After New York Eataly lands in Florence

Pubblicato il 21 febbraio 2012 da Mimma

Florence lives continuous changes.  Able, however,  to safely guard its past heritage it doesn’t miss the directions and  the perspective of new times. Many the enthralling things to be done there. Comfortable or charming holiday accomodations are easy to be booked. Profit from the Florence  apartments or the Tuscan villas in the immediate surroundings  offered by Tuscany Holiday Rent.

An event not to be missed in spring 2013  could be the start- up of Eataly , which after a search of about  three  years has found home in Florence. The great  new  foodie emporium turns upside down food retail, conjugating high quality food with large distribution  Small suppliers from the whole Italy are going to offer their products. It will be possible to get the best  of Italy such as almond jam from Noto, Sicily, the sea salumi” by Michelin two-star chef Moreno Cedroni  from Senigallia or many Slow Food Presidia produce such as Carmagnola rabbit and Saluzzo chicken.  The space will feature  various restaurants as well  cooking lessons of the dishes on offer in the numerous onsite corners. The idea behind is or taking the ingredients home to prepare a meal yourself or  enjoy  the stinging nettle lasagna with pesto or what you like at one of the on- site restaurants. “Buy, taste and learn about the best foods all under the same roof” that is the motto of Oscar Farinetti, the brilliant Piedmontese,   founder of gourmet food and wine market, creator of Eataly. In New York City Eataly, opened in the Toy Building in 2010.  Mr Farinetti teamed up  with three of New York’s most beloved Italian-American restaurateurs, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Mario Batali, making of the 200 Fifth Ave, seat of Eatitaly, the one must –stop food destination in New York as  Joe Bastianich loves saying. Similar to the one opened in Turin in 2007, it houses an Italian bakery, a coffee-corner with a pastry-shop for an authentic Italian breakfast, a restaurant with take-out counter, and, not to be forgotten,  tasting and cooking classes.

A megastore- in the definition of New York Times- that combines elements of a bustling European open market, a Whole-Foods-style supermarket, a high-end food court and a New Age learning centre.

Now a new foodie emporium will be opening next year , 2013,  in Via Martelli, Florence, on the site of a historical bookshop. Its 1,300 square feet will be turned into a multi-functional area including   bookshops,  mini-theme restaurants and events such as cooking classes, in the new perspective of reviving  Florence  deserted centre,  chasing away  the recently barbarian invasion of  cheap cloth shops. The Cathedral  Santa Maria del Fiore will be able to shine again in its overall glamour under the stars  for the pedestrians  able again to gain back the town centre at night.

How  did the adventure of Eatily begin?  It sounds like a  fairytale. The dream of fostering the understanding and appreciation of the Italian cooking sorted out the meeting of Oscar Farinetti  and Alessandro Frassica, aka Ino, who had been running since 2006 a small slow food sandwich shop in Via dei Georgofili, bringing  to a new life a site badly damaged  by mafia bombs in 1993.  Frassica, faithful to his style, is able to endorse Mr Farinetti’s proposal of setting up  A Florentine Eataly, a challenge to make people aware of what they eat, what they feed on. He likes repeating his refrain. Just three things would accompany him to a desert island: real Tuscan olive oil, Chianina meat and a bottle of Chianti  to enjoy life  to its deepest essence.

Pubblicato in Senza categoria | Lascia un commento

Cinigiano celebrates Lent

Pubblicato il 20 febbraio 2012 da Genni

The hill town of Cinigiano lies at 33 km from its provincial capital of Grosseto, in Maremma, in an area dominating both the Ombrone Valley and the last part of the Val d’Orcia. It is considered a land between sea and mountain: the town, in fact, offers many viewpoints from which one can admire the sea in the distance and contemporarily presents alternating landscapes leading inland towards the majestic peak of Mount Amiata. Dominating the plains where the River Ombrone lazily flows, Cinigiano is surrounded by gently rolling hills dotted with farmhouses and covered with golden cornfields, dark green thickets of oaks, the forever changing colours of the vineyards and the mystifying silver of the olive groves.

The town of Cinigiano developed itself around a medieval castle of the 12th century and along the ridge of the hill. Interesting sites are the 15th century little church of Santa Maria della Neve and the 16th century church of San Michele Arcangelo. On the highest part of town are still visible the remains of an ancient tower. In the town centre, many traditional wine cellars open onto the streets and are open to visitors during events such as Calici di Stelle, ‘Goblets of Wine under the Stars’, during the summer and the Grape Village Fair in autumn.

This Wednesday, 22nd February, Cinigiano is celebrating an ancient tradition, recently brushed up, which commemorates the end of the Carnival period and the beginning of Lent, La Notte dei Rivolti, uncomely translatable into “The Turned Overs Night”. This event goes back to older times when the means of entertainment were fewer than today, but greater were the imagination and the desire to be together. Everything started on the last night of carnival, practically a will not to interrupt the celebrations. These “party animals”, after celebrating the whole night, on the first morning of Lent would start to cook the Rivolti, the ‘Turned Overs’, a popular dish of flour and water, cooked like pancakes in  a pan. Dividing themselves into teams, the villagers would go looking, from house to house, for olive oil, wine and, who were luckier, even chicken and lamb. Others would visit shops and receive various items such as shoelaces, knives and more, which would be sold, together with the dishes prepared. With the money, crates of fish would be bought and the highlight of the celebration would be the ‘baptism of pork into fish’, more precisely salted cod, baccalà. This way Lent was safe.

Today this gastronomic revival hopes to gather again that healthy spirit of togetherness  extant in present villagers. Some kilometres away from this beautiful village, quite near the gorgeous thermal baths of Saturnia is a lovely bed and breakfast hidden among hills of vineyards and olive groves. This holiday accommodation in Maremma offers 6 large rooms, furnished with environmentally-friendly materials, and a magnificent garden full of roses and cypresses, with swimming pool, overlooking the unspoilt Tuscan countryside surrounding it.

Pubblicato in Festivals and feasts in Tuscany, Folklore and accommodations in Tuscany | Lascia un commento

Madonna back in Florence again

Pubblicato il 16 febbraio 2012 da Mimma

It is time to book an accommodation  in Florence, be it a flat or a villa in the immediate surroundings offered by Tuscany Holiday Rent. A great opportunity to spend  a holiday in Florence, enjoying both  its charming glamour and  the many events taking place there.

Madonna, the great chameleon-like pop star, is going to come to Florence on June, the 16th, 2012, as officially announced by the mayor. The site of the concert is Florence Franchi Stadium. After 25 years Madonna will be  back in Florence,  the town which welcomed her 1987 show ”The Material Girl”. She was already a show icon at the time. The fans were thrilled by her impressive silhouette in net stockings, biker boots and ragged wedding dress. Rob Sadusky, at the time, her stage costume supervisor, chose carefully her fashion designers who had to give the right shape to her on-going changes. Madonna’s  shrewd and very personal taste often urged her to address the aesthetic sensibility  of  Old Europe to frame  the image she had carefully planned. Thence J. Paul Gaultier,  the French fashion’s original enfant terrible who designed Madonna’s risqué cone bra  for the Blond Ambition Tour in 1990  and the following  stage costume for the 2006 Confessions Tour.

This year, 2012, at the Super Bowl Indianapolis, U.S.A. the Material Girl has dazzled football fans at Lucas Oil Stadium for her Cleopatra- style. The dramatic performance, highlighted by her Egyptian regalia, headdress, spiked black boots, was enhanced by other visual effects planned  by the Canadian Cirque de Soleil. Givenchy haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci has perfectly matched the show.

Italian style fashion, synonym of quality, style and elegance,  is not forgotten by Madonna. She particularly adores  the long-established Florentine Salvatore Ferragamo, “the shoemaker to the stars”, who after  earning a name in Hollywood  in the 20s, came back to the native country in search of high quality human resources. He settled in Florence at Palazzo Spini Feroni.

He is  still there nowadays.

Florence forever.

For the shoes worn by the pop star in Alan Parker’s Evita, she chose  the Florentine craftsmanship because of the functional, aesthetic and fashionable accent in her overall female look.

Even in her private life the Florentine timeless elegance and striking style have become a common connotation.

Feeling quite confident of her stylistic choices, she can conjugate the fashion designer Roberto Cavalli with Frida Giannini of Gucci Fashion either for a soirèe at the MOMA in New York City or for day at the Venice Film Festival.

Florence means perfect design and material, techniques  and creativity along a line of  continuous cross-references between past and present, sharing art, in all its forms, as common domain.

Pubblicato in Music and events | Lascia un commento

The Friendly Country Campaign into action in Tuscany

Pubblicato il 15 febbraio 2012 da Genni

The Friendly Country Campaign Foundation, Campagna Amica, has organized for the month of February a series of markets around Tuscany. The objectives of the institution are to cater for both consumers and farmers in consideration of today’s most heartfelt themes: food, tourism and ecology. This way the foundation inaugurates a new quality of life. Sales should be direct: from producer to consumer. These markets, in fact, are organized by the farmers themselves and they offer citizens a large choice of products in just one location. Food chain, price trends, purchasing styles, seasonality, zero kms, no GMOs, short chain: the  Friendly Country Campaign Foundation makes the culture of conscious shopping grow.

The region of Tuscany has a very varied and well marked landscape. The Apennine mountains are rich in vegetation and ideal for pasture whereas the green plains are full of cultivated fields, vineyards and olive groves that thin down towards the coast. It’s a unique land that has preserved its unity and territorial identity made of strong traditions, language and culture. Its gastronomic tradition is in harmony with its landscape: simple and tasty, refined and delicate, focused on products that nature provides in abundance. Two traditions can be identified here: one of the land, fully exploiting the resources of the territory, and the sea one, perpetually changing whilst travelling south.

Cortona

Of all the Tuscan provinces participating to the campaign, let’s just take a look at Arezzo. For the rest of the month the markets will be held every Monday in beautiful Cortona, every Tuesday in San Giovanni Valdarno, every Wednesday in the capital town of Arezzo itself, every Thursday in Sansepolcro, every Friday in lovely Castiglion Fiorentino  and every Saturday in Bibbiena. Here one will find all the rich products of this territory, from the veggies to the fruit, from the meat to the fish, from the cold cuts to the cheese, from wine to olive oil and yet much more in a whirl of colours, scents and bustle.

To learn the culture of the countryside what better than a holiday in a farmhouse? The Friendly Country Campaign Foundation think the same and are promoting quality accommodations, that respect the landscape, the environment and also the uniqueness  of the products. These agritourisms are the main reference for anyone wanting to organize a holiday in the country. Today the offers are diversified in consideration of the peculiarity of the territory, the rural vocation and the specific characteristics of those who run them. Tuscany Holiday Rent offers a very side selection of holiday farmhouses in Tuscany for vacations in touch with nature and excellent products.

Pubblicato in Culture and accommodations in Tuscany | Lascia un commento

A medieval Saint Valentine’s at the shade of Chianti’s hills

Pubblicato il 13 febbraio 2012 da Genni

The beautiful scenery of the Florentine hills this time will be the backdrop for a romantic evening, where the magic of the past merges with the gentle breeze of love. The Sestiere Castellare, association for the promotion of cultural and social re-enactments, is in fact organizing at the Antico Spedale del Bigallo at Bagno a Ripoli, outside Florence, an alternative dinner-show for the lovers of the 21st century, intended to make them plunge into the courtly love of the 14th century. Delicious spicy food, the sweet notes of a harp resounding in the hall with all the charm of medieval love music, minstrels, jugglers and fire-eaters are all the ingredients of an evening in which you will become ladies and knights for a Saint Valentine’s celebration certainly unusual and alternative.

On the slopes of the hills just outside Bagno a Ripoli stands the Antico Spedale del Bigallo, built in the early 13th century to offer hospitability to both pilgrims and the sick. Surrounded by olive groves, this ancient hostel has some breathtaking views over Florence. Inside the vestiges of its past can still be found in the lacunar ceiling and ancient cotto flooring. The surroundings of Bagno a Ripoli offers many beautiful glimpses on the lifestyle of the Florentine countryside. Not far away is a unique holiday home in Chianti, originally a medieval Tuscan tower house  of the 12th century. A very exclusive way to spend an unforgettable vacation.

Pubblicato in Folklore and accommodations in Tuscany | Lascia un commento