This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Alba and the surrounding regions of Piemonte have the most famous (and most expensive!) white truffles, considered to be the best in the world, but San Miniato and the surrounding hills and woods produce white read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Sweet Bread with Grapes. Schiacciata con l’Uva (Flatbread with Grapes) is another traditional peasant dessert, typical during the early autumn grape harvest. Peasant families who worked the vineyards made this dessert with leavened bread, olive read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Unlike most of Italy, Siena was (and is) renowned for its sweets, counting most famously, panforte and panpepato. The typical Sienese recipe repertoire also contains two particular cookies worth seeking out. Ricciarelli are a traditional read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. These giant wild mushrooms are justly famous for their intense woodsy flavor. Once dried, they flavor many soups, sauces and stews. When fresh they are often enjoyed simply prepared, in Tuscany with the classical accompaniment read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. “Pici” are the typical pasta from Siena, a thick round noodle with a spaghetti shape but easily triple in diameter. They are most often served “al’aglione” with garlic sauce (either “white” or “red” with garlic read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Atypical from most Tuscan desserts, which rely on “poor” ingredients, the Panpepato, born in the Middle Age, is a “noble” cake due to the presence of pepper, a very prestigious and expensive spice which was read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Gelato, artisanal ice cream, was invented in Florence during the Renaissance period by a poulterer named Ruggeri. Ruggeri took part in a contest held by the ‘de Medici family who wanted to find “the most read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. This is definitely one of the few cases of English language influencing Italian; and even more improbably, Italians following the lead of English cooking. But the famous Florentine “bistecca” derives from the British who took read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Typical Autumn Chestnut Cake. This not-too sweet cake made from chestnut flour developed long ago among poor farmers and peasants, where the chestnut once formed the base of the peasant diet due to their low read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. This traditional dry crunchy cookie or biscuit has a long narrow shape, with the shape of a slice of bread was originally the dry cookie from Prato, then toasted for longer conservation. Traditionally, it is read more