Traditionally, the word aperitivo used to indicate a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) served before a meal. It has always been common for Italians, at least here in Tuscany, to meet at a bar before going out to dinner with friends. Typically, if we have plans to go to dinner with a group of friends, nobody goes to the restaurant and sits down inside until everybody has showed up, something which used to drive my Canadian husband crazy! He was not used to standing around waiting for the usual late friend before being able to grab a drink! But what one would consider to be “late” in Italy, as most people know, is a very flexible concept!

Up until not long ago, the most popular apéritif drinks were Campari and Cinzano. Then prosecco, a dry sparkling wine similar to French Champagne, took its place.  Soon, essentially any cocktail became available as an aperitivo, some of which, such as Negroni, are strong purely alcoholic drinks.

Italians, at least up until to my generation, were not heavy drinkers. Drunkenness was a social taboo, and most people would not drink at all, with the exception of a glass of wine with their meal. For this reason non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails have always been quite popular. For those who were brave enough to venture an alcoholic drink on an empty stomach, bars started to provide something for people to nibble on while drinking. It was mainly very simple snacks such as chips, salatini (variously shaped and flavoured crackers), olives, and capers.

Little by little, the aperitivo became a fashionable thing to do, rather than just a way to kill time before dinner. Now, to go out for an aperitivo means to go to a bar where you order and pay for a drink and help yourself to a rich buffet of finger foods, pasta or rice salads, vegetable salads, cured meats, pizzette, and other more elaborate dishes for free. The drink might be slightly more expensive than it would be in a bar that does traditional apéritif (with no buffet), but the difference is minimal and sometimes the price is exactly the same. Aperitivo is usually served between 7 pm and 8.30 pm. If you go to a very popular bar, you might not find a table to sit at: but that’s normal. Most people just stand around as they would at a cocktail party.

Aperitivo has become very popular in Tuscany, especially in the larger centers. My favourite places for an aperitivo in Pisa are:

• Modus Bibendi: a very stylish wine bar, with a great interior design. It’s in Via Cavalca, just a few steps away from the vegetable market of Piazza delle Vettovaglie.
• Argini e Margini: a recently opened bar on the river bank (Lungarno Galileo – Scalo dei Renaioli), with tables on a deck by the river and a floating restaurant serving seafood. They have a stand which serves fried seafood for as little as 4 euros a portion. They often have live music. A really nice spot in town and perfect for the hot summer evenings.
• Caffetteria delle Vettovaglie: one of the first bars to offer aperitivo. It is very popular. It has tables in Piazza delle Vettovaglie itself: a really nice spot.

There are many more for sure, but these are the ones I’ve tried so far.

In Grosseto I’ve been to Bar Siracusa in Via Matteotti (it’s ok), and Bar Dribbling in Via Ximenes. I’ve heard it’s become too crowded now. I’ve also heard of a new bar in Piazza Volturno, Bar Cristall, but I don’t think that it’s my kind of place (I like informal, relaxed places rather than trendy places).

In Siena I have been several times to a bar in Via di Vallerozzi, only a few steps away from Porta Ovile, called Caffè La Piazzetta.

As you can guess, I love aperitivo. Here are my top 5 reasons to choose an aperitivo over a seated dinner:

• It’s at the perfect time in the evening. I often don’t have the strength to go back home after work and go out again and maybe stay up late. This way I can just stay out a little longer, and by 9 pm I’m home.
• It’s inexpensive. Unless you plan on drinking like a fish, you can really have a full meal with as little as 5 euros.
• It’s fun. I like the selection of different finger foods, some of which are really creative. Often there is live music, so it is almost like being at a party.
• It’s informal. No need to spend much time sitting down. You can stand outside, you can walk around, take it easy.
• It can be social. It’s the perfect place to mix and mingle and make new friends.

Did I mention that it is very inexpensive…?

Today was the first Sunday in a long time that we didn’t spend the whole day fixing Casina di Rosa. We are finally done with the renovations and we can finally get back to our lives! We took advantage of this “freedom” by going on a daytrip to San Galgano Abbey with Marcel’s family. A friend who manages a lovely wine bar in the woods right by the monastery of Montesiepi, Salendo Wine Bar, had invited us to an art exhibit which closed today and we kept postponing the visit because we were too busy. Anyway, today we packed the family in two cars and left from the beautiful village of Pari around noon, in time for a perfect lunch under the tall trees in the garden of Salendo. It was very peaceful (well… at least until we got out of the car with the four kids we had with us!), and the shade and the breeze there made for a nice change from the hot and humid weather we left behind.

Salendo mostly serves typical products of local producers and local wines to go with the dishes they offer. They serve hot dishes too but their specialties are crostoni with different toppings (I had an amazing crostone with cheese and pears), selections of cured meats, samples of cheeses and different types of honey and jam that go well with them, and sandwiches. The wild boar bresaola on my nephew Alessandro’s plate looked delicious, I’ll tell you that! They match every dish with the perfect wine, mostly by minor but excellent producers.

We took it easy and enjoyed the meal in the peaceful shade while the kids were fighting over the use of a hammock and then we went to see the installation in the garden under the pine trees. The setting is very pretty, with the Monastery of Montesiepi in the background.

The exhibit was called “Fra Cielo e Terra” (literally, “between the sky and the earth”) and it consisted of 10 iron sculptures representing 10 warriors protecting San Galgano Abbey. The iron sculptures by the Scarì brothers served as support for the works of two other artists: the beautiful glass works of art by Laura Pesce and Felice Nittolo’s  mosaics.

The event was managed by Krene, a design agency. It was supposed to be the preview for a larger exhibit to be installed inside the Abbey of San Galgano in 2011, but apparently the people in charge of the events hosted there don’t think the place is suitable for such an event, which, believe me, is quite silly and their loss.

We then took a walk to the Monastery of Montesiepi, which is just few steps away from Salendo. This hermitage is not very well-known, and yet it houses one of the milestones of European mythology: a sword in the stone. The sword is said to have belonged to San Galgano, who drove it into the rock when he gave up his sinful life to become a hermit. The monastery of Montesiepi was built at the end of the 12th century as a mausoleum for the saint, who is buried in the church. The church has a very peculiar shape, it is built as a rotunda and historians hypothesize that it was inspired by Castel Sant’Angelo, the Pantheon in Rome or even an Etruscan tomb as the many ones visible in Volterra, the town that once controlled this area. The church was enlarged in the 14th century with the construction of a chapel with frescoes by the Sienese painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti. This chapel houses the hands of two evil men who, the legend says, were sent by the devil to temp the saint, and who were attacked by wolves that came out of the woods to protect Galgano.

Over the centuries the sword in the stone and its legend have fascinated visitors from around the world. The many resemblances to the tales of the Arthurian cycle are striking. In his book The Enigma of San Galgano, the writer Mario Moiraghi claims that the story of Excalibur originated in Tuscany and not in the Celtic fringes of Britain or in France as many believe and that it was added to the legend of King Arthur later on. Moiraghi supports his hypothesis with scientific tests which date the sword embedded in the rock in an abbey in Tuscany to the year 1180, years before the first attested literary reference to the sword in the Arthurian Cycle. The author also stresses how the inquiry which led to the canonisation of Sir Galgano contains a series of facts identical to the legend of Sir Percival, the finder of the Holy Grail. You can read more about his hypothesis on the website of Casa Gigliola, a vacation rental near San Galgano Abbey and in this article on the BBC New website.

We then descended to the most famous monument of this complex: the roofless Abbey of San Galgano. The ruins of this Gothic cathedral in the Tuscan countryside never cease to amaze me. It is so beautiful! The abbey houses the Opera Festival in the summer: believe me, there are few places that can make for such an impressive setting for operas and concerts. Here is the program of the events for this season of the Opera Festival in San Galgano. This year, it includes Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, Vivaldi’s Le Stagioni, and Carmina Burana.

A great daytrip, especially if you are travelling with kids or if you like walking. There is a path that leads from the abbey to the monastery and a longer path that leads to the nearby village of Monticiano.

With the warm weather people start preparing tasty salads again! For me, spelt salads are synonymous with summer food! Last weekend, we invited my sister-in-law and family over for a dinner at my parents’ house in the countryside and had a delicious spelt salad with chicken, and tonight we had spelt salad with shrimp. These are my two favourite combinations but you can invent many other recipes just mixing up your favourite ingredients. Spelt salad can be eaten warm or cold.

A side-note: spelt is called farro in Italian. It is a very nutritious type of grain which contains high levels of proteins and vitamins. Spelt is the oldest known cereal and was already cultivated in 7000 BC. In Tuscany, the Garfagnana area near Lucca is probably the “homeland”. I discovered spelt only after I moved to Pisa. While it’s now quite popular all over the region, up until not too long ago it wasn’t very common in Italian homes. Luckily, it’s back in fashion and is very easy to find even in smaller stores.

Chicken spelt salad

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast
• 200g spelt
• olive oil
• garlic
• sage
• salt and pepper
• yogurt

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces.

Cook the spelt in a pot of boiling water for as long as indicated on the package (I use the pre-soaked spelt which cooks in 18 minutes, but most shops sell spelt that you need to soak overnight before cooking).

While the spelt is cooking, fry a clove of garlic and some leaves of sage in olive oil and add the chicken. Cook until the chicken is well cooked. Add salt and pepper and the yogurt. Mix with the cooked spelt. If you like the salad warm, sauté for a couple of minutes, otherwise let it cool down before serving.

Shrimp and pepper spelt salad

Ingredients

• 200 g spelt
• 2 red bell-peppers
• olive oil
• garlic
• 400 g of shrimp (fresh or frozen)
• salt

Cook the spelt in a pot of boiling water for as long as indicated on the package (see above). Slice and dice the red bell-peppers. Fry a clove of garlic in abundant olive oil. Add the peppers and let cook for at least 10 minutes. Add the shrimp. Let cook for 10 more minutes. Add salt and pepper. If there is water in the pan, make sure it evaporates. Add the spelt and let cook for 3 more minutes. I like this salad warm, but if you prefer it cold, it goes really well with mint sauce.

Not long ago, two friends living near Assisi, Letizia of Alla Madonna del Piatto and Rebecca of Brigolante Guests Apartments, got together to film the recipe for farrotto, the equivalent of risotto but made with spelt (farro). To watch this amusing video, check Letizia’s lovely food blog!

Today I feel creative, so I have decided to experiment a little! I love cooking and cooking experiments and this one was a success!

Risotto is considered a “primo“, a first course, to have as an alternative to a pasta dish. Rice recipes are very popular in Italy and risotto is, in my opinion, one of the easiest things to prepare and one of the best dishes to cook when you don’t have much left in the fridge.

Risotto prugne, pancetta and yogurt

Ingredients

• butter
• 1 onion
• pancetta cubes or a thick slice of pancetta
• prunes ( you can use fresh plums in the summer)
• rice (40 to 60 grams per person)
• vinsanto (or any other sweetish wine)
• water or vegetable broth
• plain whole-fat yogurt

Melt butter in a pan or casserole and add thinly sliced onions. Let cook for 5 to 10 minutes on low heat. Add pancetta cubes and cook for 5 more minutes. Add prunes and cook for 5 minutes more. Add rice and stir for 3 minutes so that it does not burn. When it becomes transparent, add a drop of vinsanto and let it evaporate. Add hot water or vegetable broth to cover the rice, and keep adding it until the rice is cooked. Do not add too much water if the rice is almost ready, as it must have completely evaporated by the time to rice is properly cooked. Add a few tablespoons of yogurt, let the risotto thicken on low heat and… buon appetito!

The various phases are “documented” in the slide show below. To see larger photos, click on the symbol in right-hand bottom corner.

Village festivals, also known as “Sagre“, are a cult in Tuscany. Every town and village organizes its own. For a brief introduction to what a sagra is, please read our May “Sagre” in Tuscany post from last year.

If you are in the area during the month of May 2010, you might not want to miss the following village festivals in Tuscany:

Local product festivals

• I sapori del Monte Cetona (The flavours of Monte Cetona), Siena Province, May 2 – June 1. Various events organized in several towns and villages in the Siena area (Montepulciano, Chianciano Terme, Celle sul Rigo, etc.). The festival is dedicated to the local products that can be purchased in the town squares during the various events organized. The interesting thing is that all the products are “a km 0“, literally zero-kilometer products, which means that they come directly from the surrounding area.
• Sapori delle Crete (the flavours of the Crete Senesi), Siena Province, May 9 and 15. Various events organized in Chiusure, Arbia and Asciano in the beautiful Crete Senesi.
• CantaMaggio, Barberino del Mugello (Florence), May 13-16.
• Medoliva, Arezzo, May 14-17. Festival dedicated to Mediterranean olive oil with the participation of Italian, French, Spanish, Croatian and Israeli producers.
• La Palamita, San Vincenzo (Livorno), May 15-16. Festival dedicated to this type of fish (bonito) similar to tuna fish.
• Senesi in Casentino (the Sienese people in the Casentino region), Bucine (Arezzo), May 22. Nice day dedicated to the visit to the Villa La Mausolea and to the Eremo di Camaldoli with a final lunch in Bucine.
• I sapori della Valle (the flavours of the valley), Montecatini Val di Cecina (Pisa), May 22-23. The big day is the Sunday with the participation of the flag wavers from Volterra and the possibility to visit old mines and the new Parco Eolico (Eolic park).
• Pane e companatico, Marradi (Florence), May 23. Festival dedicated to the traditional bread (for the meaning of the stock phrase “pane e companatico” in Italian see our post on Tuscan bread) and other products of the area that go well with it.
• Festival delle Regioni, Bucine (Arezzo), May 22-30. If you love Italian food but you have only time to visit one or two regions, well, make sure you attend this festival: every single Italian region will be present with a stall selling typical products. Foreign products as well (Hungary and India).
• Un mare di sapori (a sea of flavours), Marciana Marina (Isle of Elba), May 29-30. A festival dedicated to the flavours of the beautiful Isle of Elba.
• Festa del cavatore (mine festival), Capoliveri (Isle of Elba), May 29-30. Festival celebrating the life of miners in the old days.
• Mangia…longa, Pontedera, May 30. The name of the event is a play on word: mangia…longa (“long-distance eating”) instead of marcialonga (long-distance walk). And as a matter of fact, this is a long-distance walk with stops to taste the local products on the way. At the end of the journey, a bus will take the participants back to Pontedera for… the dessert! Interesting idea! It is necessary to register for the event before May 22 (ufficioturistico@comune.pontedera.pi.it).

Wine festivals in Tuscany

• Classico è…, Chianti Classico, May 29-June 5. Various events organized in the area where the Chianti Classico wine is produced. Many wineries will be open to visitors (10am-1pm and 3pm-6pm) and special bike tours can be arranged.
• Mostra del Chianti (Chianti wine fair), Montespertoli (Florence), May 29 – June 6.
• Wine and bike, Cinigiano (Grosseto), May 30. This great event is organized in a village close to ours. The participants will gather in the village of Cinigiano and they will be led on a 35km bike tour through the beautiful countryside, vineyards and olive groves with stops in wineries in the Montecucco wine region. It is necessary to register (aplc@interfree.it). Bikes can be rented on site.
• Cantine Aperte (open cellars), Tuscany, May 30. This is now a very popular event organized throughout the region. Check the official website for the detailed program.

Festivals in Tuscany dedicated to specific products

• Festa di Sant’Ubaldo, Pisa, May 13-16. Flower festival. Check our post on Le Piagge, Pisa.
• Sagra del pesce (seafood), Certaldo (Florence), May 13 – June 13, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm.
• Sagra del prosciutto e baccelli (prosciutto and broad beans), Boschi di Lari (Pisa), May 14-17.
• Sagra della nozza (the nozza is a dessert typical of the area of Calcinaia), Calcinaia (Pisa), May 15-16. The women of the village make the sweets for the visitors.
• Festival della fragola (strawberry festival), Terricciola (Pisa), May 15-16, and 22-23.
• Sagra del fungo porcino (porcino mushroom), Palazzolo di Incisa V.no (Florence), May 15-16, 21-23, 28-30, June 4-6 and 11-13. Not really a season product but if you haven’t had enough mushrooms in the Fall, you can enjoy them for the last time before the summer.
• Jazz e baccelli (jazz and broad beans), Certaldo (Florence), May 16.
• Festa del pane (bread festival), Gambassi Terme (Florence), May 16.
• Demetra, Capezzano Pianore (Lucca), May 21-23. Both for professionals and the general public: flower, vegetable and food sculptures.
• Sagra del Polliglio (play on word – pollo and coniglio, chicken and rabbit), Montespertoli (Florence), May 21-23.
• Sagra dei pastrignocchi e del cuculo (a type of pasta and a type of biscuit, named after the cuckoo bird), Cetona (Siena), May 21-23.
• Sagra della lasagna, Monte Argentario (Grosseto), May 21-23 and 27-30.
  
• Sagra della Lasagna, Montenero d’Orcia (Grosseto), May 21-23 and 27-30.
• Sagra della fragola (strawberry festival), Marsiliana d’Albegna (Grosseto), May 21-23 and 28-30.
• Il senso della birra, Viareggio (Lucca), May 22-23. Festival dedicated to local micro-breweries.
• Festa della fragola (strawberry festival), Sant’Agata di Scarperia (Florence), May 22-23.
• 30th Sagra del porcellino (porcellino means piglet), Casciana Terme (Pisa), May 22-23 and 29-30.
• Sagra del tortello e del cinghiale (tortelli are a type of ravioli and cinghiale is wild boar), Scarperia (Firenze), May 22-23 and 29-30.
• Maggiolata lucignanese, Lucignano (Arezzo), May 23 and 30. Flower sculptures are carried around on carts throughout the village.
• 41st Sagra dei pici (pici are a type of fresh pasta, sort of thick spaghetti, typical of Southern Tuscany), Celle sul Rigo-San Casciano dei Bagni (Siena), May 28-30.
• Firenze Gelato Festival, Florence, May 28-31. If you like ice-cream, you can’t miss this.
• Sagra del Tartufo (truffle festival), Arcille (Grosseto), May 28-31.
• Sagra del tortello e della bistecca alla fiorentina (bistecca alla fiorentina is the traditional Florentine T-bone steak), Sagginale-Borgo san Lorenzo (Florence), May 28-30, June 1-2 and 4-6.
• Sagra del ranocchio (frog festival), Brozzi (Florence), May 29-30.
• Sagra del fungo prugnolo (a type of mushroom), Firenzuola (Florence), May 29-30 and June 19-20.
• Festival della Lumaca (snails), Camucia di Cortona (Arezzo), May 29-June 6. Snails were very common on Tuscan tables in the old day.
• Sagra delle ciliegie (cherry festival), Lari (Pisa), May 29-30, June 2 and 5-6. Very popular. Check our post on cherries in Tuscany!
• Festa del pane (bread festival), Certaldo (Florence), May 30.

Today began as a very difficult day… A lot of small problems at work, the usual last-minute emergencies, people who think they are helping when they are in fact creating more problems… After a few hours like this, I figured there was only one thing to do. Well actually two… either jump into a giant jar of Nutella or start cooking. I chose the second option (simply because I had chicken livers in the house and not Nutella…)!

So here it is: my second “Tuscan cuisine for slackers like me” post. Who said we all have hours to prepare traditional recipes?!

Here is my recipe for Tuscany’s most popular antipasto: crostino toscano. Crostini, as many of you certainly know, are toasted slices of bread topped with a sauce. Crostini toscani are topped with a meat sauce made with chicken livers (in the Maremma area at least – in other areas it can be with spleen or just plain ground meat). Traditionally the bread was not toasted. People used stale bread softened with chicken broth.

The first immediate consequence of being the modern woman that I am is that I use freshly baked bread. I slice it and toast it. But let’s proceed in a more orderly fashion…

Ingredients for 2-4 people:

• 150gr of chicken livers
• red wine
• 1 onion
• olive oil
• 150gr of ground beef (if you think the flavour of liver might be too strong)
• chicken stock
• capers
• anchovies
• butter

This is the “politically correct” list of ingredients. If you are a lazy slacker or a plain bad housewife/cook feel free to substitute real chicken stock with powdered chicken stock, capers with caper paste and anchovies with anchovy paste.

Clean the chicken livers (they come with the heart as well). I use kitchen scissors to cut the meat in small pieces and to eliminate the fat parts. Put the meat in a bowl and cover in red wine. Leave it for at least 15 minutes.

Cut the onion in small pieces and fry it in a pot with abundant olive oil.

When they are a nice yellow colour, take the liver out of the bowl and add it to the onion. Stir and let fry for 5 minutes. If you want to use ground beef too, add it in now and let fry.

Cover the mixture with the red wine used to marinate the meat. If the meat is not covered, add more. Let simmer for 20 minutes.

When the wine has evaporated, add chicken broth or a cup of hot water with powdered chicken stock. Cover the mix with abundant liquid and let cook until it has evaporated.

Put the meat in a blender. Add a few capers, and a couple of anchovies (or a spoonful of caper and anchovy paste). Add a teaspoon of butter (it makes the mix creamier). Blend until the mix is smooth and suitable for spreading on bread.

Toast a few slices of bread and enjoy! Buon appetito!!!

If you like traditional Tuscan recipes which you can make quickly, check my first “Tuscan cuisine for slackers like me” post dedicated to Minestra e Fagioli (bean soup with pasta).

The season of the “sagre“, village festivals, is back! It is also the time of the year when most markets and larger fairs are organized. With the longer days, the sunny afternoons and the warm evenings, people feel like spending more time outside. Even more so if they also get to eat good local food made with seasonal products, drink good wine, and enjoy music and other shows or just spend a nice day in good company.

In the Maremma area, the most popular fair, and probably the one with the longest tradition, is Fiera del Madonnino, near the village of Braccagni, Grosseto. It is quite an event in the area! I remember going there every single year when I was younger, first with my parents and then with my friends. Most of the businesses in the province will have a stand: from car dealerships to fireplace makers, from farmers selling chicks to the John Deer truck dealers, from greenhouses to porchetta and cheese producers. Most of the visitors are families: kids love the enormous tractors and the cotton candy and the small farm animals! It’s really a piece of Maremma culture. This year Fiera del Madonnino will be on from April 22-25.

So here is what I found out about April 2010 “Sagre” and other events in Tuscany. The list is certainly not exhaustive, so please, if you know of any event that might be added to this list, leave a comment! Thank you!

• April 9-11, Sagra del Ciambellino (traditional biscuit), Rigomagno (Siena).
• April 9-11, Fior di Città, Pisa in Fiore, Pisa. For those with a green thumb.
• April 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, Sagra del Cinghiale (wild boar), Certaldo (Florence).
• April 9-18, Fiera di Primavera (crafts and food and drink), Sesto Fiorentino (Florence).
• April 10-11, Rassegna Enogastronomica Mugellana, Scarperia (Florence), food and drink of the Mugello area.
• April 10-18, Festa e Palio delle Rocche, Guazzino di Sinalunga (Siena). The festival is a celebration of the Virgin Mary. There is an interesting “Palio delle Rocche” on April 18th, at 6:30 pm, in which the town quarters compete on vehicles modeled after of Roman bigas.
• April 10-11 and 17-18, Sagra del Cighiale (wild boar), Ronta (Florence).
• April 11, Festa della Pina, Pieve ad Lamulas, Montelaterone, (Grosseto). This festival has a special place in my heart. It is a very ancient festival, in which young couples exchange colourful pine cones as a symbol of their love. The festival takes place by the ancient Pieve ad Lamulas (9th century), on Monte Amiata, which happens to be the church where we got married! The place is really beautiful and the festival dates back to the Roman era.
• April 11, Festa del Fiore e del Coccio, Torrita (Siena). Fair dedicated to ceramics decorated with flower motifs.
• April 11, 18 and 25, Festa della Civiltà Contadina, Montefoscoli (Pisa). Fair dedicated to the agricultural traditions of the area. Nice antique market.
• April 16-18, Piazze d’Europa, Grosseto. For 3 days, Grosseto houses a market of arts, crafts and traditional products of many European countries.
• April 17 and 18, Piazze del Gusto, Arezzo. Festival dedicated to the products of the province Arezzo, with 6 different types of food and drink in 6 different squares of the city.
• April 17 and 18, Enolia, Seravezza (Lucca), a festival dedicated to olive oil in front of the beautiful Palazzo Mediceo. If you like cycling you might be interested in the bike tour among the olive trees on the 18th at 9:30 am.
• April 17.18 and 24-25, Sagra del Tortello (large ravioli-type pasta), Scarperia (Florence).
• April 18, Cronomania, Sesto Fiorentino (Florence). Fair dedicated to those who collect watches. Curious.
• April 22-25, Sagra della Trota (trout), Bucine (Arezzo).
• April 23-25, 30 and May 1 and 2, Sagra della fava, baccalà e frittura di pesce (broad beans, dried salted cod soup and fried fish) Arcille (Grosseto).
• April 24 and 25, Chiusure in Piazza, Chiusure (Siena). Two days dedicated to artichoke tradition in the beautiful Crete Senesi. Two nice events are BiciCreta, a bike tour of the Crete, on April 24th at 9:45am and on the same day the possibility to take a ride on the Treno Natura stem engine train.
• April 24-25, Fiera dell’Elettronica, Pisa. For those who love technological gadgets more than food and traditions!
• April 24 – May 2, Art 2010, Fiera dell’Artigianato in Florence. Very large and popular fair dedicated to arts and crafts.
• April 25, Festa della Stagion Bona, Panzano (Florence). Literally the “festival of good weather”, the event commemorates the rivalry between the Gherardini and the Firidolfi families with a reenactment in period costumes. Lots of good Chianti food and wine.
• April 25, Regata di Primavera, Porto Santo Stefano (Grosseto). The regatta is at 6 pm, but if food is served starting in the morning. Porto Santo Stefano is a lovely town on the coast of the Maremma, in the area called Argentario.
• April 25, Il Gioco della Ruzzola, Petricci, (Grosseto). This festival brings visitors back to the time when a round piece of wood (la ruzzola) was enough to entertain people. It is also the perfect opportunity for a nice walk in an undiscovered, yet stunning, part of Tuscany. The link above will take you to a page with a video of past editions.
• April 25, Marcia dell’Indipendenza, Siena. April 25th is the day Italy celebrates the Liberation from the Fascist regime. But this Independence March has nothing to do with those events! It is a relay walk to Montalcino and back, and commemorates the “exodus” of the Sienese people in 1555 after Cosimo de’ Medici conquered the city.
• April 25, Rassegna della Pastorizia, Cutigliano (Pistoia). A day organized by Slow Food and dedicated to sheep-farming and its products in this beautiful village. If you love cheese, you have to go.
• April 25 and May 1, Sagra della Lumaca (snail), Cavriglia (Arezzo).
• April 25, May 1 and 2, I Vantaggi del Buon Gusto (the advantages of good taste), Vinci (Florence). Interesting days dedicated to food and colours. April 25 is dedicated to “green products”, May 1 and 2 are dedicated to “red products”. On April 25, you can also take a walk called “Sui Passi di Leonardo”. Reservations are required.
• April 25, May 1 and 2, Sagra del Baccello (broad beans), La Serra, San Miniato (Pisa).
• April 29 -  May 2, Spinofiorito, Massa. A festival dedicated to the tradition of local wines and products of Tuscany.
• April 30, May 1-2 and 8-9, Sagra della Porchetta (roast pork), Valenza (Massa).

If you would like to see anything else listed here, please leave a comment!

Whenever I think of blogging about something I have cooked, I am always assailed with doubts… I look up to people like the fabulous Letizia of La Madonna del Piatto or Judy of Divina Cucina, always blogging about incredible recipes, fresh products, healthy habits. They show people the great things that Italian cuisine can offer, how great our culinary tradition is.

Then there are women like me… “lavative“, the slackers!

I love cooking, and I know the difference that comes from cooking with fresh ingredients or taking all the time it really needs. But hey, sometimes I just need to fix a quick meal before going back to my computer. Or, on days like today, we leave Pisa to come to Civitella and we arrive to a house with no food in it… too late to go shopping, too lazy to go out to the restaurant.

So here it is: my very personal politically incorrect guide to Italian cuisine, for lazy slackers like me!

Minestra di pasta e fagioli, bean soup, is the Italian sacred cow that I am going to kill today. It is one of the most popular Italian recipes thanks to Tony Soprano and thousands of other immigrants that left Italy to bring the marvelous tradition of “pasta fazool” to the rest of the world.

Now, the orthodox recipe says that you need: dry beans, sage, tomatoes, garlic, vegetable broth, salt, olive oil, pepper, pasta and… 24 hours. First you need to soak the beans overnight, then you have to fry sage and garlic in olive oil, then you need to add beans and cover them in vegetable broth and let simmer for 40 to 60 minutes and finally you have to add pasta and let it cook.

OR, you could come home, realize it’s almost 9 pm already and you are hungry, open every single cupboard and drawer in your kitchen and realize that all you have is a can of beans, a spoonful of pasta at the bottom of a box, a couple of garlic cloves and some home-made canned tomatoes. Life is good.

So here is what you can do:

• 8:59 pm – clean two garlic cloves and cut them in half
• 9:01 pm – heat up some olive oil in a pot and add the garlic and some dry sage. Boil 1 litre of water in a kettle.
• 9:06 pm – open a can of beans and pour them into the pot.
• 9:08 pm – add some hot water, stir, add a cube or two of frozen chicken stock and a spoonful of canned tomatoes.
• 9:10 pm – add more water and once it’s boiling, add 60gr of pasta
• 9:10 – 9:19 pm – keep stirring and adding water to make the “minestra” the right consistency and to cook the pasta properly.
• 9:20 pm – pour the minestra in a bowl, add some parmesan, some pepper, and some olive oil.

21 minutes flat: dinner is served and it tastes great!

When I am even lazier or if I feel no shame at all (like when I am really hungry or really busy), I use powdered chicken stock, commercial beans and tomato paste. It is probably not as healthy but it tastes good anyway!

I grew up in a small village in Tuscany with corner stores and family-run grocery stores. My grandfather was a farmer, and my father has always helped out in the countryside, even though, until recently, that was not his real job. When I am in Civitella I know where my food comes from. I know where the meat sold at the butcher’s is produced and butchered. I know the person who makes the bread and the person who makes the flour. I know the people who provide vegetables and fruit to the greengrocer’s shop. My father has hens and chickens, lots of fruit trees, a large vegetable garden, vineyards and olive trees, so I know where our meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables, wine and olive oil come from. We really buy very little.

When we are in Pisa, on the other hand, we buy meat at the supermarket, and I am never very impressed. I still remember the first time I bought chicken… I was 19 and with one bite I was left with a bare bone in my hand. I promise real chicken is not supposed to be like that. And it definitely doesn’t taste like that. I am always shocked when chicken meat or pork releases water when you put it in the pan… That tells me that those animals were fed very unhealthy stuff, and now we are eating it.

I think more and more people are starting to notice these things are becoming more and more aware of what they eat. I have recently come across a “new old habit“: “la latteria“, the milk shop.

Up to the late ’80s, the village had a milk shop. A lady would sell you fresh milk delivered to the shop that very morning by local producers. You had to bring your own bottle. Over time, the milk shops closed, fresh milk was sold in milk cartons, and long-life milk became more and more popular. I always use it, but it’s nothing like the milk I used to drink when I was a kid.

The good news is that the “latteria“ is coming back, even though it has a much more “industrial” face. Milk producers throughout Italy have created an association which has opened shops throughout the country where you can go with your own glass bottle and get your raw milk from large taps. From the cow to the table, they say. This is known as “filiera corta”, literally the “short spinneret”, or as prodotti a km 0, literally products that are produced less than 1km away, all catch phrases for local products, what was once known as dal produttore al consumatore (from producer to consumer). You might find this phrase in restaurant menus more and more often.

Here is the website where you can find the closest latteria: buy milk from the producer in Italy.

The advantages? Well, the milk is 40% cheaper (you can save 40 to 60 cents per liter) and it’s fresh. The milk that is not sold on the day it is delivered goes back to the dairy and is used to make ricotta and other types of cheese. The milk is not treated, so it contains more vitamins and proteins than pasteurized milk, and it tastes better.You know who the producer is, and if you want, you can go check how the cows are kept, what they eat, how they live, etc.

The disadvantages? The milk is raw, and even if it is scrupulously controlled to ensure that it’s healthy and that none of the major pathogens are present, it might still be more difficult to digest than pasteurized milk for some people. What’s more, it has a very short life: it should not be kept for more than 24 hours, unless you boil it of course.

Another huge advantage of bringing latterie back to life is that buying milk directly from the producer with your own glass bottle is an environmentally wise choice. Every family uses an average of 365 milk cartons or plastic bottles per year. By using your own glass bottle, you have a double advantage: you help your wallet and the environment.

On February 24th, I turned 35. I was in Pisa, as it was a Wednesday, and I really wanted to celebrate in style. If I think of the way I used to see 35 year old people when I was younger, well… they all seemed really “grown-up people“… so this birthday came with a whole lot of funny feelings about it, if you see what I mean.

If you add the fact that I am really ready for a vacation somewhere, well, I decided that the best way to celebrate my 35th birthday was to go out and “live the city”.

I started with a lazy morning and a lovely breakfast with a capuccino and a croissant. Perfect to start the day! I had to go to work, but I didn’t need to be in the office before 11 a.m. so I took it easy and asked my husband to drop me off in Piazza Garibaldi. I took a stroll in Borgo Stretto and looked at the stores where I knew I would drag my husband and his credit card in the afternoon! I wandered around in the area of Piazza delle Vettovaglie for a while, trying to decide where I wanted to go for lunch with my friends from the Department.

I adore Piazza delle Vettovaglie. It’s the “real Pisa“, and also the oldest part of the city. The square with its porticoes, the many bars and small restaurants with tables outside, the market in the courtyard with people laughing and making fun of each other, the lovely smell of the bakeries, the ethnic kiosks with Kebabs and spices, and some stores selling second hand clothes. And just a few steps away, the beautiful vegetable market, the few family-run shops still surviving the onslaught of hyper-stores (a butcher’s shop, a store selling only freshly-toasted coffee grains, a couple of fish shops, a shop selling shoes, etc.). More great restaurants here too.

I continued through the medieval heart of Pisa, passing by the old tower called Il Campano, a bell tower which used to mark the end of the lessons in the ancient days of the University of Pisa, whose original seat was only a few steps away, in the Medicean Palazzo della Sapienza in Piazza Dante, now home to the Faculty of Law.

I crossed the gardens in the Piazza, walking through the bars full of students taking a break, and finally got to Via Santa Maria, where the Department of English Studies is located. I saw a couple of students and then I was free again. I looked out of my office window: I’m so lucky as to have an office which overlooks the garden of the Department and the Botanic Garden on the other side of the garden walls. It’s so beautiful and peaceful. Most old buildings in Pisa have these “secret gardens”: you would never guess that behind the large renaissance portals there are smaller or larger courtyards with exotic trees, magnolias and bushes of roses and camellias. The building which houses the department even used to have a small door covered in some sort of ivy which must once have allowed the people living in the building to access the Botanic Garden directly from their garden. A serious privilege, I guess.

I decided to go to the Botanic Garden, like I used to do when I was a student. It’s really peaceful in there and there are benches under the tall trees where you can seat, read and relax. It feels like it is outside the city center, far from  busy Via Santa Maria (the street leads to Piazza dei Miracoli and the Leaning Tower of Pisa and also the center of university life, so the area is quite busy). I didn’t know, though, that now you have to pay to get in, and that the garden is only open in the morning. The admission fee is really low, around 2 euros I guess, but I got there too late. I would have had to leave the garden after less than 20 minutes, not worth it.

So I went back to my office where my friends had just arrived. We decided to go back to Piazza delle Vettovaglie to choose a new restaurant to try, some place where we had never had lunch before (we eat out at least twice a week, and when we have something special to celebrate we always try to find a different place). We chose a nice restaurant called La Vineria di Piazza. I wanted to go there because I liked the decor, I’ll confess it. It is furnished in the old traditional Tuscan style, with marble tables, marble on the walls, and  colourful chairs with straw bottoms! All that was missing were the old style flasks of wine with straw on the side!

When my husband and the other friends joined us, we had a lovely meal with pasta with a sauce of gorgonzola cheese and walnuts, shrimp in a cacciucco type of sauce, and we all had a dessert. I had a lovely apple and lavender cake, and I also tried my husband’s lime and strawberry pannacotta. I did not try the pear and chocolate cake that some of my friends had but it looked delicious. We all had coffee too. So for two courses each, wine and coffee we only spent 10 euros per person. No service charges and free mineral water. A nice find, we’ll definitely go back!

After this meal, my husband took me shopping in the stores of the center. I bought a new computer backpack in a store in Borgo Stretto, and  two brown leather bags and a green wallet in my favourite leather store near the Campano, called Max Il Cuoiaio. They have beautiful hand-made items. For two bags in real leather, and the wallet, also in coloured leather, we spent 140 euros. Not bad at all. Well, not for me! I didn’t pay!!

We took a stroll through the center and then we went back home to feed our dog and take her out. She must know I am writing about her because she’s trying to type something in her sleep…

At 7:30 pm we went out again for my birthday night out: I was determined to experience Pisa like I was there on holiday rather than as the city where I’ve worked and lived for 15 years! We met a couple of friends in Piazza Garibaldi and we went to a new wine bar and restaurant that I have recently discovered and fell in love with: Modus Bibendi. It’s in the vegetable market square too (I told you I love the area!).

It is beautiful: the interior design is unique, with stone walls, golden and red furniture, in a tasteful, yet kitsch style (I know the two things don’t go well together, but this place really is tasteful). It’s a great place to go for an aperitivo. You can grab a glass of wine and eat whatever you want. Lots of bottles of wine on the counter and many different types of appetizers. They also have a small room with tables for the people who want to have dinner there. We had always gone for the aperitivo before so when I said I wanted to stay for dinner my friends looked kind of worried because it certainly looks like a pricey place. Quite the opposite. We had delicious antipasti, pasta, tagliata, Morellino DOC wine, and coffee and we spent 23 euros per person. Very reasonably priced for being such a beautiful place. I was so happy to be served that delicious food on golden plates!!!

I had a great birthday, and I found out that Pisa really is a pleasant city to live in and to visit, with lots of beautiful places to see, and many lively bars and restaurants to relax and enjoy the good local cuisine.

I have decided that I want to be a tourist in my own city more often. I’ve seen there is a new exhibit at Palazzo Lanfranchi: that’s my “must-see” for next week’s “tourist-at-home night out“!!!