general assembly of Siena. They pass the rope up to the personification of the Common Good (or, Good Government), who is dressed in the Sienese national colours, black and white, with the initials CS and CV on either side of his head, Commune of Siena, city of virtue. Above are the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity) and on either side are the four cardinal virtues (temperance, justice, prudence, fortitude) along with two additions seemingly considered of equal standing by the Sienese, peace and magnanimity.

The Good City

The Good Countryside

The next wall, ‘The Good City', shows the effects on a city if governed according to the principles of the Good Government. The shops are full, business is booming, the school is full of attentive students, the city is expanding with extra levels being added onto the existing buildings. There are nine women dancing in the street in time to the beat of one tamborine, who symbolically represent the rhythm and harmony which resonate in the city when the Council of the Nine have the common good as their priority. This allegorical ideal city becomes all the more local when the religious centre is noticed in the top left hand corner with black and white striped campanile and duomo. Outside the city’s walls is Security, flying high and overseeing the countryside which is booming with bountiful harvests and plump wildlife.

On the opposite wall, however, doom and gloom reign, the only possible outcome when Tyranny takes place of Good Government.

Bad Government

This wall has both the allegorical representations of Bad Government as well as the fall-out in the effects on the city and countryside in one continuous scene, rather than separated over two walls.

Allegorical representation of Bad Government

On the left of Tyranny is Cruelty (tormenting a baby with a snake), then comes Treason (a man holding a lamb with a scorpion’s tail) and Fraud (a woman with bats wings and claws as feet). On the right hand side is, from the far right, War (holding a shield), Division (cutting herself in half) and Fury (a wolf). Above Tyranny, where the theological vitues were above Good Government, are from the left, Greed, Pride and Vainglory. At the feet of Tyranny is Justice, bound and with her regulating scales broken at her feet.

The effects of Bad Government on the city are disastrous. Where there had been renovation and expansion there is now only disrepair and abandonment. The shops and schools are empty, the only craft flourishing is the blacksmith making weapons. People are being knocked down in the street and arrested without Justice. Outside the walls is Fear, and the countryside is burnt and ransacked. Ironically, the frescoes on this wall are quite damaged, due to the salt storage that was kept in line with the wall in the lower storeys.

Detail of effects of Bad Government on the city

This is one of the earliest surviving civic frescoes in Europe and is something not to be missed when visiting Siena. It provides some timeless food for thought for what the political objectives should be for all elected to governments in any period, anywhere.

Afterwards, Siena also provides sustenance for the appetite you will have worked up with all this cultural beauty! Tucking in to some wonderful Cavallucci and Ricciarelli biscuits, and panforte cakes, with a coffee is the perfect balance for the perfect daytrip from Florence.

Panforte - perfect with coffee

The Palazzo Pubblico (town hall) is open every day from 10am-7pm from mid-March to the end of October, and in the winter months 10am-6pm. Admission is 8€.

From Florence it is possible to catch the train from the main train station Santa Maria Novella, however catching the bus is faster and more direct. The Sita bus company depot is opposite the train station and buses leave twice hourly to Siena. The journey takes approx 1.15 hours.

CAMALDOLESE CELEBRATE 1,000TH ANNIVERSARY IN CAMALDOLI

2012-02-05T02:22:00.001+01:00

Camaldoli Monastery, in the Casentino forest

Saint Benedict, often referred to as the father of European monasticism, founded his monastery at Monte Cassino (in the region of Lazio) in the early sixth century. Monasteries are typically located outside of urban communities because, as the name of their inmates suggest, monks (derived from the adjective form of the Greek noun, monos, meaning alone or solitary) dedicate their time to work and prayer. Their motto is prayer and work (ora et labora).

Benedictine motto above a door in the Monastery of San Miniato al Monte, Florence

In the eleventh century, many changes occurred within the traditional organisation of the Benedictines. Religious reformers within the monasteries, in different areas of Europe, began to react against the laxity of observance to the St Benedict’s rule, the decadence of those in higher positions and the lack of spiritual direction and devotion in the general ambiance of religious practices. The common link between these reformers was a desire to return to the austerity and simplicity of the early monastic period. These reformers branched off and created new monastic orders within the orthodox Benedictine hierarchy. In Citeaux, near Dijon there was the Cistercian order, Bruno of Cologne created the Carthusians in Chartreuse in France, and in Tuscany, two new orders were established; the Vallombrosans by the local Florentine, Giovanni Gualberto in Vallombrosa (about one hour from Florence), and Romuald created the Camaldolese order in Camaldoli (about 1.5 hours from Florence). This last order is celebrating their 1000th anniversary this year, a pretty big milestone indeed, one which deserves to be noted.

Romuald, the founder of the Camaldolese order, was not from the Tuscan area, but from Ravenna (on the Adriatic coast, in the region of Emilia-Romagna). From a wealthy family, he became a monk at twenty years old after witnessing his father kill a man in a duel. From the onset of his religious path, he was particularly drawn to the austerity and solitude of spiritual life and spent much time living as a hermit. His spiritual devotion, severity and obedience came to become well known in religious communities. He spent years wandering both Spain and Italy, going from monastery to monastery in spiritual discovery, and began to establish new monastic communities and hermitages in various places with likeminded others who desired to return to a simpler more sincere religious life.

San Romualdo, painted for the church of San Romualdo, Ravenna by Guercino, 1641, showing an angel using the abbot's baton to chastise an errant figure (Pinatoceca Comunale, Ravenna)

When in the area of Arezzo in Tuscany in 1012, he was given some land in the middle of a forest by a man who had had a vision of monks in white garments ascending to heaven. The land was known as Campus Maldoli, or Camaldoli, (when the two words are run together). He built a monastery and shortly after five cells for a hermitage for those monks who wished to completely abandon community life and live in the cloisters in the forest, the life that he most felt at ease with. Two years later this monastery became the mother-house of the Camaldolese Order, which followed the rule of St Benedict but highlighted and embraced certain aspects of the rule more than others. His order was a combination of the various influences that he had been exposed to. The admonition in his rule Empty yourself completely and sit waiting illustrates the emphasis Romuald placed on interior passivity and intellectual stillness in meditation.

Monks' cells in Camaldoli Hermitage in winter

The Benedictines typically wear a black robe, however there are a few exceptions, the Camaldolese being one as is another Tuscan order, the Olivetans, who wear a white robe. The monastery and the hermitage are considered to be the two parts of the lungs that make the order breathe and survive. The symbol of the order, two peacocks (symbol of immortality) balancing on the rim of a golden chalice drinking from the contents, can be interpretated as the two life bloods of the congregation, as well as a symbol of the life represented by the Eucharistic chalice.

The symbol of Camaldoli on the fountain in front of the monastery of Camaldoli from which the monks draw water every day ( the water is said to possess diuretic powers)

One thousand years later, the monastery and hermitage (there are about 18 monks currently living in the hermitage) are flourishing today, and organise very interesting spiritual debates, retreats, lectures series, and meets with religious men embracing various cultures. Located in the heart of the forest of the Casentino valley in the province of Arezzo, there couldn’t be a more suggestive place to discover, question and meditate. Both the hermitage and monastery churches are able to be visited. The hermitage is even further into the forest and higher up than the monastery, and it is not uncommon for the monks to have snow.

It's a beautiful drive up to the monastery and hermitage through the Casentino forest

There is also a pharmacy in the monastery, open daily to the public, where you can buy products made by the Order. The monks began a hospital next to the monastery in 1046 to help the sick from the surrounding villages. They paid a salary to a doctor who lived in Poppi who would come to the monastery when needed. The pharmacy is where the monks made their herbal remedies and potions for the sick. The walnut wooden furniture dates to 1543. The hospital was in use until the Napoleonic suppressions on 1810. The pharmacy today sells fabulous soaps, creams and lip balm, shampoo, essences, and herbal drops amongst other products, in various scents and flavours.

My favourite hand cream from the pharmacy

Since the thirteenth century the Camaldolese monks also have tended a large plot of land out of the forest down in the flat of the valley. Today the area extends over 270 hectares, most of which is used for animal grazing. Nine of the hectares, however, are dedicated to vineyards, which are all cultivated organically. The fermentation and bottling all takes place at the farm called ‘La Mausolea’ on site run by the monks. The farm has been receiving more and more attention and acclaim in the past few years, the red and dessert wine can be bought directly from the La Mausolea.

La Mausolea farm

The Casentino valley is the best kept secret in Tuscany. When most other areas are have been written about, filmed and are generally busy in the summer season with international tourism, this zone is still pretty much for the locals, with day tripper Florentines fleeing the heat of the city for the cool and serenity of the valley. It is separated from Florence by a mountain pass and there is no direct train route. The Sita bus company services the area and the wonderfully beautiful journey from Florence takes two hours. Just after Pontassieve, the road to the Casentino valley goes through the extensive terrain owned by the Frescobaldi family, their vineyards of Nipozzano and Pomino. Then, climbing higher, the forest becomes dense, often with snow at the top, where there is the village called Consuma, named after the Consumi family who migrated there from Ferrara in the sixteenth century, and where some are still living today. Their family bar is a pit-stop for all who pass through here; the filled sciacciata (with artichokes or sausage, porcini mushrooms, potato), cakes and chocolates, are famous.

Poppi, jewel of the Casentino valley

After Consuma is the descent into the luscious green valley of the Casentino. Little villages are nestled in pockets scattered around. Poppi is a small medieval town perched on a hill at the bottom of the valley and its magnificent fortress palace of the Guidi counts, built in the mid-thirteenth century, now used as the town hall, rises above like a beacon to guide the traveller to safety. Camaldoli is close to Poppi, about ten kilometres distance, driving high up into the forest, and the hermitage a few kilometres higher again.

THE BATTLE OF THE BACCALA

2012-01-22T01:16:00.000+01:00

Baccala or salted codfish

One of the many loves that I have developed and nurtured since moving to Italy is baccalà. I get very excited every time I see it on the menu, especially as it is dished up and cooked in a variety of different ways depending upon the region. For most Italians, baccalà is salted codfish, except for the biggest consumers of this imported white fish, the Italians from the Veneto region, where the word baccalà is for unsalted codfish, this being referred to in all other areas of Italy as stockfish. Thus in Italy, baccalà is the word referring to the same fish, however, it is typically unsalted in the Veneto (stockfish to all other Italians) and salted to all other regions, such as in Tuscany.

Imported to Italy from the fifteenth century initially through Venice, baccalà is still today a daily feature in the diet of the Italians from this region, whereas in Florence it appears on the menus typically on Fridays only. One commonly told story recounts that the importation of this versatile fish to Italy dates to 1432 when the Venetian captain Pietro Querini and his crew were shipwrecked on the island of Rost, south of the Lofoten islands off Norway, and to survive they fished and ate the local stockfish, known as baccala, which they continued to eat after returning home.

After the Italian, John Cabot, discovered Newfoundland in 1497, the greater trade routes of cold Atlantic seas made for much greater importation and from the sixteenth century onwards, codfish became continually more widespread in Italian cuisine. It is cheap and the two different preservation procedures used, air drying and salting (similar to that of prosciutto), meant that it was accessible to the poor and was able to be used on Fridays for inland towns when fresh fish wasn’t available.

Salted baccala at the Sant' Ambrogio Market in Florence on Friday, ready to cook.

The fisherman splits the three to six foot long cod along the belly and discards the backbone, leaving a small portion above the tail. For the salting technique, the codfish is then heavily salted and tightly stacked in many layers. As the cod’s salt bearing cells begin to erupt in reaction to the salt, the liquid is removed and more salt is added. This process continues for about ten days when the water content is under 40% and the fish can be preserved for up to one year. When used for cooking, it must be soaked for up to 48 hours, to rehydrate and remove the percentage of the salt content. The soaking liquid should be changed at least three times during the 48 hours. For the air drying technique, the codfish is immediately treated after being caught and put on supports and left in the open air from February to May. The cold and dry climate, typical of the Scandinavian area, is perfect for this process. With a temperature ideally below zero it protects the fish from bacteria and insects. After the three months out in the open, it matures in a dry and well ventilated area for a further two to three months. After this process the codfish has lost 70% of its water content but retains most of its nutrients. It is rich in protein, iron salts and calcium.

Baccala mantecato, also called baccala alla veneziana or ‘Venetian style’, is one of the things that I hold close to my heart. The rehydrated air dried codfish (stockfish) is mushed up and mixed with anchovies, oil and milk to form a paste (looks a bit like dense cottage cheese) and then spread in abundance on grilled polenta, or a crostino (small baguette slice). You can find this in the many baccaro bars (traditional tapas like bars in Venice) scattered around the city, and it is a perfect little snack when you meet your mates for an ombra (the Venetian word for an aperitif), ideal at anytime during the day.

Baccala mantecato

Baccala alla vicentina, ‘Vicenza style’, is also stockfish (air dried codfish) and the fish is kept in large flakes or small bite size pieces and prepared with similar ingredients as in Venice. It is eaten more often as a meal and served with soft polenta.

Baccala alla vicentina

In Tuscany, on Fridays, in local trattorias, baccala alla livornese, Livorno style, will be very often on the menu. In fact, you can find already unsalted baccalà at the local food markets on Fridays so that families can cook it easily at home, avoiding the time consuming de-salting process. Livorno is the largest port in Tuscany, and the way that the Tuscans eat the salted cod is in a fillet, pan-fried, with peeled fresh tomatoes, parsley and garlic.

Baccala alla livornese

Baccala alla romana, Roman style, is deep fried, it is also called baccala fritto alla giudia, fried Jewish style, referring to its possible origin from the Roman Jewish ghetto. There are still some little traditional local bars in Rome, one just off the campo dei Fiori in the historical centre, which cooks this as a snack, and it also features often on the menus.

Baccala alla romana

In Venice I recently had a fabulous plate of baccala mantecato and baccala alla vicentina as a starter in the restaurant 'Antica Adelaide' situated in the Cannaregio area. The menu here is predominately Venetian cuisine.

My favourite baccala alla livornese to date in Florence is at 'La Casalinga' near piazza Santa Spirito, made on Fridays only. If you are keen on trying it, aim to go at lunch time as there may not be any left by dinner time!

CLIMBING THE SCAFFOLDING IN SANTA CROCE TO LOOK AN ANGEL IN THE EYE

2012-01-14T00:06:00.000+01:00

Detail of one of the Agnolo Gaddi frescoes recently restored above the high altar of Santa Croce. Previous filling of the cracks has been removed and will not be replaced as it damages the fresco further by altering the colours.

Seeing fourteenth century frescoes centimetres away is pretty special, but seeing them many metres up from the ground on the restorers' scaffolding, and being able to touch the ceiling, is a rare and fascinating experience. In an instant role-reversal, we are no longer merely the spectator but it is easy to imagine being the artist, and we are privy to all the little details that the workshop included, details that are missed when seen from a ‘normal’ viewing point, down below.

Scaffolding for the conservation project of the high altar frescoes

The cleaning and conservation project of the high altar frescoes, covering 900,000 square feet, in the main Franciscan church called Santa Croce in Florence, started in 2005, and scaffolding has blocked entry and viewing since then. This huge undertaking was financed by a private Japanese businessman, Mr. Kamazawa, who donated two million euros. The restoration was carried out by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a centuries-old Florentine workshop of international repute, devoted to restoration since the nineteenth century. The major part of the work on the frescoes has finished, however the scaffolding will remain until next June whilst the restorers monitor their work. They are also now cleaning and restoring the fourteenth century wooden crucifixion by the Master of Figline which usually hangs above the same high altar. The crucifixion is laid horizontally on a table on one of the many ‘floors’ made from the scaffolding.

Scaffolding surrounding the fourteenth century wooden crucifixion

The Opera di Santa Croce, the administrative body of the Santa Croce church complex, offers guided tours on the scaffolding, in both Italian and English, twice daily to see the frescoes and explain the story that they depict. Silvia, my guide, talked us brilliantly through the frescoed scenes and answered my endless questions about the recent works. The tour lasts approximately 45 minutes to one hour and, at a cost of 10 euros a person, it is worth every penny. Tours will definitely run until Spring this year and possibly until June, the estimated time when the high altar is planned to be revealed and returned once again to the church.

Restorers' work station high up in the gods

The Franciscan church is dedicated to the holy cross of Christ, and the high altar frescoes, executed between 1380-90 by the Florentine artisan Agnolo Gaddi and his workshop, depict the history of the cross of Christ, from the very origin of the tree from which the wood of the cross was constructed, to its fate after the crucifixion of Jesus. Saint Francis of Assisi was particularly dedicated to the cross, symbolic of the suffering that Christ endured for the saving of mankind and his life. Francis earned the appellation Alter Christus due to the similarities between his own life and way of being and that of Christ. He, like Christ, renounced worldly possessions and advocated a life of obedience, chastity and poverty (these virtues are symbolically represented by the three knots in the rope around the waist of the Franciscan habit). In 1224, two years before his death, he was the first Christian to receive the stigmata, the transversal of the five wounds that Christ received on the cross, symbolic of Francis’ elevated faith, holiness and reverence of Christ. Considering the mystical association of Francis and Christ with the stigmata, it is not surprising that a Franciscan church is dedicated to the Holy Cross.

A restorer's view of Gaddi's fresco cycle

The story of the wood used to make the cross is wonderfully dramatic. It’s very origins are contemporaneous with the origins of man himself. The history of the cross is narrated, at length, in the bestseller of the mid-thirteenth century, The Golden Legend, by Jacopo della Voragine, the bishop of Genoa and a Dominican friar. His compilation of religious stories and hagiographies became a ‘must read’ for centuries.

The first episode at Santa Croce depicts Adam’s death when his third son, Seth, put a branch from the Tree of Good and Evil, given to him by the Archangel Michael, inside the mouth of Adam before burial. This branch grows into a beautiful tree and when King Solomon was building the temple he ordered that the magnificent tree be chopped down so as to use the wood. The wood, however, proved to be too tough to work, and so instead was used to bridge a river. The Queen of Sheba, crossing this river en route to meet the famous Solomon, had a vision from God of the future use of the cross and told Solomon when she arrived in Jerusalem. Solomon, knowing that the wood would later be used for the cross of the man who would change the course of history for his people, buried it. Centuries after the crucifixion, Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, was determined to find the cross. She succeeded after much searching and more adventures. It would then be stolen, fought over, and returned to Christian hands, divided up and scattered throughout Christendom.

Discovery of the True cross (detail)

The construction of the True Cross

Another elaborate cycle of the cross in Tuscany, frescoed in the following century, is in another Franciscan church, San Francisco, in Arezzo, by the great fifteenth century artist, Piero della Francesca.

Discovery and proof of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca in San Francisco, Arezzo. Note the beautiful depiction of Jerusalem beyond the hills which is, in fact, Arezzo with its many coloured buildings enclosed by its walls.

THE EPIPHANY – FLORENCE’S KINGS

2012-01-07T00:34:00.000+01:00

Adoration of the Magi, Filippino Lippi, 1496, oil on panel, Uffizi gallery, Florence.

The Epiphany is celebrated on the 6th of January in the Christian calendar, the day dedicated to the adoration of the Magi of the newborn Christ baby. This was an event celebrated with magnificent pomp and ceremony in fifteenth century Florence. The word Epiphany comes from the Greek, meaning ‘manifestation’ and refers to the physical manifestation of God the son as a human being to the Gentiles, the three wise men. They bring gifts to the Christ child which reflect their understanding of his dual nature; gold, frankincense and myrrh, as symbols of Christ’s regality, sacredness and death, respectively. Over time, the wise men developed more individualised and elaborate symbolism. Casper, Balthazar and Melchior were often represented as the three main ages of life, and of three ethnic backgrounds.

Adoration of the Magi, Andrea Mantegna, 1495-1500, oil on canvas, Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

If figurative representation is taken to be an indication of popularity, there were few other cities in Italy which gave such importance to the 6th January, so many are the paintings of the Adoration of the Magi in Florence from this period by some of the greatest artists, commissioned by some of the most important families. The most spectacular example of the subject is the frescoed chapel in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1459-60, commissioned by Piero the Gouty de’ Medici.

Detail of the back and left wall, when looking at the altar, of the private chapel in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.
Frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli 1459-60, commissioned by Piero the Gouty de' Medici.

The date of the Epiphany held even more importance for the Florentines, as it was also the day which John the Baptist, the patron saint of the city, would baptise his second cousin in the Jordon long after the Magi had visited him. This event is now celebrated in the Western church eight days after the Epiphany, on January 13, but in the Orthodox church it is celebrated on 6 January.

A Florentine lay confraternity dedicated to the three wise men (who over time become represented as kings with ever increasing symbolism) staged a re-enactment of the their journey to find the new born Jesus, the King of Kings, every few years. The confraternity was in existence from 1390, the earliest documentary evidence, when the pageant was recorded by a by-stander. It was dissolved with the expulsion of the Medici family in 1494, the ruling family being one of the longstanding active patrons of the confraternity.

2012 re-enactment of the Magi procession

The Compagnia dei Magi, staged a spectacular re-enactment of the story, using most of the city as the stage, every few years. A chronicler recorded that there seven hundred costumed men in the 1429 pageant. Herod’s palace was at the San Romolo church in the piazza della Signoria (now where Rivoire cafe is located), and then the hundreds of horsemen (the entourage for the Magi), and colourful floats with mini skits connected to the history of Florence, such as David and Goliath, make their way to Bethlehem, recreated in piazza San Marco. From the cathedral square or canto di San Giovanni (canto means ‘corner’) along the via Larga (now via Cavour) finishing in San Marco, the street was lined with grandstands, benches and boxes decorated with bunting, rugs and backing.

The pageant didn’t follow a precise route every time, nor a fixed narrative. In the 1419 pageant, after the Magi visited Bethlehem they came back to the cathedral square where the Massacre of the Innocents was staged. So great and spectacular was the parade, the Compagnia de’ Magi were also called on by the Signoria (the government of the Republic of Florence) to stage re-enactments in times other than the Epiphany. One such time was in 1439, towards the end of the great ecumenical council that Florence had been hosting for the past few years. The most important leaders of the Orthodox and Western churches, their entourages and intellectuals, were all in the city. The splendid Festa dei Magi was included into the Festa di San Giovanni, the week-long festival held for St John the Baptist, the city’s patron saint.

For four generations, the Medici capo di famiglia (head of family) were members of the Compagnia de Magi. In the 1459 pageant, the future Lorenzo the Magnificent, then ten years old, was an active participant. The subject was chosen by his father as the decoration of the chapel in their nearly completed Renaissance merchant home. This was the first private chapel in a private home in Italy. The underlining message here was that the Medici family were the kings of Florence in all but name and the republic was something of the past. The fresco was exquisitely executed. Benozzo Gozzoli had trained under the sublime Dominican Observant friar, Fra Angelico in the San Marco monastery years before, another Medici funded project. The colours have a jewel-like quality and the costumes have a tactility about them that makes you want to reach out and touch them .

Detail of the back wall in the Medici chapel, Balthazar, Benozzo Gozzoli, 1459-60, fresco, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.

A Magi is depicted on each wall with their accompanying entourage. These are like the social pages of Hello! Magazine, the leading allies of the Medici family, both domestic and foreign, clearly discernible. The background is similar for all three, a running landscape with lush green hills, prime for hunting (a favourite pastime of the family), dotted with castle-villas.

Detail of right wall when facing the altar, Melchior and entourage, Benozzo Gozzoli, 1459-60, fresco, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. Portrait of Cosimo the Elder dressed in black riding a donkey behind the Youngest Magi, his son, Piero the Gouty, to the right on a white horse. Riding a horse in the far left corner is Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, and next to him is Galeazzo Sforza, intended future ruler of Milan.

They too all arrive, prima o poi (sooner or later), at the Christ baby to adore him, a Filippo Lippi Madonna and child (now replaced with a copy, the original is in Berlin).

Adoration of the child, Filippo Lippi, 1459, tempera on panel, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin.

WINING & DINING WITH FRESCOBALDI

2011-12-29T12:14:00.001+01:00

The little wine bar section of the Frescobaldi restaurant, entrance from via della Condotta.

The other day I dined for the first time at the Frescobaldi restaurant in central Florence, a stone’s throw from the town hall square. It was delicious and it has now been placed on my list of fave choices for places to eat in the city. A fabulous menu, my first course was spaghetti al burro cacio pepe e rigatino (spaghetti with pecorino grated cheese, cracked pepper with unsmoked bacon bits),

followed by a main course of baccala con crema di cavolfiore e pancetta croccanti (salt cod with leek puree and crunchy bacon)

and rounded off with apple crumble and ice cream.

Another exquisite combo was the terrina di fegatini di pollo con gelatina al vinsanto e scorze di arancia caramellata (chicken liver terrine with vin santo gelatine and caramellised orange)

followed by stinco di agnello con carciofi al tegame (lamb shank with panfried artichokes).

The wine list is exclusively their own production, as Frescobaldi is one of the largest producers of wine in the region, with wineries also outside Tuscany. I washed down the meal with a great bottle of IGT Toscana and the vin santo to accompany the crumble. At about 55 euros a head, the place rates in my special category for a splurge, or a treat, and worth every penny. The Frescobaldi family also have a wine bar inside the department store Harrods in London, and inside Rome Fiumicino airport. The family is one of the longstanding historical families of Florence, prominent in politics and business (banking and cloth, the backbone of the Florentine economy), from the twelfth century. They opened a banking branch in England in the 1270's, and after two decades they had risen to the position of the royal bankers, taking the place of the Riccardi company from Lucca. The family still currently own and live in their palazzo where they have been since the sixteenth century in via Santo Spirito, on the south side of the river. At the beginning of the seventeenth century they joined several properties in a row that they had bought to construct the current facade seen today form the street.

Palazzo Frescobaldi in via Santo Spirito

Since their arrival in the city in the twelfth century, they have been located in this area of the city, called the Oltrarno. Their first home, a medieval tower house in the thirteenth century, was located at the foot of the Santa Trinita bridge (one bridge down river from the Ponte Vecchio bridge) where the current Palazzo della Missione is located, built in the seventeenth century. They built the fourteenth century building next to the Palazzo della Missione which still stands today, before moving down the road to via Santo Spirito.

Palazzo Frescobaldi in Piazza Frescobaldi at the intersection of via Santo Spirito and via Maggio, situated next to the palazzo della Missione.

In 1444 Stoldo di Lamberto Frescobaldi donated money, along with the other wealthy merchant families in the area, to the construction of the new Augustinian church, Santo Spirito, (dedicated to the Holy Spirit) designed by the Filippo Brunelleschi, the first Renaissance architect. The family bought two side chapels in the presbytery area next to one another, a sure sign of the family's wealth. Moreoever, the position of the family chapels has crucial significance to the location of their palace, located practically next door. They paid for a private access from their domestic space to their religious space, so that they wouldn’t need to be physically inside their chapel to technically ‘attend’ mass which would be said for the family inside the chapel by an Augustinian. They could be behind the wall of the chapel and hear, as well as see, without being seen through a grill, called a coretto, which can be seen today in the top right corner. You can hunt out their side chapel recognising their coat of arms, a shield divided horizontally red and gold with three gold rooks.

Frescobaldi family coat of arms on the wall inside their restaurant.

The family have been making wine since 1308. In 1995 they began a joint venture with the Robert Mondavi family of Nappa valley. In Tuscany they have nine vineyard areas: Castello di Pomino, Castello di Nipozzano and Tenuta di Castiglioni are located very close to Florence.

Buon appetito e salute!

Castello di Nipozzano, circa 40 minute drive from the centre of Florence.

INFO: Restaurant - tel: +39 055 284 724, address: via dei Magazzini 2/4r, www.deifrescobaldi.it

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-24T09:54:00.000+01:00

A TUSCAN CHRISTMAS

2011-12-17T08:40:00.000+01:00

Pandoro being warmed by the fire.

What will be on the table in Tuscany on the 25th December, Christmas day?

Here is a pretty typical menu for this region: to start with a big plate of mixed crostini (little slices of bread with differing spreads). The most common of the crostini is the ‘crostini toscani’. So standard is the chicken liver and rabbit spleen pate on a Tuscan table, anytime of the year, that it is called the tuscan crostini. There may also be, to accompany it, tomato bruschetta, a tuna pate spread crostini, or maybe a mushroom crostini.

Crostini Misti: toscani, tomato, mushroom, white fava beans.

This can also be accompanied with a plate of mixed salumi (prosciutto, salami) and /or some sliced chicken galantine.

Chicken galantine

Following this comes the primo (first course). The most loved on this festive day is the tortellini in brodo, meat filled pockets of pasta bobbing in a meat broth.

Tortellini in brodo

Then comes the secondo (main dish), which is traditionally a bollito misto (mixed boiled meats) and / or zampone. In the mixed boiled meats there could be tongue, capon (castrated rooster) or chicken, turkey, lean beef and cotechino (a rich sausage typically from Mantua).

Bollito misto + cotecchino bottom left

The salsa verde is a must with the bollito misto. This is a tasty sauce made from bread soaked in vinegar until it becomes almost like breadcrumbs, mixed with finely chopped parsley, garlic and lots of good Tuscan olive oil. Finely chopped anchovies and the yolk of a hard boiled egg are also often added.

Salsa verde

The zampone is scenographic - I always love seeing the whole pig’s trotter stuffed with meat on the table. Like the cotecchino, the zampone is typical of Mantova, but is a favourite in all Italy around Christmas time and is also eaten on New Year’s Eve with lentils. It too is a rich sausage, however the mixed pork meat (cheek, head, throat, shoulder) combined with spices and herbs is stuffed into the skin of a pig’s trotter. The zampone is thought to date to the beginning of the 1500’s in a town called Mirandola (in the Romagna area, north of Tuscany). The town, under siege by the troops of Pope Julius II, killed all the pigs so that the troops wouldn’t be able to have them, and so they minced the meat and stored it inside the trotters in the hope that it would conserve better.

Zampone

For desert, the panettone is a must. Originally from Milan, the panettone dates to the renaissance period, although there are differing stories as to its creation and the origin of its name.

Panettone

One story is that this traditional Christmas cake dates to 1495 when the head cook of Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, having to many things to organise for the sumptuous Christmas dinner for the duke and his guests, burnt the cake that was for desert. A kitchen hand, called Toni, had made a cake that morning with the remains of the ingredients used for all the other meal’s dishes (flour, butter, egg, lime peel and some raisins. Toni presented his creation to the cook, who in desperation took the strange cake, in the shape of a large bread loaf, to the duke’s table. Proving to be a huge success, all the guests wanted to know the name, to which the chef replied that it was ‘Toni’s bread’ or Pan di Toni, which morphed, over time, into panettone.

Another explanation for the origin of panettone is documented by Count Pietri Verri who described the ceremony of the breaking of bread that both rich and poor families would perform at Christmas time. The ‘ceremonia del Ceppo’ would be when the whole family would gather together and the head of the family would break a loaf of bread into pieces, enough for each member, so that all would share from the same loaf, symbolic of the strong family ties which bind all together. The poor man’s bread was made from millet (pane di miglio, called ‘pan de mej'), and the bread of the wealthy and nobility was white bread (called micca). It was decided however that on Christmas day everybody should use the same bread as in the Ceremonia del Ceppo, as a symbol of equality and togetherness. This bread, made from butter, pure flour and sugar was called the pan de’ sciori or pan de ton meaning the luxury bread. In 1919, Motta, the Milanese company, produced the first industrial panettone.

The rival to the panettone on the Italian Christmas table is the pandoro (see first photo). Originally from Verona, similar to its Milanese cousin, the pandoro doesn’t have candied fruit and it too has now taken on a national status. It is tall and cone shaped with, rather than a point at the top, a narrower flat form in the shape of a star, typically eight sided. There is often a packet of icing sugar that comes with both the pandoro and the pantettone which is emptied into the plastic covering of the cake just before eating, and, with the cake still inside, is shaken up so that the icing sugar covers the entire exterior surface.

Another national must in this period is the torrone, which is a nougat, made from honey, sugar, egg whites and toasted almonds. The name could be from the Latin torrere (to toast) refering to the almonds, hazelnuts and pasticcios. It comes in two forms, soft and chewy, and hard and brittle, a speciality of Cremona (Lombardy region), it is eaten all over Italy. A possible origin is also from the fifteenth century, served on the occasion of the marriage between Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti in 1441.

Torrone

Two types of biscuits typically from Siena are eaten all over the region at Christmas time - ricciarelli (soft almond paste biscuits typically shaped like a leaf - the ingredients being peeled almonds, sugar, icing sugar, egg yolks) and cavallucci (flour, sugar, walnuts, aniseed, honey, cinnamon, and sometimes with candied orange ). The latter’s original name is berriguocoli and they were documented already by 1515 as being the sweet distributed by the consistory to his members during the festive season. The biscuits take on their current name due to the cavallai, the grooms at staging posts along the route, who would keep these as sweets due to their easily transportable nature and long life, were able to be conserved for reasonably long periods of time.

Ricciarelli

Cavalluci

Typically, Italians celebrate Christmas lunch rather than dinner. The meal is accompanied with red wine and rounded off with some sweet dessert wine. Many Italians are back in business for a feast the following day, known as 'Santo Stefano'. There is no rest for the wicked. Buon Appetito and happy holidays to all!

UMBRIA - THE PERFECT RETREAT

2011-12-10T14:55:00.000+01:00

Spoleto's medieval aquaduct / crossing

After an intensive cultural and shopping experience in Florence, it is a perfect combo to then have a bit of rest and recuperation in the region of Umbria. Hire a car from Florence and then drive the two hours to first stop, Assisi. This is the birth place of one of the patron saints of Italy, Saint Francis (1181/1182-1226), the founder of the Franciscan order in the thirteenth century. The magnificent basilica of St Francis in Assisi, the mother ship for the order and where the saint is buried, is divided into two levels, the upper and lower church, and it is a feast for the fresco lover’s eyes.

Basilica of St Francis showing upper and lower levels

Beautifully decorated, the scenes in the upper church relay the story of Saint Francis, who was called the alter christus.

Frescoes in the upper church

It is worth a stop at the church Santa Maria degli Angeli just a few minutes drive outside Assisi on the lower flat plane. Like the russian babushka dolls, this large late sixteenth century basilica was built to house and protect, like a reliquary, the small ninth century church, called Porziuncola, on the inside.

La Porziuncola

In Francis' time this was woodland and he and his first followers came to pray and camp at the beginning of the 1200's.

Saint Francis dressed in his brown habit held by a rope knotted three times, symbolically representing poverty, obediance and chastity. Often he is represented with the five wounds of Christ, he was the first Christian to receive the miracle of the stigmata, in 1224.

An extremely sacred site for all Catholics here, as in Assisi, one can feel the weight of faith from the visitors. Further back in the church there is the site where Francis died in 1226, another a site for pilgrimage.
Thirty minutes drive further south is the hill top town of Spello, which is very pretty, and the church boasts a frescoed side chapel by Pinturicchio from late 1490’s, paid for by the Baglioni family.

Pinturicchio, Adoration of the Magi, fresco, 1501, Baglioni side chapel, Santa Maria Maggiore church, Spello.

Other lovely hill top towns in the vicinity are Bevagna and Montefalco. I decided to drive onto and stay overnight in the hill top town of Norcia in south-eastern Umbria.

The hill top town of Norcia

Norcia is the birth place of Saint Benedict (c.480-547), the father of European monasticism, but is also renowned for its salumi (pork products), and thus my reason for staying here, as I assumed by default, one could only eat divinely in this particular area, and I was not proven wrong. Norcia is perched on a hill, cuddled by entirely intact medieval walls, and just perfect for the holiday get away experience.

Spoleto Cathedral

The following day I visited Spoleto. The Romanesque cathedral's apse is beautifully frescoed in the 1460's by the adventurous Florentine Carmelite friar, Filippo Lippi, who ran away with the hot young nun, Lucrezia Buti. The frescoed scenes show in the top apse area the Madonna being crowned by God the Father, surrounded by angels and Old and New Testament figures an below the Annunciation and the Dormition of the Virgin. The colours are spectacular.

Filippo Lippi, apse of Spoleto cathedral, fresco, late 1460's.

Spoleto also boasts a Roman theatre where they do spectacles in the summer, and a fab walk up to the fourteenth century fortress and the medieval aqueduct / bridge linking the two parts of the chasm, is a must. I munched on the local pasta ‘strangozzi’ (similar to spaghetti but square in shape rather than tube-like) at the Trattoria della Lanterna in the historical centre of the upper city, near the ancient Roman theatre.

Spoleto's ancient Roman theatre

On day three, I took a road trip to the high plains and hill top town of Castelluccio, close to the border of Le Marche region, only about thirty minutes from Norcia. The scenery is unexpected and fabulous. Barren, immense, open spaces, wide chasms, and in the base of the valleys there are the lentil fields providing the ingredients for the Umbrian cuisine, sausage and lentils, a staple in this area.

In the hills of Castelluccio - a spectacular sight

Lentil fields of Castelluccio

I stayed at the Hotel Palazzo Seneca, a renovated fifteenth century palazzo in the historical centre of Norcia, which was sensational. Luxurious, comfy, and elegant with a scrumptious breakfast, it is worth every four stars it has earnt. Dinner at the agriturismo, La Casale degli Amici, two kilometres outside of Norcia, is a must. We all had a mixed antipasto della casa (all the cold cuts from the farm itself) and to follow capretta (goat) with rape (the leafy part of turnips) as a side, and to finish, a goats cheese tiramisu, again all ingredients zero kilometers, from the farm.

Hotel Palazzo Seneca

.................Ahh Italy, how I love you!

THE EXOTIC IN FLORENCE - THE MEDICI GIRAFFE

2011-12-03T10:21:00.001+01:00

Detail of The Gathering of Manna. 1540 by Francesco Bacchiacca in the National Gallery of Art, Washington

I think that everybody agrees, the giraffes in the zoos always draw a crowd - tall, leaf eating, polka dotted, weird bodied animals that they are. In the fifteenth century, Lorenzo the Magnificent was given as a gift one of these magnificent exotic creatures by a Mamluk ruler in, what is now, Egypt. It was paraded around the city on feast days and for important events. No one had seen anything like it before, or at least very few people had seen one since Julius Caesar had brought one to Rome in the 1st century B.C. After this, the first giraffe in Europe was in 1261 when Frederick II (another fave man of mine) received a giraffe in exchange for a white bear. The Medici giraffe pops up in various masterpiece works around the city, but as Ferris Bueller said in the 1980’s cult movie (with slight alterations), ‘if you don’t pause for a second you’ll miss it’. The next time that you go to the Chiostro dei Voti (the Votive cloister) in front of the Santissima Annunziata church, check out the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ fresco by Andrea del Sarto in 1511, and you’ll see the giraffe bobbing in the background.

Adoration of the Magi (1511), Votive cloister, Santissima Annunziata church, Andrea del Sarto, fresco.

In fact, this was a favourite subject to insert the giraffe into, as the three kings came from far distant lands and it was staged in a far distant land, where giraffes reign. Domenico Ghirladaio inserted the Medici giraffe in the same subject scene in the Tornabuoni family chapel / high altar of the Santa Maria Novella church. This in fact is interesting as it was painted in 1488 not long after Lorenzo had received the animal as a gift, so it stands as an up to date window to contemporary happenings in the city.

Adoration of the Magi (1488), Tornabuoni family chapel / high altar in the Santa Maria Novella church, Domenico Ghirlandaio, fresco, 1485-90

So why is a giraffe so cool, other than the random image that one conjures up immediately of the animal cruising around the medieval streets, bobbing up and down, along with the flamboyantly dressed Florentines of the Quattrocento? Anologies were important back then. The walnut was considered to increase intelligence as it was the shape of the brain, and diamonds evoked stars as they both shone so brightly and so were associated with almost god-like qualities. Thus, exotic and rare animals reflected the aristocratic and specialness of the owner’s character. The Medici had an outstanding menagerie which they kept at their villa in Fano. The city of Florence also boasted a wondrous collection of animals and, aside from the ubiquitous lion (they had circa twenty-five kept behind the town hall until second half of the 1500’s), they had tigers, bears, bulls and greyhounds.

The Medici organized events with these animals, often when important visitors came to town. Inspired directly and deliberately from Roman sources, they staged combats between animals such as lions and bears. For the visit of Pope Pius II in 1459, the roads leading to the town hall square were blocked off and animal combats were staged. A giant giraffe mannequin, moveable due to the twenty men inside the animal, was created to excite the lions. The show proved to be a failure as it seems the lions weren’t hungry and didn’t perform so the spectators went home unsatisfied.

The town mayor, Matteo Renzi, has just opened up two more rooms in the town hall for vistors to view - the room dedicated to Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent on the lower floor of the granducal apartments. The central ceiling panel of the room dedicated to Lorenzo the Magnificent depicts Lorenzo, primo inter pares, encircled by artists and diplomats, and directly behind him is his fabulous giraffe.

Ambassadors pay homage to Lorenzo the Magnificent, 1556-58, Giorgio Vasari and Marco da Faenza, fresco, central ceiling scene in the Lorenzo the Magnificent room, Palazzo Vecchio.

The poor famed giraffe however left the world with a whimper and not a bang when he died, as the legend has it, having hit his head on a low hanging beam.

MANTUA – A GONZAGA GETAWAY

2011-11-26T10:27:00.000+01:00

A visit to Mantua (Mantova in Italian), located in the south east of the region of Lombardy, is ideal for a weekend getaway or an overnight stop in an Italian trip. Whilst the city is studied by every student of renaissance art history, it is a destination that is largely overlooked by foreign travellers, as it often becomes overshadowed by its much larger, and more magnificent, competitors on the Italian peninsula. Mantova is a small city (circa 50,000 inhabitants) and so it doesn’t take very long to feel at home and have visited the major sites, but with artistic wonders and a scrumptious cuisine, it is worth the visit. It was entered in the list of Unesco world heritage sites in 2008.

Geographically it is unusual, surrounded by lakes, and was unattractive swampy marsh land until the Corradi family took over the area in the fourteenth century and created their Marquisate in the early fifteenth century. The ruling family became best known by their adopted name of Gonzaga, hailing from their eponymous town of origin close by. The Gonzaga family (dukes from 1530), ruled until 1707 when the duchy passed to the Hapsburgs.

During the renaissance period, in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the Gonzaga family were some of the most important patrons of Renaissance art, and they long cultivated a court which included some of the most illustrious artists and intellectuals of the time. Andrea Mantegna, the court painter from 1460-1506 (he was the brother-in-law to Giovanni and Gentile Bellini – the most important painters of the Venetian Republic in the second half of the fifteenth century), succeeding from much acclaimed Pisanello, and Leon Battista Alberti (the great Renaissance theorist and architect from Florence), constructed the Basilica Sant’Andrea, a triumphant display of the new Renaissance humanist style. In the 1500’s, Giulio Romano, the most gifted of artists in Raphael’s workshop in Rome, who continued the workshop commissions after the great master’s death in 1520, was the court architect and painter in Mantua from the 1520’s. His most significant and most famous work was the architecture and decoration of Palazzo Te, the Gonzaga villa residence, once located outside the city, now a short walk from the Ducal palace.

The medieval castle that became the ducal palace of the Gonzaga family

The palazzo ducale in the centre of the city, where the Gonzaga family lived, is huge. The magnificent medieval castle was continuously enlarged throughout the centuries, as can be seen from the changes in the artistic building styles. The most exquisite room is the ‘camera picta’ (the painted room) later dubbed the ‘camera degli sposi’ (the wedding chamber), painted by Andrea Mantegna in 1467-1473. The ceiling is the first example of the trompe l’oeil technique in painting and appears to extend up into the outside with a wonderful balcony where figures and putti peer down onto the viewer below.

Ceiling from the 'camera picta' called 'camera degli sposi' by Andrea Mantegna finished in 1474

The two decorated walls depict the ruling family, Ludovico and Barbara Gonzaga; on the east wall the family together with courtiers and dwarf...

East wall of the camera picta

and on the north wall, Ludovico and his children, most importantly his son, Francesco, recently elected as cardinal.

North wall of the camera picta

Another ‘must see’ in the ducale palace is the studiolo (study) of one of the most cultured, famous and politically active women of her era, Isabella d’Este, the wife of Marquis Francesco II Gonzaga.

Portrait of Isabella d'Este by Titian

Daughter of the duke of Ferrara (another beautiful and important Renaissance centre not too distant from Mantua), Isabella was intelligent and extremely well educated (she was fluent in Latin and Greek), and friend of humanist scholars and artists. She was regent until her son became of age. Isabella commissioned two small private rooms for contemplation and meditation on the ground floor of the palace, along with an intimate garden space, for her envious collection of ancient and modern works of art. Her ‘studiolo’ (study) rivaled those of her male counterparts in the other Italian centres. The walls were lined with paintings by some of the most important artists of the day; Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Correggio, and Perugino. The cabinets held an impressive collection of ancient and modern gems, cameos and artifacts. Today, there is only the architectural shell to be seen. However, a little imagination and one can almost hear Isabella somewhere around the corner.

The Gonzaga country structure and stables, located outside the old city’s walls, was renovated by Giulio Romano and transformed into what it is today by the Marquis Federico II (son of Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga) who was also to become the first Duke of Mantua.

Palazzo Te

The residence, called ‘Palazzo Te’ after the name of the island on which it was built, ‘Tejeto’ abbreviated to Te (the water canals were subsequently filled in), was made as a place for fun and frolicking for himself and his mistress the Marquise Isabella Boschetti. This explains the subject choice for the exquisite decoration of one of the rooms dedicated to Cupid (Amor) and Psyche.

Cupid and Psyche Bacchanalian feast by Giulio Romano in one of the rooms of the Palazzo Te

Hand in hand with the magnificent art discoveries comes the food culture of Mantua, well worth some studious attention. It is the home of pork and the quality of the cold cuts and meats from here is known all over Italy.
A good starter is a plate of mixed salames. A must for the first course is the tortelli di zucca which is delightfully sweet, and/or the maccheroni con stracotto (meat cooked over a long period of time - often donkey or horse meat is used).

tortelli di zucca and maccheroni con stracotto

Well known favourites for the second course is cotecchino (an oversize rich, fresh sausage about 3 inches wide and 9 inches long) which is boiled and served hot, most often with polenta.

cotecchino and stinco di maiale

The stracotto di cavallo (horse steak) and the stinco di maiale (lamb shanks) are popular main dishes also, washed down with local lambrusco wine (red fizzy wine). Bollito is another great favourite served with mostarda, and is various pork and beef cuts boiled and served with candied fruit such as apples, pears, pumpkin and melon, and a mustard syrup (mostarda is also fabulous with cheese). The typical deserts from here are sbrisolona (a buttery almond biscuit served in broken pieces).

Sbisolona - the almond butter biscuit

or the torta di tagliatelle (a pastry base with a filling made from butter, almonds and sugar and topped with tagliatelle).

Torta di tagliatelle

I stayed at the ‘B & B Casa del Teatro’, conveniently located a few minutes' walk from both the train station and the ducal palace. Cosy and comfy, completely renovated and elegant, it was perfect.

The slow food restaurant where I ate is called Due Cavallini (Via Sainitro 5, Tel: +39 0376 322084)

VILLA GAMBERAIA - A SHORT BUS RIDE FROM FLORENCE

2011-11-19T09:49:00.000+01:00

The list of places to visit never gets any shorter around here. Last week I visited, for the first time, the sublime Villa Gamberaia located in Settignano, one of the hill top towns that, like a faithful watch dog, overlooks Florence. I recommend this little ‘gita’ (trans: excursion) to anyone who would like a peaceful few hours, away from the hustle and bustle, when visiting Florence, or for those who live here and wish to do something relaxing and new. Bus number 7 from piazza San Marco in the historical centre finishes at Settignano and from here it is a pleasant 15minutes walk to the villa.

The photo moments begin immediately. With the wonderful vista of Florence down below, and the wide open space of the country side, it's a welcome relief from the tightly packed historical centre and suburbs.

The villa Gamberaia, so named because of the gamberi pond that the owner in the 1600’s created, is privately owned and so only the ground floor of the villa is possible to visit, but the real reason to come here is the garden. The views of Florence and the surrounding countryside, having already been enjoyed on the way here, are spectacular, and the garden is beautifully kept.

The garden has everything that a good mannerist and Baroque garden should have; grotto, lemon house, parterre, sculptures and a bosco (a wild area ‘untamed’ by man). The ticket for the garden only is 10 euro and, for an extra 5 euro, the ground floor of the villa can also be visited. I loved it at this time of year when there were no flowers, but I look forward to returning next Spring when all will be in full bloom.

The garden is open for visits every day 9am-6pm during the warmer months and from November - March by appointment only (although they were still operating as normal when I visited last week in early November). Tel: 055 607205

Some other gardens close to Florence centre are:
Villa di Castello & Villa di Petraia - a bus ride away, important renaissance villas owned by the Medici family. Open daily, small admission fee.
Villa I Tatti - owned by Harvard University, bus number 7 to Settignano. It was the home of Bernard Berenson (art historican at the beginning of the twentieth century). A tour of Berenson's art collection and the gardens by appointment only (offered on Wednesday afternoons, no admission fee).
Villa le Balze - owned by Georgetown University. Bus number 7 to Fiesole The gardens are beautiful as is the view of Florence below. Visits by appointment, admission fee.
Villa Torrigiani - in the centre of Florence, privately owned by the Torrigiani family. Visits by appointment only, admission fee applies.

CERAMICS IN FLORENCE - COOKED EARTH NEVER SHONE SO BRIGHT

2011-11-12T03:32:00.003+01:00

My mum is a born super sleuth and shopper, one of her many fortes is finding very cool shops wherever she is around the world. Cutting edge or artisanal, she’ll suss it out! Every time she comes to Florence she discovers a new gem. A few years ago she discovered my now favourite little ceramic shop.

Located around the corner from the Accademia gallery, ‘La botteghina del Ceramista’ in via Guelfa 5/r is run by Daniela, having taken over from her father who opened the shop some decades ago. She sells ceramics from Montelupo in Tuscany and Deruta in Umbria, personally buying direct from the artist/artisans in both areas whom she has known now for years. Montelupo products are largely displayed on the left wall of her shop and the Deruta ceramics on the right. The decorative styles are different from each place. Montelupo ceramics are made in the eponymous little town, Montelupo Fiorentino, located circa twenty-five kilometers from Florence.

Deruta ceramics from La Botteghina del Ceramista

Montelupo ceramics from La Botteghina del Ceramista

Montelupo ceramics from La Botteghina del Ceramista

Ceramic production began in this area in the thirteenth century. The town local ceramic export, under the territorial control of the Republic of Florence, greatly increased after Florentine conquest of Pisa, with the opening up of the sea route. This, coupled with the strong backing from local Florentine wealthy merchant families such as the Antinori, encouraged production which reached a peak between 1450 and 1530.

Antique maiolica pot from Montelupo

The hill top town of Deruta (featuring in the list of the ‘borghi più belli dell’Italia) is a town close to Perugia in the region of Umbria.

Ceramics were not only used as sturdy and aesthetically pleasing table ware but also as interior and exterior decoration for architecture, the cheaper and more malleable version to marble.

A tin-glaze was applied to the earthenware base which created a white glossy opaque base on which designs and images could be applied. The tin glaze is a clear lead glaze to which tin oxide is added in a ratio of apporximately 1:3. First used in the Middle East, the technique was brought to Europe by the Moors in the Spanish area. With the influx of the Hispanic Moorish produced ceramics to Italy, both these original imports and the copied local work in technique and decoration, was dubbed Maiolica after the island Maiorca.

An over glaze was sometimes added which resulted in a brilliant shine and iridescence produced by the metallic oxides. The object was given a second firing at a low temperature in a ‘muffle kiln’ (reduction kiln) which excludes oxygen.

Luca della Robbia, a sculptor and contemporary to Donatello in the first half of the fifteenth century, transformed the tin-glaze terracotta technique into a viable alternative to marble sculpture. He created a large and efficient family workshop in Florence and worked not only for the most important families of Florence, the Repubblic, but his fame spread far and wide to the countryside and other cities in central Italy. One can admire the della Robbia works all over Florence; on the exterior of the Orsanmichele church, in the atrium inside the Pazzi chapel in Santa Croce, inside the Santa Trinita church, the Santi Apostoli church and the cathedral, the Foundling hospital and numerous examples in the Bargello National sculpture museum. His workshop was continued by his nephew Andrea, after his death, and Giovanni, Andrea’s son, after him. So diffused was their work, that their surname has become synonymous with tin-glazed ceramics.

Ceiling of the chapel of the the Portuguese cardinal in San miniato al Monte church showing the four cardinal virtues with the holy spirit in the middle by Luca della Robbia

Ceiling of the Pazzi Chapel in the Santa Croce church (courtesy of Becky Reid).

Resurrection of Christ by Luca della Robbia - the lunette above one of the two sacristies in the cathedral.

In the family homes of those who could afford to do so, it was customary to have a Madonna and child in every room of the house by the fifteenth century. This, and the downturn in the birth rate and thus a concerted push to encourage family life and procreation, led to a boom in workshop production of Madonnas and child as the perfect incarnation of the family and Christian devotion.

Luca della Robbia was much acclaimed for the classicizing calm and serenity infused in his Madonnas, and the ability to capture a real child’s playfulness, while still retaining a certain nobility. The della Robbias had their workshop in the same street as Daniela's shop, in via Guelfa.

Madonna and Child by Luca della Robbia, Orsanmichele

The Medici family created a ceramic workshop at Caffaggiolo, their villa estate circa 20km from Florence. The villa was decorated by tin-glazed ceramic tiles by Luca della Robbia, and on-site they created their own production of objects and table ware. Not much is known about this manufacture as they never produced any for commercial use, only for their own pleasure and for gifts.

By the sixteenth century, the technique was highly sophisticated and mythological and religious scenes were painted onto plates, serving dishes and table tops.

Some common terms explained:

Terracotta (trans: baked earth) is unglazed ceramic. It can also be used to describe glazed ceramic when the body is porous and red. It is often used for figurines or objects that have not been made on a potter’s wheel, which is then often referred to as pottery. The word ceramic comes from the Greek, meaning ‘of pottery’, and is usually referred to as terracotta having been fired and glazed.

The term maiolica was in use from the medieval period for earthenware with designs that resembled the imported Spanish ceramic from the area of Maiorca. It then became the name used only for lustreware, referring to both Spanish imports or local products. Lustreware is ceramic with a metallic glaze that gives an effect of iridescence produced by metal oxides in an over glaze finish produced by a second firing at a lower temperature in a reduction kiln which excludes oxygen. Tin-glaze ware was called bianchi (or white-ware) resulting from the first firing. Later, the term maiolica was used for any tin glazed earthenware, lustred or not.

Faience is the English word often used to describe tin-glaze terracotta. It originates from the name of the town Faenza (in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna) known also for their ceramics.

Ceramic shops in Florence that I like:

La bottegista del via Guelfa – http://www.labotteghinadelceramista.it/, via Guelfa 5/r

Sbigoli - http://www.sbigoliterrecotte.it/, via Sant’Egidio, 4/r

CANTUCCI - THE BISCOTTI THAT ARE COOKED TWICE, DIPPED TWICE AND INDULGED IN COUNTLESS TIMES

2011-11-05T01:40:00.005+01:00

The advertising campaign for the Pringle potato chips ‘once you pop you just can’t stop’ perfectly describes my cantucci addiction. I confess to being shamelessly hooked on cantucci. I cannot stop at one, or even ten. These almond biscuits are typical of Tuscany. Called biscotti in the Anglo-Saxon world, they now commonly go by the name cantucci (or cantuccini) in Italian but ‘biscotti di Prato’ is their real name.

Prato, a Tuscan town located about 30 kilometres outside of Florence, is their place of origin as the recipe stands today. The biscuits have been documented in Prato since the seventeenth century, however, they were revamped by the local pastry/biscuit chef Antonio Mattei in the nineteenth century, who opened his shop in 1858, where it still is today.

Cantucci were internationally recognized for their scrumptiousness when, in 1867, Mattei took them to the Universal Exposition (World Expo) in Paris where they received a special mention. These biscuits began to be the hottest sellers in his shop, and their name shifted from ‘biscotti di Prato’ to ‘cantucci’ as his outdoor shop sign read ‘Fabbricante di cantucci’ (Cantucci producer).

Fabbricante di cantucci

This sign referred to another type of rustic biscuit which he sold, hugely popular in the area, made of toasted bread, olive oil and aniseed. Over time, as the production of ‘biscotti di Prato’ superseded that of the traditional cantucci, the name changed. The shop now has been run by the Pandolfini family for three generations and they make the Cantucci to the traditional recipe. These are still the choicest ones to buy for somebody as a gift, even though, I must admit, they aren’t my favourite. I like them a bit more rustic with a larger quantity of almonds and without the pinenuts that they add.

A fixed standard on most Tuscan dessert menus is ‘Cantucci & Vin Santo’. The biscuits are served with local sweet wine in which the cantucci are dipped. These biscuits can be eaten whenever you like, however this is how they are most commonly served here.

I had my first cooking lesson yesterday with my great mate Graham (renowned far and wide for his divine cooking skills and foodie talents), and we started by making cantucci - and they were fabulous! The ingredients are: self-raising flour, sugar, eggs, butter, toasted almonds and salt.

Toasting almonds and melting butter

The mixture is then formed into a type of log, left for one hour and then cooked for about 30 minutes.

Afterwards, the logs are cut diagonally, about 1cm in width, and then put back into the oven for a few minutes to crisp a little more on the exterior whilst remaining a little soft inside.

Stay tuned for the next foodie blog with another lesson with Graham in my new series titled 'Prosciutto Grigio'.

Most bakeries in Tuscany sell cantucci, especially in the Prato and Florence provinces. There are two shops in the centre of Florence which specialize in them and where you can also find variants (fig and walnut, orange and dark chocolate etc) even though I am staunchly conservative and stay with the original almond kind.
Where to buy in Florence: IL CANTUCCIO BISCOTTI DI LEONARDO in Via Nazionale 121/R, and the more recently opened family-run place IL CANTUCCIO in Via Sant'Antonio 23/r. Both are in the area of the central food market (mercato central).

IN LIGHT OF HALLOWEEN...... THE ENGLISH CEMETERY IN FLORENCE

2011-10-31T10:13:00.000+01:00

Considering it's Halloween, and tomorrow All Saint’s Day, I thought it appropriate to write a few lines on the so-called ‘English cemetery’ in Florence. Located in piazzale Donatello, the cemetery appears like an elevated island of the dead in the middle of the ever-busy ring road around Florence. However when first constructed it would have looked quite different.

Contrary to the nickname of the cemetery, it wasn’t created exclusively for English citizens - quite the opposite. The Swiss Evangelical reformed church bought the land from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, in 1828, to build an ecumenical cemetery (thus, open to all Christian faiths; Orthodox and Protestant), the first in the area. It was located outside the still standing and perfectly intact medieval city’s walls from the 1330’s.

In 1865 when Florence became the capital of the newly unified Italian peninsula, the city’s walls were destroyed as part of the renovation project headed by Giuseppe Poggi. The cemetery became engulfed into Poggi’s renovation project and finished by being in the middle of a busy multiple lane dense traffic thoroughfare, as well as being was remodeled into the current oval shape. The medieval walls were torn down and replaced with a tree-lined ring-road encircling the city. Neoclassical buildings were built along the ring-road and suburbs renovated. Many of the new Florentine residents moving to the city due to its new capital status, as well as the bourgeois Florentine families, bought houses along these avenues. Moreover, Poggi planned for artist’s studios to be in the area surrounding the cemetery island thus giving name to one of the major streets leading off the ring-road ‘via degli artisti’.

Tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

There is a predominance of English buried in the cemetary, hence the nickname. However, this belies the intention of the place which is conveyed by the tombstones. The inscriptions are in numerous languages, French, German, Cyrillic, Greek, Danish and Romansh. The cemetery was closed in 1877, however the Florentine council has recently allowed it to be used by the Swiss church (which still owns it) for cremated remains only. One of the most famous people buried here is the English Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), who lived for many years in Florence with her husband, the poet Robert Browning (he is buried in Poet’s corner in Westminster Abbey). The Swiss Giampietro Vieusseux, founder of the Gabinetto Vieusseux (a reading room which became the one of the main meeting places for intellectuals in Florence during the Risorgimento) is also buried here.

Tomb of Gabinetto Vieusseux

The best known painting by Arnold Bocklin (1827-1901), the Swiss symbolist artist, is the ‘Isle of the Dead’ of which there are four versions painted by the artist, inspired by the English cemetery of Florence. The first three versions of the subject were painted in Florence, he had his studio very close by, and they are deeply personal as it was where he had buried his seven month old daughter. The painting shows a dense cluster of Cypres trees on an isolated area with an aura of eternity.

Isle of the Dead by Arnold Bocklin

RIP-ROARING FLORENCE - THE MARZOCCO

2011-10-25T00:17:00.001+02:00

Since the medieval period, the lion has been the animal symbol of Fiorenza (medieval Florence).

The lion, representing the Republic of Florence, became known as the Marzocco. The origin of the name is believed to derive from Martocus – or little Marte or Mars, referring to the god of War. When the statue of Mars, at the foot of the ponte vecchio bridge, washed away with the bridge in the 1333 flood, it was replaced by a lion sculpture which the citizens called little Mars.

In the 1300’s a Marzocco lion sculpture, the collective symbol of Florence, was the only sculpture in the town hall square (Piazza della Signoria). All the other sculpture was placed there much later, from the 1490’s onwards. The lion can be seen in the background of one of the scenes from the private family chapel of the Sassetti family in the Santa Trinita church by Domenico Ghirlandaio, frescoed in the early 1480’s.

The lion is to the left of the town hall building and there is no other sculpture in the square nor under the open portico loggia. The Marzocco that is now there is a copy of the splendid sculpture by Donatello. Carved out of local grey ‘pietra serena’ stone from the surrounding Florentine hills, he proudly holds the coat of arms of the Florentine Repubblic, the giglio (red lily on a white back ground).

The Marzocco by Donatello was placed here in 1812 when the original medieval lion was in a bad state of affairs. He had been made for the new snazzy papal apartments in Santa Maria Novella for the advent visit of Pope Nicholas V.

The street behind the town hall is called the Lion street (via dei Leoni) precisely because it was here that they kept live lions in cages for the authentic rendering of their animal symbolism. Already, from the 1200's, live lions in the flesh were kept in the Bargello building, which was then the Palazzo della Podestà (home to the official elected foreign arbitrator to oversee Florentine matters of council). The lions were then moved to the area near to the Baptistry, before being located to the area behind the town hall in 1350 and, thus, giving name to the street. They remained here for circa two hundred years until Cosimo I de Medici, in the middle of the 1500's, moved them to the area near San Marco, at the recently constructed ‘Giardino dei Semplici’ (the botanical garden).

Grand duke Pietro Leopoldo of the Lorraine-Hapsburg family (the rulers after the extinction of the Medici line from 1737 until unification in 1861), in the second half of the 1700’s, decided to do away with them altogether. In the chronicles much is written about the lions, their behaviour, births and their characters. There were sometimes up to the twenty-eight in the cages behind the town hall. On the night of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s death, two of the lions tore one another to pieces!

The two lions patrolling the entrance to the loggia dei Lanzi were placed here in 1789 by the Lorraine-Hapsburgs, having brought them up from the Villa Medici in Rome where they had been guarding the staircase in the villa’s garden since 1600.

The lion above is from the 2nd century B.C and the one on the left is from the 1590’s, commissioned to pair his ancient brother by the Grand Duke Ferdinand de Medici, a great lover and collector of antiquities.

THE GREATEST ACCESSORY - WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD

2011-10-19T15:59:00.002+02:00

I love a good chevalric order and the symbol of the uber prestigious Order of the Golden Fleece is my absolute favourite.

Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence at the time, was awarded the honour of becoming a member of the much coveted boys club in 1545. It was a limited membership of 50 (increased in 1516 ) and couldn’t be passed on to heirs.

Portrait of Cosimo I de Medici wearing the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece by Bronzino

The order originated in 1430, by the Duke of Burgundy (Philip the Good) in celebration of his wedding to the Portuguese princess Isabella of Aviz. The Burgundian lands were subsequently absorbed into the domain of the Hapsburgs, explaining why Cosimo received the knightly membership from the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of the Hapsburg family. Membership was excluded to heretics and so it became an exclusive catholic order during the Reformation. The dedication of the order to the ‘golden fleece’ refers to the mythological story of Jason, who, along with his team, the Argonauts, managed to obtain the golden fleece which was being kept in a tree guarded by a dragon, a deed which was necessary for him to claim his birthright.

Jason with the Golden Fleece by Peter Francavilla in the Bargello

The order’s patron saint is St Andrew, whose calendar day is 11 August, the day on which Cosimo I received the honour in the cathedral of Florence. The badge of the order is in the shape of a gold fleece hanging from a jeweled collar of fire steels in the shape of B (for Burgandy) and linked by flints. Cosimo is shown wearing the collar in many portraits as well as appearing painted into various political scenes in the Medici palaces

Fresco on the ceiling of the staircase from the first to the second floor of the granducal apartments, showing the Golden Fleece collar

In 1561 Cosimo received the authority from Pope Pius IV to create his own chivalric order, the Order of St Stephen, Pope and Martyr. He was the first Grand Master of the order and his successors, as the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, inherited the leadership.

Medici arms surmounted by a coronet and surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece

The objective of the order when formed was to combat the growing threat of the Turks on the Tyrannian sea. The initial seat of the order was in Elba but was later moved to Pisa. It was an ingenious way to unite the nobles from the recently conquered Siena and Pisa, now under the rule of the Medici dukes, with the Florentines in a unified front against a common enemy. St Stephen, Pope and Martyr was important to Cosimo as it was on this saint’s calendar day, 2nd August in 1554, that he defeated the French led by the exiled Florentine Marshal Strozzi at the battle of Marciano. The two bronze statues in the chapel of the Princes show the Medici Grand Dukes wearing the cloak of the Grand Master of the Order.

Cameo of Cosimo I (holding the collar) and Eleanora with children in the Silver Museum in the Pitti Palace

A WEEKEND AND PASTA IN SARDEGNA

2011-10-05T01:33:00.001+02:00

The gastronomic adventure never ceases here in Italy. I have just spent the weekend in Sardegna and discovered two new types of pasta typical to this lovely wild island: fregola and culurgiones.

Culurgiones is a type of pasta which originated from the Ogliastra area (central east of Sardegna) and now enjoyed all over the island. It belongs in the same family as the tortello and raviolo, being a ‘pasta ripiena’ or pasta with filling inside. This filling changes slightly according to the season and the area, but the form stays the same. Inside is a potato base with either goat or sheep cheese according to the season, with mint or garlic.

The culurgiones are oblong in shape and have a slight half moon curve to them due to the way that the fresh pasta is closed at either end with the fingers. They are decorated with some diagonal incisions which, when combined with the shape, take the form of sheaves of wheat when on a plate. Served warm with a pecorino cheese grated on top they're delicious. They can also be served with a tomato sugo.

Fregola is completely different - it is similar to couscous only slightly larger in form. These small balls of pasta are often served with fish broth or a fish sugo or a more delicate and light broth. They are made by rubbing the mixture (semola grano duro and water) together between the hands until the little balls form, thus giving origin to the name (‘sfregare’ means to rub one's hands together).

Typically from Cagliari and Oristano, the pasta is found packaged in shops all over Sardegna, though it is not necessarily on the menu in trattorias outside of its native region.

SPRITZ, BELLINI OR JUST STRAIGHT UP FIZZ - PROSECCO ALL ROUND!

2011-09-24T09:05:00.003+02:00

I LOVE PROSECCO! I truly am in love with prosecco and I know that many others share this love!

Its charms claim many victims here. I was not overly affectionate towards the bubbly before coming to Italy, but I am now. I love it straight up, as well as the Venetian twist in the form of the spritz (1/3 prosecco, 1/3 Campari or Aperol, 1/3 water, served with an olive or an orange slice), and also the Bellini cocktail (prosecco and fresh peach juice).

Venetian spritz

Interestingly, the spritz, the Venetian aperitivo drink par excellence, was born during the period of Austrian occupation at the beginning of the 1800’s and morphed out of the spritzer (white wine and soda). The Bellini cocktail, born in Venice and named after the Venetian master painting family from the 1400’s, is fresh peach juice and prosecco.

Cafe Florian

Florian, one of the historical cafes in Venice and one of the oldest cafes in Europe, opened in 1720 and situated in Piazza San Marco, does an immensely chic thing - they make the Bellini cocktail only when the peaches are in season.

The Bellini cocktail

Before the peach season, they serve the Tieplo cocktail (strawberry juice and prosecco), after the peach season, they serve the Titian (concord grape or ‘uva fragola’ in Italian and prosecco), then the Tintoretto (pomegranate juice and prosecco), followed by the Puccini (manderine juice and prosecco) and finally the Mimosa (orange juice and prosecco).

The Mimosa

The Bellini thus find themselves in familiar seasonal company, surrounded by other great Venetian masters such as Titian, Tiepolo and Tintoretto, and they are relaxed by the Puccini music whilst swimming in prosecco. What could be better than that?

Prosecco is both the name of one of the types of spumante (the generic name of Italian bubbly), as well as the name of the particular type of grape which is used as the major component and, in some cases, the only grape used in its production. It is made in the Veneto region in northern Italy, most particularly concentrated around the areas of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.

Prosecco grapes

Other versions of spumante in Italy that are well known are Franciacorta in Lombardy (northwest of Brescia), Asti from Piedmont (area of Asti) and Lambrusco from Emilia and Trento DOC.

The prosecco grape is also sometimes mixed with pinot blanc and pinot grigio grapes to make prosecco sparkling wine. It is made using the charmat process rather than the champagne method, meaning that the second fermentation takes place in the pressurized tanks rather than in bottles. The shorter fermentation process preserves the freshness of the grapes, and the flavor, and is ideal for the type of grape that prosecco is, being praised for its freshness. Prosecco comes in both fully sparkling (spumante) or lightly sparkling (frizzante) wine versions. Prosecco spumante has two grades, ‘brut’ or ‘extra dry’. Extra dry is slightly drier than brut.

Prosecco is a winner for all occasions - wonderful as an aperitivo, but also it's the perfect accompaniment to a fish meal, or white meat such as chicken.
So serve it up and spread it around - it makes everyone happy and is an essential ingredient to the dolce vita - brut or extra dry, it’s the way to go!

The perfect marriage - a spritz and a prosecco!

PORTOVENERE – THE PORT OF LOVE AND BEAUTY

2011-08-30T11:31:00.001+02:00

Arriving at Portovenere by boat

Venere is Venus in Italian and so the name of this exquisite little village is Venus’ port, aptly named as it is indeed romantic and gorgeous. It is in the region of Liguria (north east of Tuscany) and just south on the coast line from the Cinque Terre. A boat leaves very frequently throughout the day from Portovenere to the Cinque Terre, so it is possible to stay overnight here and catch the boat up to the Cinque Terre to explore the fishing villages for the day, but then return to the warmth of Venus for the evening. Portovenere is very picturesque. The houses are tall and narrow and painted bright colours and are protected by medieval walls which expand into the wonderfully preserved fort above. Perched scenographically on the coastal cliff point of the town is the romanesque church of Saint Peter (consecrated 1198).

San Pietro

Another romanesque church, Saint Lawrence, is nestled high up amongst the houses, close to the fort. There are some B&B’s and hotels, as well as restaurants and bars. Directly in front of Portovenere looms Palmaria island. There are two places to stay on the island, a B&B and the Locanda Lorena, a restaurant/hotel, where I stayed for two nights.

Locanda Lorena on Palmaria Island

A walk around the island takes a little more than two hours on a very basic goat track. It is wonderful and rustic with spectacular views.

Scenic walk, Palmaria Island

There is one small private beach establishment where it is possible to rent umbrellas and deck chairs for the day. This is the only one for Palmaria and Portovenere so there are many daytrippers to the island, catching the boat over (the same one that then continues to the Cinque Terre) and so it can be quite busy. Otherwise, people lie on the rocks at Portovenere.

Locanda Lorena has a handful of rooms above their very popular restaurant below (serving predominately fish). For clients of both the hotel and the restaurant there is a free boat shuttle which goes continuously between Portovenere and their jetty on Palmaria island and which, I must admit, I took full advantage of. In the morning, I went across to Portovenere to explore the churches and the fort, and in the evening back over again to have a gin and tonic before returning to the restaurant below my room for a fish feed. Their boat is one of the fabulous wooden old style riviera boats from the 1970’s (made by ‘Riva by Ferretti’), and so I felt very diva-ish with the wind in my hair and the beautiful colours of the sunset as I was skimming across the water for my aperativo.

At Portovenere there are a few shops selIing the typical Ligurian regional products (pesto, testaroli pasta, olive oil) as well as a very cool little ceramic bottega where I indulged (www.labottegadirena.com).

La Bottega di Rena

Portovenere and Palmaria island, like the Cinque Terre, were designated world heritage sites by UNESCO in 1997.

ICE MAGIC

2011-08-27T08:16:00.000+02:00

The Italians are passionate about many things and gelato (literally in English ‘frozen’) is seriously high up on that passion list of theirs. Eaten by all ages, it is a national obsession. That it is good stuff is probably about one of the only things that Italians from the north to the south, east to west, would agree wholeheartedly upon !

Gelato is not simply the Italian word for ice cream, as it is indeed slightly different. There is more milk product and less cream used in gelato than in ice cream, which means that it is lower in fat content. The fat content in ice cream adds to the creaminess. However, having less fat content doesn’t actually mean a less creamy texture, as one would logically conclude. The creamy texture of gelato is achieved by less air mixed in during the production process, something that is referred to in technical terms as ‘overrun’. An increased level of overrun is required in ice cream to keep it from freezing too solidly. Packaged generic quality ice cream often has 100% overrun, which means that it is half air. This helps to explain why it can be a big tub but not as heavy as it would be if it were gelato which has circa 20% overrun. The denser state of gelato means that the taste is more intense, and it is more like soft-serve ice cream than standard ice cream.

So, to summarize: gelato is addictive due to its dense, creamy texture, it has a high taste intensity and is less fattening! The ingredients of gelato and ice cream are more or less the same (milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, air and flavour) however in varying degrees.

OTHER TEMPTATIONS IN A GELATERIA:

Semi-freddo - This is equal part gelato with whipped cream. It has the consistency of a mousse.

Semi-freddo

Granita – it is water, flavour (fruit or nuts such as almonds) and sugar. The liquid base is poured into a shallow tray and frozen. At intervals it is stirred to break up the ice crystals as they form. It is typical of Sicily and served in a cup. Gourmands can also add a scoop of gelato (a winning marriage is almond granita topped with pistachio gelato).

Granita

A sorbetto – same ingredients as the granita but churned like ice cream to achieve a soft texture.

Sorbetto

La Serenissima twist: When in Venice, do as the Venetians do and after dinner order a ‘Sgroppino’. It is served in a glass champagne flute and is a dreamy concoction of lemon gelato and vodka.

Venetian Sgroppino

THE GELATO PLAY-OFF IN FLORENCE (these are all ‘produzione propria’ - made in-house):

Gelateria dei Neri (Via dei Neri) – I always get the ‘Giotto’ (coconut, hazelnut, walnut) but there is gorgonzola & walnut flavour, ricotta & fig, mexican dark chocolate and chili (the kick comes afterwards, very cool).

Gelateria dei Neri

Perche No! (Via dei Tavolini) is located mid-way between the cathedral and the town hall, so very convenient. Flavours such as rose and lavender are sometimes on offer, as well as a great one I tried recently which was Eastern inspired with spices and ginger - it was a winner.

Gelateria Perche No!

Vivoli (Via Isola delle Stinche) mentioned in all the guidebooks. The rice flavour is a hit. It is more expensive than the others.

Vivoli

Carapina (Via dei Lambertesca) – this is the newest kid on the block and making lots of publicity with the foodies in Italy (an acclaimed Italian food critic, The Gastronauta, just included it in his top five gelaterias in italy!). Their aged parmesan cheese flavour is pretty cool. I love their business cards also folded into the shape of a cone, nice touch.

Carapina

Grom (Via delle Oche)– this chain is springing up like mushrooms all over Italy, born in Turin in 2003 and now gone global (Malibu, New York, Tokya, Osaka, Paris – crazy!).

My absolute favourite in Florence, I must admit, is just outside the centre, called Gelateria dei Medici (via di statuto 3-5/r) for those who are in the area. It is simply fantastic, as attested by the hordes of Florentines outside at all times of the day.

I am an addict of the little balls that they make up of some of their flavours and then coat them with something delicious. My all time fave is the pistachio ball rolled in crushed pistachio nuts or the hazelnut rolled in crushed hazelnuts. Their house specialty is the ‘crema dei Medici’ flavor (cream and chocolate).

Finally, as a testament to the Florentines' love of gelato, every year towards the end of May there is a GELATO FESTIVAL in Florence!!!

TORRE DI SAN NICCOLO

2011-08-20T09:08:00.000+02:00

A wonderful American professor, who brings students to Florence every year, will be tickled pink when she hears of another old tall monument to climb in her beloved city. She climbs every tower or tall old thing in all the cities that she visits and, thus, so do I when I go with her. In Florence, until recently, there were traditionally only two sites to climb: the king of all domes in the modern world, the magnifìcent cupola (1420-36) of the cathedral by Filippo Brunelleschi (463 steps), and the gothic bell tower in the same square (414 steps). Last year the two top floors of the Orsanmichele church became accessible on Monday only (see previous blog entry) and now this year we can add the Torre di San Niccolo on the Oltrarno side of the city. This lone soldier standing on its own, seemingly built in splendid isolation, gives an erroneous idea of its original function. The large opening at ground level hints at its most important role - this tower was once part of the last set of walls that protected one of the most important and wealthiest republics of the medieval world.

Torre di San Niccolo

The Florentines decided to extend the walls of their city for the last time in second half of the thirteenth century. They commissioned their favourite architect, Arnolfo di Cambio (also the first architect of the current cathedral and the Santa Croce church for the Franciscans to name just few of his major undertakings) to provide the plan, and construction began in 1284. This major third set of walls, dramatically increasing the land territory of Florence, took circa fifty years to complete. In 1340 the walls, the large entrances and the defensive towers built above them, were completed.

Map showing third set of walls

These walls were completely intact until the 1860’s when they were largely destroyed in a regretful plan of renovation when Florence was briefly the capital of the newly formed Italian nation. A tree lined avenue was created, where the walls had been, for the carriages (this is still the main much congested ring road of the city today). The majority of the actual entrance ways were left in place as historical reminders. They look a little incongruous, however, standing alone in the middle of five lanes of traffic.

The Saint Nicholas tower was once one of the four major entrances to the city on the south side of the river. The other three, all of which are intact, are the Porta Romana (with her original wooden doors), Porta San Giorgio and Porta San Frediano. The large wooden doors would open at sunrise and close just after sunset and were of course always guarded by sentries, just as the borders and customs are in countries and airports today. The doors were often called after a saint or religious entity important in that local area (there is the ‘church San Niccolo Oltrarno’ a stone’s throw away from the door) or where the direction may lead you, as in the case of Porta Romana or Porta Faenza (on the north side of the river). They all had towers (circa 200 feet tall) soaring up above the entrances for the sentries to survey the countryside or ‘contado’ as it is called in Italian. The Saint Nicholas tower is the only one that remains above the city wall entrance, as can be seen by the truncated other doors all around the city. The towers above the doors were destroyed by the Florentines themselves in an act of defense in 1530, when they were being besieged by the Spanish troops of the Holy Roman Emperor and the exiled Medici family. So that the canons wouldn’t be able to fire against the towers and cause great destruction when falling inside onto the people, the Florentines truncated the doors, leaving only the entrances. There was no need to destroy the one above Saint Niccolo as the hills directly behind it made it a very inconvenient station for the troops on the outside.

Porta alla Croce

Porta Romana

Every day, from 4pm - 8pm, small groups are accompanied up to the top of the tower every half hour. The view from above is lovely of both the city and the surrounding contado.

View of the city from the top of the tower

There is a little explanation about the history of the site in Italian given by the guard who accompanies the group and the admission fee is 3euro. I did have to wait until the following group as it was already booked out the time before. It is possible to reserve a place ahead of time, tel: 055 2768224, or just try your luck as I did and, if you need to wait, there is a little outside bar in the summer months down below where you can sit and relax, sipping a prosecco, whilst waiting for your time to climb. The tower is open until 1st October!

View from the tower showing the old city walls

FLORENTINE BELL TOWER

2011-08-13T08:47:00.000+02:00

The bell tower in the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) is often overshadowed by the real protagonist, the house of God (the Duomo = domus dei = house of God), but it is one of my favourite medieval buildings for its complex wonderful symbolic decoration. It is nicknamed ‘Giotto’s tower’ as the great artistic maestro of the Trecento was the first architect of the structure in 1334. After his death in 1337, Andrea Pisano continued the construction and it was brought to completion by Francesco Talenti in 1359. There are two horizontal superimposed rows of bas-relief decoration which wrap around the lower part of the structure and this is what I love most. The decorative cycle was begun under Andrea Pisano and completed in the following centre under Luca della Robbia.

The Industries of Man

The campanile, being a square structure, has two rows of seven bas-reliefs on each of the sides. Concentrating first on the top register of diamond shaped bas-reliefs (the earliest, largely done under Andrea Pisano from the late 1330’s) the seven facing towards the Piazza della Signoria (the centre of the Florentine political life) are the seven virtues (three cardinal – faith, hope, charity & the four cardinal – prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice), as the Florentines elected to the government must rule with virtue.

The seven virtues

The seven facing towards the east (to back of the square) are the seven liberal arts (the trivium – rhetoric, grammar, logic & the quadrivium – music, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic) as the face where the first Florentine university was situated (the street ‘via dello studio’ reminds us of this location).

Gionitus the astronomer observing the sky

The seven facing the cathedral are the sacrements (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, ordination, extreme unction) and finally facing the baptistery are the seven known planets at the time (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Venus, Mercury, Moon) implying that we are all part of God’s great organisation and his influence filters down through the concentric perfect planetary spheres to us on earth, and baptism is the first step to ensure that the soul rejoins from whence it came after death.

Grammar (one of the seven liberal arts) in the Cathedral Museum

Directly below the hexagonal bas-reliefs are the Industries of man, what man is capable of when using the above structures.
There is construction, civil law, fabric production with a depiction of a loom (the back bone of the Florentine merchant economy), astronomy, painting, sculpture, but my favourite is the depiction of Daedalus. He represents human ingenuity and genius. He is shown with the wings that he made in order to fly away from the island of Crete after falling out of favour with his patron, the King Minos, when the labyrinth that he had created to house the Minotaur had been mastered by Theseus and the half bull half man had been killed. In the bas-relief Daedalus (his name means skilled worker from Greek) is depicted with feathers all over his body, which I think is a nice touch.

Daedalus

The inclusion of human ingenuity personified sums up the Florentine spirit at the beginning of the fourteenth century. With their population ever increasing and business flourishing, they had brimming confidence. Its inclusion helps us understand how a republic can commission a dome for their cathedral larger than what was possible for them to actually construct with the knowledge available at the time. They just assumed that by the time they did come around to building it, somebody would have figured it out. The campanile displays the Florentine Republic in all of its religious, civic and economic pride and is worth a closer look when next in the square.
The bas reliefs are now copies and the originals are displayed very well in the museum of the cathedral located in the cathedral square behind the apse (open everyday Monday-Saturday 9am-7.30pm, Sunday 9am-1.40pm, admission: 6euro)

HEAVEN SCENT

2011-08-06T07:39:00.000+02:00

Santa Maria Novella pharmacy is a beautiful place to visit. It mixes the old with the new and it smells divine. As soon as you open the door, the wonderful aroma from the herbs and flowers used for the potpourri and essences, and the array of different products for both sexes (not to mention the selection for our four legged friends also – a range for cats and dogs!), wafts welcomely over us. Walking past a sculpture of Aesculapius – the pagan god of medicine – reminds us immediately of the history of the place. This was, before becoming the chic shop it is today, the area of the infirmary for the Dominican complex, the place where they sold their remedies and curing agents, as well as the location of their herb garden and presses for their manufacturing.

The current entrance to the Farmacia, from the street (via della Scala), means that we walk initially through a vestibule and into the first selling room which was previously the gothic style chapel, built in the fourteenth century and paid for by the Accaiuoli family, and built next door to the infirmary for the sick. The family donated money for the chapel’s construction after having benefited from the Dominicans' medical saviness. The chapel was restructured into the selling room in 1848 when the street entrance was made. From the onset of Dominican presence in Florence (early 1200’s), the friars made remedies and kept a herb garden, their rose water (used to purify the air and as an antiseptic in times of plague epidemics) was already mentioned as being for sale in a document from1381. The Dominicans hired a skilled layman apocathery and herbalist in 1542 and an independent ledger was begun.

The official founding date for the pharmacy as a shop and establishment open to the public however, where the creams and waters for commercial sale were produced, is 1612. In the 1650’s it was endorsed directly by the Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany and received many privileges, one of which was an additional title ‘Foundry to His Royal Highness’. Today the old infirmary is the second selling room, and the current third selling room was the initial selling room. This third room (with original 1700’s decoration) gives onto one of two cloisters in the Dominican complex (off limits today as it used by the Carabinieri) as the Farmacia was, before the mid-1800’s, entered from inside the monastery.

The Dominican cloisters

Don’t miss a visit into the little sacristy (next to the chapel, now accessed from the second selling room) with the original frescoes of the passion of Christ attributed to Spinello Aretino (ca.1350-1410).
Open: everyday 9.30amam-7.30pm (frescoed sacristy & room with presses and ceramics 10.30am-7pm).

THE CLASH OF THE BREADS - ROMAGNA V TUSCANY

2011-07-30T08:22:00.000+02:00

Piadina Rimini style

I am hopelessly in love with the piadina, the large flat round bread (25cm circa in diameter) of the Romagna region, north of Tuscany (the region is Emilia-Romanga). It was love at first sight and I have remained faithful to it since the first day I indulged. I am very happy however, that it is something that is only sold in abundance within the boundary of its native area, and that I live in Tuscany. Otherwise, the temptation to dive into a pool of piadinas would be an incessant torturous desire.

Piadina Ravenna style

There are kiosks selling piadina (piada or pida, as it can also go by) on street corners or on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere in particular, everywhere in Romagna, and it replaces the bread in the baskets on tables in trattorias (when the large bread circles of joy are cut into triangles). The kiosks sell the piadina alone (for people to take home, as others in different regions would buy bread) or they make up a sandwich with it, adding a variety of fillings such as prosciutto, rocket, sausage, cheese……it is irresistible. The kiosks also sell the crescione (or cassone), a piadina form of the calzone pizza, which is a piadina folded over to make a welded pocket, with the filling inside, and cooked in the oven. In the trattorias, a classic starter is the freshly made, still warm piadina cut into wedges and served with a plate of squaquerone (white soft runny cheese) and a plate of prosciutto and you create your own trinity of taste – caramelised figs is a great thing to add to the cheese also!

The ingredients of piadina are flour, lard, salt and water – no yeast so that it remains flat. There are now some places which replace the lard with olive oil, but otherwise the recipe remains the same throughout the region and it is the thickness of the piadina which gives it the signature stamp of local origin. Ravenna, one of the most northern cities in Romagna, makes their piadina very thick (or ‘alta’ – high- as the Italians say), whereas Rimini, one hour directly south on the Adriatric coast, makes theirs very thin. But, as the Romans said (and the piadina is similar to the type of flat bread that the Roman soldiers made), ‘in media stat virtus’ -the best is the equilibrium of the two extremes - and I prefer the piadina from Cesena, situated right in the middle between Ravenna and Rimini. It is the compromise of the two – it is perfect.

Tuscan bread

The first written testimonies of the piadina date to 1371 when the cardinal legate, Angelico de Grimoard, listed its ingredients "Si fa con farina di grano intrisa d'acqua e condita con sale. Si può impastare anche con il latte e condire con un po' di strutto" (it is made with flour, water and salt. It can also be mixed with milk and a bit of lard).
Not that I dislike the typical bread of Tuscany, I just don’t dream about it as I do the piadina. Many people, however, don’t show any affection at all to the traditional pane toscano as it is flavourless, due to its lacking salt as well as its rather tough crust. The saltless Tuscan bread was already immortalised by Dante in the XVII canto in Paradise of the Divine Comedy in the early 1300’s. He wrote : ‘tu proverai sì come sa di sale lo pane altrui’ (you shall learn how salt is the taste of another’s bread) when referring to his exile from his beloved Florence.

Bruschetta using Tuscan bread

One explanation for the lack of salt in the bread was that Pisa, in the twelfth century, one of Florentia’s many enemies, increased the price of salt to the inland cities and the Florentines retaliated by using it only when necessary, for meat preservation, thus taking it out of the bread. Another explanation for the saltless recipe is of a culinary kind. As the Tuscans have always traditionally liked strongly seasoned (speziato) and pungent meats, strong tasting pecorino cheese (sheep cheese) and liver pate, the bland oven baked bread was ideal to balance these flavours (again the in media stat virtus rings true) and is perfect to use when mopping up the sauces afterwards. It is true that Tuscan prosciutto is ‘salato’ (salted) and not ‘dolce’ (sweet) like that of Emilia-Romagna. Tuscan bread is not eaten by itself, it requires an accompaniment. In fact, as a starter in traditional Tuscan trattorias, there is often Fettunta (translation is oily slice, fetta – slice & unta – oily) on the menu which is quite simply a slice of Tuscan bread rubbed with garlic and then drizzled with good local extra virgin olive oil and salt.

Panzanella

The lack of salt is also linked to the bread's relatively short life span. It does indeed become rock hard after a few hours, hence the Tuscan imagination with the number of dishes requiring stale bread (panzanella, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro).
Tuscans do, however, make a bread that is tasty by itself, the Schiacciata. This is a bit like a ready-made fettunta, which seems like squashed (translation of the name) focaccia and is covered with oil, salt and sometimes rosemary. During the grape harvest season, the Tuscan bakers make an addition to their bakery selection, a winner for those with a sweet tooth, with the schiacciata con l’uva. Some of the freshly picked grapes, instead of going to make us some good chianti, end up being baked on top of the bread dough, pips and all, as well as a good dose of sugar and it turns into a slice of heaven!

Schiacciata con l'uva

COSIMO WHO CONTROLS THE COSMOS

2011-07-23T09:02:00.001+02:00

Ammannati's fountain at the Bargello

On the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to the sixteenth century Florentine sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati at the Bargello National sculpture museum, his fragmented sculpture fountain complex has been reconstructured. This is one of my favourite sculpture groups from the Italian Cinquecento and it was commissioned by the grand duke Cosimo I to Ammannati in 1555 for the inside of the Town hall that had been, since 1540, Cosimo’s ducal residence.
Ammannati was born in Settignano, from a stonemasons family. Settignano is one of the hills surrounding Florence, an area which produced many very talented sculptors and stone masons as it was one of the places that sourced the city with stone (Desiderio da Settignano was one of the greatest sculptors from the Florentine Quattrocento). Ammannati trained under Baccio Bandinelli, who headed one of the largest sculpture workshops in the first half of the 1500’s in Florence, and worked for numerous Medici family members after their return from exile in 1512 (Pope Clement VII, Alessandro de Medici, Cosimo I).
Ammannati secured the commission for a fountain sculpture group in 1555, to be placed in the ex-main government room, now the ducal hearing room where Cosimo I received his subjects and held gala events glorifying his rule and territory. Giorgio Vasari was entrusted with the artistic decoration of the walls and the ceiling, with detailed imagery linking the Medici family to the city’s ancient Roman past and highlighting the astuteness and greatness of Cosimo. At the head of the room, an elevated stage area was created where the Grand duke would sit surrounded by the sculptural representations of previous important ruling Medici figures sculptured by Bandinelli. At the other end was to be placed Ammannati’s fountain, which represented the four elements in mythological allegory represented by the various gods and motifs. This was an obvious analogy to the rule of the Medici - it was part of the very fabric of the cosmos that the Medici would rule over, the traditional republic of Florence, and it had always been part of the greater plan.

Cosimo I de Medici by Bronzino

Juno, the consort of Jupiter, is seated above and flanked by her attribute, the peacock. This was also the symbol of the beloved wife of Cosimo I, the Spanish Eleonora da Toledo, the beautiful second daughter of the Spanish Viceroy of Naples. Juno is seated on a rainbow, which has been reconstructed in plaster for the exhibition as the original marble structure has disappeared.
Below Juno stands Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, with water springing forth freely from her breasts as a sign of her life giving force. She is flanked by two semi reclining figures representing rivers, the one on the left being the Arno river as he is seated on a lion, the symbol of Florence. To the right is a female representing the spring of Mount Parnassus, as she is reclining on Pegusus.
The standing figures outside the semi circle are Flora on the right and Prudence on the left. Flora represents Florentia, the ancient Roman city of Florence, which was dedicated to the Goddess of Spring. She has, however, some additional symbols pertaining to Cosimo, declaring his political desire to be viewed as the Roman Emperor Augustus. Flora has the symbol of the order of the Golden Fleece, awarded to Cosimo I in 1545 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, around her neck.
Cosimo presented himself as the second Augustus. He too, like Augustus, stopped the civil unrest that had been plagueing Florence for decades, just as Octavian ended the civil war ravaging Rome by defeating Mark Anthony and Cleopatra in 31AD. Augustus became the first Emperor of the Empire, with the Republic of Rome gone, just as Cosimo I would become the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, ending once and for all the Republic of Florence. Furthermore, Cosimo symbolically adopted the same motto (Festina Lente) and the same zodiac sign as Augustus (Capricorn).
Finally. this brings us to the remaining figure, Prudence, on the left. He has an anchor and dolphin behind his leg, visual symbols of the shared motto of Augustus and Cosimo. Festina Lente, make haste slowly, is represented by the anchor that grounds the vessel and the dolphin which represents the swiftness and speed of these rulers in defense.

Eleonora da Toledo by Bronzino

If this had ever been installed and actually functioned as a fountain inside the sumptuous hearing room of the Ducal palace, one of the largest reception rooms in Europe, the effect would have been powerful, especially when the sound of the water is added to the overall display. It was never installed there however. Francesco I de Medici (Cosimo’s successor) installed it outside in his country villa at Pratolino and it became part of the overall internationally renowned water displays in the rest of the garden complex. After his death, it was moved to the Boboli Gardens. Dismantled in the following century, it ended up in the Bargello museum, a shadow of its former marvellous self. Today however, recomposed, we have a glimpse into the stupendous visual art creations of the sixteenth century grand dukes.

Jason returns with The Golden Fleece

THE TAROT GARDEN – A SLICE OF HEAVEN

2011-07-14T12:29:00.001+02:00

One of my favourite places to visit in the whole of Italy is the Giardino dei Tarocchi created by the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), begun in 1978. I cried when I visited this place on my birthday weekend a few years ago. I love places that display stunning examples of pure imagination and colour in strong decisive ways and, on top of that, if they embody a message of some sort, it makes me tingle with emotion.

The garden is located in southern Tuscany, inland, in the middle of the olive groves. Friends of the artist gave her some land from their estate near the delightful town of Capalbio, at Garavicchio, in order to create her outdoor sculpture garden inspired by the representations of the individual tarot cards. She began the twenty-two monumental sculptures in 1978-9, a project that was to last nearly two decades and they were finished in 1996. The idea for such a space was born in 1955 when she visited the Park Guell by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) in Barcelona.

She gathered a team of visual artists and technicians to help build the sculpture armatures from welded steel bars covered in cement and decorated with glass, painted ceramic and mirrors. These enormous coloured creations are often big enough to walk into. Moving from one sculpture to the next, in the serenity of the olive grove studded countryside, is a wonderful sensation. Each creation is different and original, however it is possible to sense the common stylistic influences running through all of her work; the multi-media use and style of Gaudi, the ingenious use of colour present in Venetian art and mosaic work and the magic of that city’s architecture, and the Romanesque period with the fantastical imagination found in the stonework and decoration of the buildings. For me, this is a slice of heaven on earth and an enchanting addition to a fabulous weekend away discovering the delights of the surrounding area.

Open: 2.30 - 7.30 pm, April 1 - October 15

ESCAPE THE SUMMER HEAT - WINE & DINE IN STYLE

2011-07-03T15:28:00.002+02:00

Two new places were tried last week: a drink at the five star hotel just outside Florence, Villa la Massa and dinner at the Cenacolo del Pescatore in the centre of Florence.

VILLA LA MASSA is a top-notch luxury villa-hotel about 7 km outside of Florence proper - an oasis of calm and serenity on the Arno river. It's an ex-Medici villa complex from the sixteenth century, composed of the main villa, the converted stables and a smaller villetta, all within a stone’s throw of one another (37 rooms in total). The complexes surround the pool and the patio area where I was seated, sipping my gin & tonic, nibbling on hazelnuts and being serenaded by the piano man off in the corner under the arches of the stable where the restaurant is also located. It was perfect, truly perfect and, if I were coming to Florence in the middle of summer and wanted five-star digs, this is exactly what I would choose, no doubt about it. It was cooler here than in the centre, in serene natural surroundings, and the non-invasive relaxed demeanour of the staff would make for a perfect stay.

http://www.villalamassa.com

Dinner at the CENACOLO DEL PESCATORE in Florence offers a different experience to other places in Florence. In fact, due to its completely closed and restrained decoration, once inside (after ringing the door bell), you forget entirely where you are and give yourself up to the wait staff, your dinner company and the food. We had a fantastic Japanese waiter (the chefs in the kitchen seemed to be all Japanese also). Thin, with spiked hair and dressed in black with white leather shoes, he moved with great flair - a flick of the fingers here and a twirl there, on the heel of his shoes when turning around. I mean every time he took something away or brought something to the table he performed a subtle kind of Michael Jackson move - we loved it! What most people who eat here seem to go for is the degustation menu, a choice of 3 courses from the menu (50 euros) or 5 courses (70 euros). We chose the latter and washed it down with a nice bottle of Fiano d'Avellino from Campania. The degustation dishes are chosen by the kitchen and the evening kicks off with some little surprise anti- primas to whet the appetite (the first was diced raw salmon with rice served with a glass of boutique beer). The menu is predominately fish based but there are a few meat choices. The restaurant is run by the Italian chef Daniele Pescatore. www.cenacolodelpescatore.it

IL MIO BEL SAN GIOVANNI

2011-06-21T12:10:00.001+02:00

Ceiling mosaics of the baptistery

John the Baptist is the patron saint of Florence and his day of celebration is coming up very soon, on the 24^th June, a public holiday for the Florentines. You can recognise St John the Baptist in visual imagery as he is depicted as an ascetic, typically wearing a camel skin and holding a staff. He is often holding a scroll (reference to he being the last prophet) with the words ecce agnes dei often written, the words he pronounced upon seeing seeing Christ ‘behold the lamb of God’. He was the son of Zacchiarias and Elizabeth, the older cousin of Mary, making Christ and John second cousins and it is traditionally held that there are six months between them in age, John being slightly older.
The baptistery of Florence is situated over the remains of a wealthy Roman house during the time of the Latin city Florentia in Antiquity. This family paid extra taxes for fresh water to be brought to their home from the nearby aquaduct in order to have a private bath structure. The baptistery was later built on top of the ruins of their dwelling, conveniently using the already existing channels of fresh water, the fundamental element in sacred rites symbolising the washing away of original sin, and water being the traditional symbol of the giving of life. The mosaics from the floors of the Roman house are still visible through a grate on the floor of the baptistery.

John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci

The early Christian structure was replaced with the current magnificent Romanesque style building in the eleventh century when Pope Nicholas II, a Florentine, supported the funding. The Romanesque style, characterised by the round headed arch and a compact sold structure, is given a particular individualistic trait in Tuscany with the geometric patterns and decorative format of the green and white local marble. Moorish inspired, this decorative use came through the great maritime republic of Pisa which had the means of seeing many Islamic buildings. Symbolically, it is octagonal in structure as in Christian numerology it refers to the eighth eternal day after the seven earthly days and the figure eight, when placed on its side, becomes the symbol for infinity.
Visitors to Florence often skip a visit inside the building - wrong! It is wonderful: the mosaics on the ceiling, begun in the early 1200’s, are stunning. The intricate detail given to the stories from the old testament from creation through to the story of Christ are delightful and the Last Judgement representation is up to its usual imaginative medieval genius.
Not the biggest baptistery in Italy - size was a serious display of importance - as Pisa beats it, I believe, but certainly it is worthy of the epithet 'the most beautiful'. Considered thus for centuries, Dante refers to it as 'il mio bel San Giovanni', and we can't argue with him. It is still used for baptisms, on the last Sunday of every month as long as you are Florentine!

The octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni

Happy Saint Day John!

Admission fee: 4 euro (tickets bought opposite the entrance to the baptistery on the other side of the piazza in the Opera del Duomo building.)

CAFFETTERIA DELLE OBLATE

2011-06-16T01:38:00.002+02:00

Have a light lunch or a drink in one of the coolest gems in Florence - it's neither chic nor fancy, but local, historical and tranquil, and Brunelleschi’s dome feels so close it's almost as if you can touch it! It's the cafe on the top floor of the public library on Via dell’Oriuolo 26, situated behind the cathedral. The library and cafe are inside an age old structure which once had quite a different purpose. This was the nucleus of the hospital founded by Folco Portinari (the father of Beatrice, Dante’s muse) in 1285. The female nurses, a religious group called oblate, were housed on this site and the church connected to the hospital was called Santa Maria. Shortly afterwards, a male equivalent was begun across the road and called Santa Maria Nuova, which still exists today as the main hospital in the historical centre of Florence. The original space (now the library complex with the coffee bar on the top floor) was left for the female convent. I have always loved Italy for the way that the old is reinterpreted into the new, and this is a perfect example. The centuries old structure now houses the council library and is always full of students. The top floor is where this little bar is located and the rest of the space has tables and chairs where friends meet and chat, use their computers and/or read. It is a wonderful little respite stop to remember when passing through the city or living in it, as I do.
In the evenings they do a Happy Hour aperitivo which costs 8 euros and there is a little accompanying buffet. The bar is open according to the schedule of the library, closed Sunday, open Monday 2pm-7.30pm, Tuesday-Saturday 9am-midnight.

OSPEDALE DEGLI INNOCENTI

2011-06-03T14:45:00.001+02:00

Ospedale degli Innocenti

Florence is the home of the first orphanage in the world. A structure entirely dedicated to the care and maintenance for the foundlings, or the ‘Innocents’ of the city. In the early fifteenth century two of the six hospitals (San Gallo and Santa Maria della Scala) took care of the orphans, but only as part of the greater care that they offered to all sections of society. In the Piazza del Duomo, the Misericordia (Society of Mercy) and the Society of the Bigallo provided hospitalization for the foundlings, but not the raising of these numerous children of all ages abandoned in the countryside and the city. In 1410 Francesco di Marco Datini, a very wealthy merchant from Prato (the nearest town to Florence) left a considerable sum of money in his will to Santa Maria Nuova hospital in Florence in order to create a specific section for the care of orphans. He had already created a similar 'section' in his hometown and wanted to inspire the Florentines to do the same. After much discussion and little action over many years, it was decided to create a whole separate structure, not attached to the hospital, but an orphanage, dedicated to the care, education and well being of the Innocents of Florence and surrounding territory. Land was acquired from a wealthy family, the Albizzi, in the present Piazza Santissima Annunziata and the silk Guild (one of the seven major merchant guilds) was entrusted with the responsibility of being patrons for the entity. Filippo Brunelleschi, now hailed as the first renaissance architect, was commissioned the construction of the Ospedale in 1419. His structure is one of the first buildings built in the new Renaissance style, based on a modular design creating a structure of proportion and balance – a perfect ambiance for little ones to grow in security and safety after their traumatic beginning.
The first orphan entered on 5^th february 1445. She was called Agata Smeralda. By 1468, there were 400 orphans being fed outside the institution and 300 in the hospital. In 1553 there were 2000 mouths to feed - the babies nursing, the weaned ones and the older boys and girls. Many of the nameless were given the surname Innocenti, a common surname in Tuscany today.

Window in loggia where babies were left

Under the famous front entrance loggia of the Ospedale, an almost iconic symbol of fifteenth century Renaissance architecture, is where the babies were left by their parents when unable to offer care. Initially they were left in a marble basin sheltered in an enclave in the wall of the loggia. Later, they were placed through an iron grated window, still visible today, built into the left side wall of the loggia. The babies were passed through the grate and placed in a basket on the other side. Some babies had distinctive objects attached to their wrist, around their neck, or a particular item of clothing, often halves of something, so that if the parents came back to retrieve their children they would be identifiable. These items (coins cut in half, particular symbols on necklaces etc.) were noted down by the head foster mother (in Italian: a soprabalia). In the museum on the second storey of theOspedale there is a little glass display case with some of these ‘markers’.

The Madonna by Domenico del Michelino

Also in the museum are some beautiful paintings commissioned to some of the most important painters of the day for the orphanage’s church, Santa Maria degli Innocenti. The superb ‘Adoration of the Magi’ (1488) painting by Domenico Ghirlandiao was on the high altar, and a beautiful enthroned Madonna and child (1493 ca.) by Piero di Cosimo, commissioned by Piero del Pugliese, an extremely wealthy silk merchant in the city, for his private family chapel inside the same church. There is also a canvas painting by Domenico del Michelino of the Madonna (1440 ca.) holding her cloak out wide protecting the foundlings gathered around her. This, it is thought, could have been used as a processional banner. In the foreground, the littlest ones are swaddled and in the background, the older ones are wearing the black cloth uniform of the orphanage with their badge, a swaddled child, attached to the front. The building today has medical services for children, a day-care centre and offices for UNICEF, as well as this very fascinating little museum. Check it out! Open Monday – Sunday, 10am-7pm, admission fee: 5euro.

Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandiao

COFFEE COOL

2011-05-28T17:41:00.007+02:00

I recently did a tour for a great group of Aussie high school teenagers.
When speaking with their lovely (and cool) English teacher who was accompanying them through Europe, she told me an amusing story. When they were in Rome, she would start each day with a coffee in a local bar. She told the students that they should come with her as it would be a perfect time to write in their journals, something that they had to do in any case at some point each day as part of an assessment. She told them that it was a good place to experience Italian life. Initially, the teenage boys weren’t overly keen and the first few times they went reluctantly - coffee was something older people drank and was maybe even a bit of a sissy drink, so the whole thing was a bit naff, the opposite to a pub and beer. That was until three uber cool young Roman guys rocked in one morning to the café where they were, helmets in hand for their vespas, that they had casually, and probably illegally, parked outside, sporting cool sunnies and decked out in the ubiquitous Diesel jeans and some cool and, no doubt, snugly fitting tops. They ordered three macchiato coffees, laughed and joked with the barman and with each other, drank them, paid, and then sauntered out, all in the space of about five minutes. The English prof noticed that the three male Aussie students were mesmerized, and, early the next day, they asked when they were next going to the coffee bar. On arriving at the bar, all three ordered a macchiato!

Un caffè - an espresso, a shot of coffee in a small cup.

Un macchiato means ‘stained’ (it is the past participle of the verb ‘to stain’, which is macchiare) - served in an espresso cup, the shot of coffee is stained with a dash of milk.

Un cappuccino - so named for the colour of the milk coffee which resembled the
habit of the cappuccin friars ( a branch of the Franciscan order who wear a lighter brown greyish habit).

Un caffè americano - is a shot of espresso served in a cappuccino cup with hot water added. If ordered when seated it will often be served with a little jug of milk. If ordered at the bar standing there should always be a little jug of milk. If there isn’t, then ask.

Un marocchino means Moroccan - a shot of espresso in a small glass cup
filled to the top with milk and cocoa added on the top as well as in between the
milk and coffee. (this is not diffused in all areas of Italy).

Un caffè corretto means a corrected coffee - an espresso with a shot of grappa. This could be good for suffers of Stendhal syndrome in Italy, a replacement for smelling salts to regain composure!

There are two different price systems in the coffee bars, the price differing according to whether you sit or stand at the bar (what Italians do). If you stand at the bar, then you pay before at the cash register and take the receipt to the bar, give it to the barista and tell him what you want. He will rip your receipt and serve you your coffee, which you consume standing at the bar. If you sit at the table, somebody will come and take your order and bring you a bill. The price goes up according to the service charge. Beware - it can sometimes triple, especially for seating outside in the piazzas. Prices are listed in the menus on the tables.

Italians drink cappuccino at breakfast time, until mid morning. Then they switch to a macchiato or an espresso for the rest of the day. They find the Anglo-Saxon habit of a cappucino after dinner truly puzzling. It is all about mixing too much milk with digestion, which could cause havoc! Instead, they have an espresso, or even better, a digestivo (something like Montenegro) - or better still, both!

Favourite coffee places in Florence:

Chiascuro

Cafe Giacosa Roberto Cavalli

Cantinetta dei Verrazzano in via dei Tavolini - I must admit that I have coffee here every day. It is very good, they are very nice and the cakes, pastries and
focaccias are also very good. The benches and table tops are of Carrara white
marble which adds to the atmosphere of eternally good things…

Café Giacosa - Roberto Cavalli, next to the Cavalli store on via Tornabuoni - here the good coffee is always served with the addition of liquid chocolate, so

Café Giacosa inside Palazzo Strozzi on via Tornabuoni - run by the Caffé Giacosa mentioned above and is a lovely place for good coffee, cake or light lunch. Never too crowded and seating in the internal courtyard.

Chiaroscuro in via del Corso - serves good coffee with yummy variants that are written up on a board above. A friend of mine always orders a marocchino here…….

Cafe Giacosa Palazzo Strozzi

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA - THE FRIAR WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE

2011-05-22T14:40:00.001+02:00

Girolamo Savonarola by his follower Fra' Bartolomeo

The Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, originally from Ferrara, was hanged and burnt in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence on the 23rd May 1494. Every year, on the morning of the anniversary of his death, there is a renaissance parade from the Palazzo della Parte Guelfa to the Piazza della Signoria, where a wreath is laid over the plaque which marks the spot where the burning took place. Savonarola died, along with two of his most ardent followers, in the same square where he had held the infamous 'Bonfire of the Vanities' during the period of Lent in 1497 and 1498. Non-Christian books and art (drawings and paintings), and objects of earthly passion and distraction, such as cards, precious fabrics, make-up and wigs, were burnt in the square on a platform made of seven steps, symbolising the seven vices. Savonarola was an extremely influential preacher who called for great reforms of the church which provoked anger from the pope at the time, Alexander VI.
In 1491 he was made prior of San Marco monastery in Florence and began to preach in the cathedral. With the expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1494, due to a sharp decline in popularity after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent de Medici and the incompetence of Piero de Medici, his son, to gain support from the people, Savonarola filled the power void and substituted humanist thought and neo-platonic philosophy with a theocratic government and an austere religious atmosphere for four years. Savonarola reorganised the government and, inspired by the Venetian model, increased political representation to 1500 people. He then commissioned an extension to the town hall, the 'Salone del '500' (Room of the 500), where the newly enlarged government could meet, in three sittings of 500 people at a time, giving name to the room. He referred to it as the Hall of Christ.
His sermons increased in religious fervour and he claimed that Christ was speaking through him, he being a prophet of Christ. He attacked the papacy, who initially offered him a cardinal's hat to silence him, which he rejected, before excommunicating him. Cesare Borgia, the head of the papal army and the pope's son, came to Florence where a forced confession was taken from the friar, followed by his death in the square.
Due to the austerity and fanatical nature of his reign, opposition had grown in Florence. The opponents of Savonarola, dubbed the Arrabbiati (Angry Ones), called the Dominican's closest followers the Piagnoni (Wailers) as they complained incessantly and spoke endlessly of the end of the world. After Savonarola was burned, his ashes were gathered and sprinkled over the Arno to avoid them being collected and kept by his believers, although the cult of Savonarola continued throughout the sixteenth century.

Savonarola's cell in San Marco, Florence

Visitors to the beautiful San Marco monastery can enter his cell where many of the sermons would have been written and can see the bell that called the Florentines to hear him speak. This bell was exiled to outside the walls, to the dreaded enemy of the Dominicans, the Franciscan church San Salvatore al Monte, after his death. A few years later the Gonfaloniere Pier Soderini, head of the Republic, in an act of clemency, returned the bell to the Dominicans.

The hanging & burning of Savonarola in Piazza della Signoria - an anonymous painting from 1498 in the Museo di San Marco

Lions and tigers and bears... oh my!

2011-05-15T23:04:00.003+02:00

Room after room of the fantastic creations
that roam the earth.

Anotomical models in wax made
between 1770-1850.

La Specola, the oldest science museum in the world, should be the newest addition to a visitor’s Florentine itinerary. Opened to the public in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo (of the Hapsburg-Lorrain family, who ruled Tuscany the Medici and Unification), it was initially the seat for the all the science museum categories (zoology, mineralogy, scientific instruments, astronomy, anthropology, geology etc.). Over the centuries these separate scientific disciplines have been separated and spread around various different seats in the city and the museum now houses only two main sections of the magnificent scientific collection in Florence, but possibly the most fun, the zoological collection and the unbelievable wax anatomical models. The name of the museum, La Specola, means Observatory, as that was what was built on top of the Palazza Torrigiani, the building where the museum is located. The Observatory was later moved to Arcetri (behind San Miniato al Monte church more or less) but the name remains. La Specola museum is comprised of thirty-four rooms, the first twenty are dedicated to the Zoological section, organised according to animal categories such as fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, etc. Afterwards follows thirteen rooms dedicated to the intricate and precise anatomical models made out of wax created between 1770-1850, initially commissioned by Grand Duke Pietro Leopold, to be teaching and study aids, replacing real cadavers. Each room concentrated on a particular part of the body area and the models are accompanied by intricate drawings of the same body part or organ in frames above. It is a fascinating, fun, strange and a completely underrated place in Florence. Open: 9.30am-4.30pm, (6euro admission fee, reduced 3euro). Closed Monday, address: via Romana 17.

Italian Easter: it's not about the chicken or the egg, but the egg, the dove & the pastiera!

2011-05-01T20:46:00.008+02:00

La colomba pasquale / the Easter Dove

La Pagnotta - Sarsina

During this past Easter, I discovered yet another regional speciality. The pagnotta (left), made only during this Christian celebration, originated from a little place called Sarsina (province of Forlì/Cesena), in my beloved area of Romagna (north of Tuscany). It is a slightly sweet, light bread with a small quantity of raisins inside. To be honest, I wasn’t mad for it – it was a little unexciting, but what I love is that Italy always makes me feel a little like Alice in wonderland. Italy, like nature, always dishes up something new in different parts of the year and in different areas. The Italians have always rivalled nature herself in art, so it makes sense that they would do so in food also. The pagnotta was nicer when I dunked it in milk and when I ate it with the boiled eggs that Italians traditionally eat at breakfast on Easter Sunday. The national Easter cake, something for which I do however have great affection, is la colomba pasquale – the Easter Dove (above right). It’s like a cousin of the panettone in taste, and indeed it was first made at the beginning of the 1900’s in Milan by the company Motta, already one of the established panettone companies. Different, however, is that it is in the form of a dove, symbol of peace and rebirth, just like Easter eggs. Like the panettone, the main ingredients are flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and yeast with small pieces of candied fruit (orange & lemon), with the addition of almonds and hard sugar pieces placed on top. La colomba is eaten most often on Easter Sunday after the big lunch. The Florentines (and those in the surrounding area) however, not being able to wait for the sweet dove to swoop down and break their fasting of all tasty treats on Easter Sunday, created some chocolate biscuits, called Quaresimali (the word Quaresima means Lent – so they are called Lent biscuits), that one is permitted to indulge in during the normally restrictive Lent period, the 40 day period between mardi gras and Easter (below left). Nuns near Prato are thought to be the creators of these chocolate biscuits, in the form of the letters of the alphabet, representative of the bible text. Their dark brown colour from the cocoa is symbolic of the ink used to write the word on the paper. Being symbolic of the sacred Christian text, they are permissible during the period immediately before Easter. Indulging in chocolate biscuits, and lots of them, is even given a sacred spin in Florence! Finally, I must conclude with a mention of one of my favourite cakes in Italy, the Pastiera, traditional around Easter time in Naples. It is spectacular, a pastry base with a lattice top and a filling to die for, made with wheat kernels (its origins have pagan roots as it was historically made to celebrate the beginning of Spring), ricotta, orange flower water, eggs, sugar, pastry cream and diced candied fruits. Crazy, but oh so heavenly.

Quaresimali - Florence

La Pastiera - Naples

Easter in Florence - with a bang, not a whimper!

2011-04-21T23:23:00.002+02:00

If you are in Florence for Easter this year, then you must be in the cathedral square at about 10am on Easter Sunday for the EXPLOSION OF THE CART (Scoppio del Carro), which will take place at 11am. This is a tradition that has been going on for centuries. Pazzino de’ Pazzi was rewarded for his bravery in the form of a gift of three flints from the Holy Sepulchre, given to him by the leader of the crusade Goffreid, the Duke of Bullion (located in modern day France). Pazzino was one of 2,500 Florentines who ventured to the Holy Land in the late eleventh century, and was the first over the walls of Jerusalem where he planted the crusader flag. In 1101 he returned to Florence, and, from then on, three flints were used ceremoniously every year to light the domestic fire in every citizen's household on Easter Sunday, symbolising new life and the hope of future resurrection. The flints were carried from house to house on a cart, which over time became more and more decorated. The cart was taken to the cathedral to light the paschal candle, as well as the candles in the other churches. The cart was then piled high with fireworks and set off in the cathedral square to add drama and excitement to the celebration. During the year, the flints were jealously guarded in the Pazzi family palace until they unsuccessfully conspired to kill the leaders of the Medici family in 1478 and take over the city. The family exiled, the flints were taken for safekeeping to the church of Santa Maria sopra Porta and, when this was suppressed, they were moved, in 1785, to the Santi Apostoli church, where they are today. The Medici’s, always one step ahead of the rest and extremely avant-garde, introduced a new spectacle to the celebration at the beginning of the 1500’s - the rocket dove! Inside the cathedral, the archbishop, after the mass, using the sacred torch fire that had been lit by the Holy Sepulchre flints, also lit the rocket dove (with a laurel branch in its mouth) which was attached to an iron cord. The rocket bird would shoot off, out through the cathedral and straight into the cart, igniting the fireworks! The dove would then do an about turn and shoot back into the cathedral! If successful, there would be a bountiful harvest the following season. You can choose where to start your Easter festivities, - either start at the Santi Apostoli church and accompany the flints to the cathedral, or, start at the Porta al Prato, where the cart is kept, and, along with the procession, walk the cart into the main religious square. The cart is pulled by some beautifully adorned white bulls. It is nicknamed the Brindellone (the big awkward clumsy thing!) by the Florentines due to its size and how it wobbles and rambles through the city streets to its destination. Happy Easter and may you have an explosive weekend!

THE SWEET SMELL OF THE BAPTISED BEAN AT THE BOBOLI GARDENS

2011-04-17T09:45:00.004+02:00

Jean Baptiste Charpentier
La tasse du chocolat, 1768

Kaffeehaus, 1774-74,
Zenobio del Rosso (architect)
commissioned by
Grand duke Pietro Leopoldo II
of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family

Now that the weather is getting nicer a visit to the Boboli gardens would be a lovely way to spend an afternoon or morning. The Boboli gardens were, for the most part constructed by the Medici family and they were their representative, functional and recreational gardens. They were one of the first landscaped gardens since antiquity. The Medici would hold important family celebrations here, perform plays and spectacles in the outdoor theatre, go hunting, as well as grow plants and vegetables, harvest a trout farm and create ice caves. Each ruling Medici made a significant change or enlargement to the palace and the gardens from the time they bought the land in 1549 until the last Medici Grand duke who died in 1737. The Duke of Lorraine and his wife Marie-Theresa of the Hapsburg family (the future Holy Roman Emperor and Empress), took over the Duchy of Tuscany after the Medici and they came to live in the Pitti palace. From here, as the Medici’s had done, they ruled Tuscany and held court, until the unification of the nation in 1861 (this year celebrates the 150^th anniversary of the Italian federation) and they too made significant contributions to the estate. Grand duke Pietro Leopold of the Hapsburg family (Grand duke from 1765-90, the second of four Lorraine-Hapsburgs who ruled Tuscany) built one of my favourite sites in the Boboli gardens, the Kaffeehaus (1770’s) commissioned to the architect Zenobi del Rosso. A wonderfully civilised structure in the gardens where guests and the family could stop and have tea, coffee and hot chocolate. All that carriage riding and strolling in the gardens can bring on a parched feeling and the Kaffeehaus comes to the rescue! The lovely pale pastel green of the exterior was the colour of the Duchy of Lorraine (this colour can also be seen on the walls of the Uffizi staircase up to the top floor), restored and repainted in the 1990’s. The Kaffeehaus looks beautiful, nestled amongst the greenery, seen from the other side of the river on the top floor of the Uffizi gallery, or indeed when actually strolling in the Boboli gardens. The Kaffeehaus is built in the Rococo style, the fashionable style of the mid eighteenth century (succeeding the Baroque, it was an aristocratic decorative style characterised by a sense of weightlessness in architecture, light colours, associated with folly, pleasure and entertainment), with hints of Eastern touches, such as the bulb dome, as was in vogue in Vienna (the Hapsburg main centre). It is akin to the pleasure houses in the gardens of Versailles. The structure nowadays unfortunately is an empty shell (it was also beautifully frescoed on the interior with pastoral and illusionistic scenes), as plans to open it once more as a coffee shop were halted due to doubts regarding its structural condition.
In the eighteenth century drinking coffee and hot chocolate was something reserved for the elite echelons of society. It was expensive and a status symbol. Chocolate had entered Europe with the discover of the Americas in the fifteenth century and coffee was thought to have first come to the continent through Venice around the time of Marco Polo in the thirteenth century. Coffee had been drunk for centuries by the Muslim world, as early as the eighth century, but it only began to be something that was drunk by a growing number of people in Europe during the 1500’s. Still associated with the Muslim world however, it brought some feelings of unease amongst the clergy who viewed it as the devil’s drink. The legend is that in 1600, when complaining to the pope that he should ban it, Clement VIII demanded that he himself should try it first. Taking an instant liking to the delicious and exotic bean, he decided to baptise it, so that it could become a welcome member of the church and be freely drunk at leisure!

aerial view of the Pitti Palace & the Boboli gardens
the Kaffeehaus building & terraced gardens in front to the left.

Holy Cow! The Bistecca alla Fiorentina

2011-04-05T17:11:00.004+02:00

Three men who are extremely happy with the individual portions of
bistecca alla fiorentina, 750grams a head. Peace will reign at the table as there will be no arguing over who gets the bone!

The ancient Chianina breed,
documented from Antiquity
by Pliny the Elder who
associated it with the Etruscans.

I am a carnivore, yet another reason why I feel at home in Tuscany because here, they eat every part of the cow. A trip to the local fresh food markets will certainly back this up! (see also Florentine Street Food blog). At the markets you can see every part of the inside and the outside of the bovine and poultry families. The hearts, intestines, pig's trotters and the offal are not bought for the Italian’s domestic animals, but for their domestic tables. A famous restaurant in Florence is called Cibreo, which means the cock’s crest, which is one of the establishment’s dishes on the menu. But one of the region’s specialties is the bistecca alla fiorentina. This can be simply translated as the T-bone steak in English, but it is the quality of the meat and the way it is cooked that differs from all other places. It is grilled, served rare, and the cut is about two fingers think. It is drizzled with good local Tuscan olive oil and sprinkled with salt. The most common side dish to order with it is white fava beans, but salad is another good option. The breed of cow from which the succulent Tuscan T-bone is taken, is called the Chianina, a quite precious white cow which is usually kept in individual stalls in the farm. It is a very old breed, mentioned by Pliny the Elder (23A.D-79A.D, Roman author and naturalist) and found in Tuscany, Umbria and the le Marche regions. The Tuscans were devastated and outraged when eating beef on the bone was outlawed by the government during the outbreak of the mad cow disease and even had a funeral for the bistecca (in typical Italian melodramatic spirit). They unabashedly rejoiced when the prohibition was lifted. It is generally quite pricy and the cost is determined by the weight. The menus will have the price per 100 grams (in Italian 100 grams is called 1 etto) and the size depends on what size cuts they have in the kitchen. The weight includes the bone. It is often advisable to order the bistecca for two people as cuts often start at 700-800 grams and continue to well over a kilo. The average price per 100 grams in the centre of Florence ranges from 4-5euros. Good Tuscan local wine, such as a Chianti, is the perfect accompaniment and it is absolutely permissible to suck the bone afterwards! Crostini toscani is a good starter (bread served with chicken liver pate) and some good grappa to aid digestion rounding off the meal is a good way to end.

A favourite place of mine to eat the bistecca in Florence is the 'La Casalinga' in via dei Michelozzi, near piazza Santo Spirito. Most restaurants serving Florentine cuisine will offer it, such as ‘Sostanza’ (nicknamed, La Troia), ‘Osteria di Giovanni’ and ‘Trattoria Mario’ (open only at lunchtime), to name a few....

Being called the pits is no longer something to be worried about!

2011-03-31T21:55:00.005+02:00

The wheels of cheese in their cloth bags
placed in the pit in August.

The pit lined with reeds & hay
3-4metres deep.

What is so wonderful about Italy is the sheer diversity from one region to another, often even from one town to another, within the same region. I love so many of the twenty Italian regions that make up the nation, however I have a particular soft spot for Romagna in the region of Emilia-Romagna, situated north-east of Tuscany on the Adriatic coast. The main cities in Romagna are Rimini, Ravenna, Cesena, Forlì and Imola and there are numerous fantastic little towns and villages nestled in the regions hills. During the Renaissance alot of the land was for the most part, ruled by the Pope as part of his temporal domain. Here, bread is replaced with the piadina (a flat type of bread that resembles a bit like the Indian naan or thin Greek pitta bread), the typical pasta is the strozzapreti (stangled priests) and in certain places they bury their cheese in pits for the last three months of the maturation process. This type of cheese (from sheep or cow milk or a mix of both) is called formaggio di fossa (cheese from the pit). It is documented to have been done at least from the fifteenth century and is typical of Sogliano al Rubicone, a hill top village not too far from Rimini. It is also done in some places in region of the Marches and in Umbria. In August, after the cheese has matured in the open for 2-3 months, the farmers wrap the cheese wheels in white cloth with their names written on the exterior and then place them in pits about 3-4 metres deep shaped like a fiasco (the traditional bottle shape of chianti wine) that have been dug out from the tufa stone mountain wall. The pit is then covered and securely sealed with a wooden lid and plaster to be opened three months later. Traditionally, this was a way to hide the cheese (their food for the coming winter months) from the plundering bandits and armies. Every year the pits were cleaned by burning straw and twigs and they were then lined with reeds and hay placing a rack at the bottom so that the cloth bags avoid contact with the whey drippings. In Sogliano al Rubicone the pits were, and still are, ceremoniously opened on Saint Catherine’s day 25^th November. The cheese has a smell of undergrowth, moss, truffles and wood. So if you are travelling in Italy during November, do some modern day plundering and do not miss the Formaggio di Fossa sagra (village festival) of Sogliano sul Rubicone held on the weekend of the 25th. Let your nose lead you to the picturesque high hilltop town where you can feast on wonderful pit cheese on an aray of dishes, or simply on its own with some good local sangiovese red wine.

A native of Sogliano sul Rubicone proudly explaining the process to me.
The foto taken above of the pit is just next to his feet.

Grand Duke Cosimo II de Medici

2011-03-24T15:24:00.006+01:00

Bust of Grand Duke Cosimo II inside
the Medici coat of arms, on the new grain
market built during his reign on the corner
of via dei Neri & via de Castellani

The front page of Galileo's treatise
Sidereus Nuncius 1610
dedicated to Cosimo II

Porphyry bust of Cosimo II,
Pitti Palace

The other day a mate of mine sent me a photo of a stone bust of Cosimo II de Medici that he saw on the facade of a palace and asked me who it was, and so I thought that this often overlooked Medici grand duke could be the subject of this week’s blog entry. It is often very frustrating that written indication isn’t engraved somewhere on the stone or marble of portrait busts dotted around the city, or are too difficult to read, thus obscuring any further understanding of the rich Florentine heritage. Cosimo II is another favourite Medici of mine, he didn’t rule for very long (1609-21) being of weak constitution, but he shared characteristics of so many of the great Medici men; he was very intelligent, a great patron of the arts and aesthetically, quite a peculiar looking human being. He and his wife, Maria Maddalena of Austria, created a flourishing intellectual activity at the court at the Pitti Palace (the Ducal palace) with Michangelo Buonarroti the Younger (to distinguish him from his great uncle, the great Michelangelo Buonarroti, artist from the previous century) as the court poet, and Galileo as the court mathematician and philosopher. They invited many talented non-Florentine artists to the court, such as Justus Sustermans from Flanders (court painter to the Medici family for close to forty years) and Artemesia Gentileschi from Rome (the first female member of the Florentine Accademy of Fine Arts), enriching the domestic artistic ambience. Galileo who had been Cosimo II's tutor 1605-08 was working at Padua Universtiy when he published his recent discoveries concerning the skies. Desiring to return to Florence, he dedicated his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in 1610 to Cosimo II consequently securing him the court position. In this treatise he expounded his recent discoveries concerning phases of the moon, the existance of the Milky Way and the four satellites stars orbiting around Jupiter. He called these the Medicean stars (they have been renamed the Galilean Moons). Cosimo II was the father of Leopold (see blog entry 'Never judge a book...) and succeded by his eldest son Ferdinando II who, like his father, also commissioned expert artists for work on the ducal palace, such as the Baroque master, Pietro da Cortona for the decoration of the reception rooms and Bolognese experts in trompe l'oeil technique for the summer appartments....subject for another entry.

Judith slaying Holofornes, Artemesia Gentileschi, Uffizi gallery.
Painted during her Florentine period under the protection of Cosimo II & Maria Maddalena

Fritters for fathers!

2011-03-16T08:20:00.009+01:00

Saint Joseph day fritters,
called frittelle in Tuscany

Adoration of the Magi, 1485
Domenico Ghirlandaio

Fathers day is celebrated this Saturday on Saint Joseph’s day. Lent, the time of abstinence, couldn’t possibly mean that the Italians truly refrain from eating their delightful goodies for such a long period of time, no way! In the land of exceptions to the rule, there is of course the day given over to tasty frittelle or fritters, an indulgence eaten to celebrate the faithful guardian to the Holy Mary. Joseph, most often relegated to the background in the family shots, is shown above in Ghirlandaio’s wonderful Adoration of the Magi a little despairingly, as he is worrying about where they will be next which will determine what type of fritters they will be eating this Saturday! Because of course the recipe changes depending on the region, and they can be either sweet or savoury. Frittelle (pictured above) are little fried balls of rice dough, eaten in Tuscany, northern Lazio and some parts of Umbria. The ingredients are rice, milk, water, egg, rum, sultana, sugar, a little grated orange peel or lemon, flour, salt and vanilla. After frying they are rolled in icing sugar. In Sicily, they are called crespeddi and are sweet, with a filling of ricotta and anchovies. In Campania (Naples is the capital) they eat zeppole (pictured below) shaped like a doughnut with no rice in the ingredients, but based on water, butter, yeast, flour and egg and they have a cream filling often topped with amarena cherry.

Zeppole from Naples

Father’s day originated at the beginning of the 1900’s in America and was, and still is in most countries, celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The Italians too began to celebrate it in June, however, it was then moved to coincide with Saint Joseph’s day (as did Portugal and Spain). The Italians have been celebrating Saint Joseph’s day with the fritelle for centuries. The day dedicated to Joseph was officially established by Rome since 1479, and it coincided with the pagan ritual rites celebrating the end of winter. Big bonfires where built with the left over residue from the fields and hymns sung to Saint Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, unborn children, immigrant workers, and of course fathers…. and all Tuscans would eat lots and lots of frittelle!

THANK GOODNESS IT'S MONDAY!

2011-03-06T11:42:00.006+01:00

The Orange Cloister

I love doing tours on Mondays, when the major ‘must see’ galleries are closed (Uffizi, Accademia, Pitti Palace being the big main ones) because then I get the time to take people to other really wonderful, tasty, delightful and often barely known (for no other reason other than Florence has the greatest concentration of UNESCO heritage protected sites in the world) places, and you need a lifetime in the city to see everything she has to offer. Il Chiostro degli Aranci, or the Orange Cloister, is open Monday afternoon only, from 3pm-6pm.

The cloister is inside the Badia Fiorentina (Badia is a short-cut way of saying abbazia, or abbey) which was first constructed in the late eleventh century on land donated to the Benedictines and bought by the Willa, the mother of Ugo the Marquis of Tuscany. It developed an important collection of illuminated manuscripts as well as their its own flourishing workshop of bookbinders and copiers making their own production. The abbey was restructured in 1285 by the great Arnolfo di Cambio (the first architect of the cathedral, Santa Croce church and the last set of the city’s walls amongst other things) and the beautiful Gothic bell tower is one of the jewels of the Florentine skyline. In the early renaissance period one of the greatest architects of the city, Bernardo Rossellino restructured the two storey cloister of the oranges and the lunettes of the first floor were frescoed with twelve episodes from the life of St Benedict, the father of the European monasticism and, thus, a worthy subject for an abbey’s cloister where the monks followed his rule.

Beating the devil out of a monk

The painter is referred to as the ‘Master of the Chiostro degli Aranci’ as his identity is unknown and the frescoes were executed during the 1430’s. His style is described by the art historian Millard Meiss as ‘blend[ing]the geometry of [Paolo] Uccello, the luminism of Domenico [Veneziano], and the narrative repertory of [Filippo] Lippi with an idiom that is largely Angelican [Fra Angelico]’, suffice to say that Millard thinks, as many others, that it is pretty wonderful. The photo depicted is one of my favourite scenes from the life of Benedict, when he beats the devil out of the monk possessed by the devil, giving origin to the expression we have today ‘to beat the devil out of someone’.

So if you find yourself in Florence on a Monday, you could dedicate the afternoon to ‘time with Benedict’ with a little cruise around the fabulous cloister of the oranges (you are likely to be the only one there) and then walk up to the other magnificent Benedictine church and monastery on the hill overlooking Florence, called San Miniato al Monte, and see similar beautiful episodes from the life of St Benedict from the later 1300’s. You will notice that Benedict is now wearing a different colour robe, black turns to white…. but this will be the subject for another blog…..

Give me five & five!

2011-03-01T13:27:00.005+01:00

A serving size of Cecina, also called
Farinata. A perfect snack!

Situated in one of the most charming piazza’s in Florence on the Oltrarno (south side of the river) is a little café with an unsual name that opened up about one year ago. My mum and I, when walking through the piazza della Passera on a cold winter’s day, discovered it and when I saw the sign for Cecina in the window, a very tasty typical regional speciality that I knew she had never tried, we ducked in. Cecina is the perfect snack but it is not easy to find in Florence. It is something that I often see sold at growers markets around here, and now it seems that it will be a staple at this place the Cinque & 5 café, as the name actually refers to the lovely thin flat bread / pancake that you see in the photo. Cecina or Farinata as it is also known, is made from garbanzo bean flour (most commonly ) water and olive oil. The mixture is cooked in the oven and big slices are cut like pizza. Here at Cinque & 5 café, a slice costs 2.50 euro.

look at the chalk board (bottom
right of the photo) you can
order Cecina as shown in the
above photo or a panino '5&5'

Cecina is very common in Livorno where they call the whole tray, from which the slices are cut, una torta – the Italian word for cake. It is sold in the tortai (translation of the word would be a ‘cake selling place’) which is misleading to the non-local as it doesn’t sell sweet but savoury goodies, pizza slices and the fabulous Cecina! These tortai are characteristically small and informal joints where you can chow down on some great, straight out of the oven, perfect winter snack food, a perfect ‘ferma-fame’. In Livorno the most common way to eat Cecina is cinque e cinque mode, or the ‘five and five’ way, which is a slice of the warm Cecina wrapped up in soft foccaccia bread with a substantial quantity of cracked pepper. The number five repeated refers to the price of the Cecina and the price of bread which cost both cost, some time ago, 5 lire. So if you wanted the Cecina sambo combo, which most did, then you just ordered a ‘5&5’. I love it, the Italians are cool even when they order food! This therefore explains the curious name of this great little biological café in my favourite Florentine square and why you can bet that Cecina is going to be a staple on their menu. Cinque & 5 café, Piazza della Passera 1, open everyday from 10am-10pm.

Buon appetito!

Never judge a book.......

2011-02-23T00:33:00.002+01:00

Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici by
Il Baciccio, 1670

Leopoldo de Medici (1617-1675) was the youngest brother of Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici. He is possibly one of the ugliest of the Medici family during their three hundred year long rule of Florence and Tuscany (and they were a particularly ugly bunch on the whole) but what he lacked in looks he certainly made up for in smarts, and he is one of my favourite Medici’s.

This portrait is by one of the artists of whom he was very fond, Il Baciccio, and he is shown here in his cardinal robes. He was elected cardinal at the age of fifty after the death of Giovan Carlo, his older cardinal playboy brother. It was necessary for all influential and ruling families to have a close relative in a high placing in the church and Leopold was a good candidate to fill the newly papal Medici void as he was a bachelor and extremely intelligent, a formidable diplomat, well connected and very amiable. What is so fascinating about the Medici family of Florence is that there is a long list of family members who were outstanding patrons of the arts and learning, Leopold is one of the least talked about however even though he was one of the most significant in this respect.

Through out the family history so many of them were up to date, avant-guard supporters of new discoveries, technologies and were addicted to knowledge. Sure, the heads of the family played dirty in order to sustain power, eliminate enemies and displayed ruthless acts of merciless violence in order to carry forth their projects of expansion and political desires but Renaissance Europe was a jungle and success in the field required that any successful player played with jungle tactics. However, the Medici family weren't simple brutes but they endlessly sought knowledge and spent tirelessly for the expansion of the mind, the beautification of the Florence and the patronage of talent in all fields making changes that were felt world wide. Leopold didn’t rule the duchy of Tuscany and so could dedicate more time to philanthropy than others. Galileo was the official court mathematician and scientist during the first half of the 1600's and Leopold was one of his most promising students. After his teacher’s death he personally sanctioned and supported Europe’s very first scientific academy, the Academia del Cimento (the Academy of the Daring), which met at his home, the Ducal palace (the modern day Pitti Palace), and he was the Academy’s CEO. He used his diplomatic skill to smooth out the differences between the various different strong characters in the group thus fostering a productive environment producing, amongst other scientific advancements, the first barometer. He was a prolific letter writer to all heads of state in Europe, royal members, philosophers, writers, artists and politicians. He supported literary movements and was an extraordinary patron of the visual arts, in particular a collector of drawings, miniatures and self portraits of the artists (currently displayed in the Vasarian corridor). Over the years he built up a network of over eighty agents predominately in Italy but also in Paris, Flanders and Holland and elsewhere, who were perminately on the look out for artistic works and collections for sale and always kept him up to speed with developments and negotiating on his behalf.

He displayed his collection in his personal apartments on the third floor of the Ducal palace and upon his death it was, for the most part, taken to the Uffizi gallery. Of the 50,000 circa drawings in the Uffizi gallery collection today, 8,000 circa are courtesy of Leopold. He was particularly sensitive to the Venetian style, their unique colour palate and free brushwork, thus beginning the city's real display of the other great artistic Italian school along with that of Florence. The love of the Venetian school was then continued by his great nephew, Gran Prince Ferdinand, another fascinating character…. the subject for another blog….

A FISH FEAST WITH A PUNCH

2011-02-13T14:29:00.005+01:00

I am a fish fiend and one of my favourite fish dishes is Cacciucco, a speciality from Livorno, the largest port town in Tuscany (circa 1.5 hours from Florence by car). Cacciucco is basically a fish stew using about 6-7 different types of fish and crustaceans cooked with tomatoes, garlic, chilli, sage and some red wine and served over thick slices of Tuscan bread (not fresh but from the days previous) which has been toasted and rubbed with garlic. The type of fish to expect are squid, cuttle fish, prawns, shrimps, mussels and different kinds of white fish typically used in stews. Red wine, not white wine, is the accompanying beverage to wash it down.

The etymology of this marvellous dish’s name is a bit of a mystery. Some say that it could derive from the Turkish word kacuk meaning little pieces, referring to the numerous chunks of different fish used, or it could be from the Spanish word cachuco, the name of a particular fish subsequently used as a generic name for fish in general. These two possible explanations, although seemingly unconnected, being from two widely differing cultures, are both perfectly plausible when we consider the history and geographical positioning of Livorno (the English name of the city is Leghorn, which I have always found has a ridiculous ring to it). As many large port cities traditionally are a melting pot of cultures, so too was Livorno, but maybe even more so than others. With the silting of the port of Pisa, Livorno slightly further south, was created as the new port for the Duchy of Tuscany under the rule of the Medici family. Bernardo Buontalenti, the favourite architect and inventor for Grand Duke Francesco de Medici in the second half of the 1500’s, was commissioned to draw up plans for the new city and fortress.

The city was largely finished and launched as the active and important port city that it is still today, under Francesco’s successor and brother, Grand Duke Ferdinando de Medici, who, recognising the need to increase the Duchy’s revenue, made the port a 'porto franco', a duty free haven, as well as offering amnesty to all religious and ethnic groups and thus attracting persecuted groups and minorities such Jews, Huguenots, Armenians, Greeks, and later Moriscos (Muslims converted to Catholicism) as well as others, who, bringing their trade contacts and expertise, helped to fill the coffers of Tuscany and breathe some new life into the ever declining power of Tuscany on the European scene.

After devouring a Cacciucco, it’s time for a 'Ponce' to round of the meal in true local Livornese fashion. Ponce derives from the English word, Punch, and is similar, but with a slight Italian adaptation of the ingredients. English Punch is a mixture of tea, sugar, cinnamon, lemon and distilled alcohol (generally a base of rum or rice wine) and Ponce replaces the tea with coffee (obviously!!).

I went to the trattoria Il Sottomarino tel: 0586 887 025 in the centre of Livorno, . I hear that 'Antica Venezia', also in the centre of Livorno, does a very good Cacciucco as well, which I plan to try next time.

THE SECRET IS OUT

2011-02-06T22:12:00.014+01:00

The Alchemical laboratory.
One of the paintings on the top register.
Mercury, sulphur & other alchemical supplies would
have been kept in the cupboard below.
Portrait of Francesco I bottom right corner

One of the most long term secretive places in the city is now more open to the public - and I recommend to all and sundry that you check it out. I love it! The study of the Grand Duke Francesco I is inside the medieval town hall building, which was used as the Medici ducal palace and ceremonial hall from the 1540’s. In the 1570’s, Francesco de Medici created a small room, accessed only from his bedroom and from his father’s study, where he would conduct his scientific, natural and alchemical studies and experiments - in secret from the court that was then run with strict Spanish etiquette. He kept gold, silver, semi precious stones, bizarre and exotic artefacts from the New World, glass objects, rock crystal vases, beautifully designed and manufactured, and antiquities in cupboards decorated on the exterior with mythological, cosmological and historical scenes symbolically linked to the objects stored behind. The room itself resembled a casket, beautifully decorated, not only with these paintings on the cupboards and the walls above (thirty-four in total), but with wooden carvings on the ceiling and more figurative decoration in stucco and fresco. In fact, all of the figurative decoration was carefully planned by the Domenican Vincenzo Borghini, who was the official court iconographer or spin doctor. It was a program based on the four elements, the four humours, the four seasons and the four temperaments and how man transforms these natural forces using science, technology and art, creating more beautiful and marvellous objects and inventions. Thus, the personal casket room of Francesco displays the power of man as God on earth. The Damien Hirst diamond skull is temperarily displayed next to this room ( hence the temporary opening of the Studiolo to public access) in a blackened out space, rendering the power of the diamond (the hardest and most precious of stones) encrusted human skull even more poignant when considered with the alchemical philosophy of the era of Francesco de Medici. The Hirst exhibition 'For the Love of God' (see previous blog entry) is running until May, so plan a trip soon to the Palazzo Vecchio to experience the secret world of one of the most interesting of the Medici family members.