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. An all encompassing name for all sorts of fried foods, but most often referring to sweet fritters which, at least in the region surrounding Florence have two main types: yeast and flour based fritelle, similar 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. Crostini aren’t unique to Tuscany, but they are certainly prevalent, and play a part of most antipasto plates or menus. It is just your basic bread topped with extra flavorful ingredients. The most common crostini 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. Fava Beans or Broad Beans. What Tuscans call “baccelli” and Brits call “broad beans” go by “fava beans” in the US or “fave” in much of Italy. Throughout Tuscany these big, broad, bright green pods read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. It’s hard to believe coccoli con crudo haven’t travelled outside Tuscany – yet! The near universal appeal is easy to understand, as is the endearing name, “cuddles;” puffed pillows of fried pizza dough, eaten plain read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Squid and Spinach Stew. “Inzimino” is the Tuscan dialect for “zimino” stewed spinach or chard with tomato, it refers both to the cooking method and the ingredients, most often encountered in sepia inzimino with stewed read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Unsalted Bread. One of the most interesting Tuscan gastronomic oddities is the so called “pane sciapo” or “pane sciocco”, which means insipid bread, bread baked without salt. A couple of theories try to explain the read more
This content is only available in English. Please suggest a new version in your language. Typical Florentine Street Food Lampredotto is one of the four stomachs of a cow, the fourth to be exact. The name “lampredotto” comes from the visible resemblance to the mouth of the lamprey eel which read more