Archive for 'Food and Wine'

Italy is famous for her food and for her food festivals. No matter where you go in the country or when you visit, you're bound to stumble upon a food festival if you look around for a bit. These festivals can celebrate specific local produce, local dishes, harvests, feasts, saint's days, other holidays, historic events, and more. And whether any sort of festival or event is specifically about food or not, food is always central to Italian celebrations! If you're looking for excellent, authentic, inexpensive dining experience while you holiday in Tuscany, these are the places to go!

Italy is not a famous beer-producing country, unlike many of its neighbouring European counterparts further north. If you are planning a holiday in Tuscany, you are likely to be thinking of evenings spent sipping wine on a terrace, meals accompanied by excellent vintages and wonderful local wines, and day-trips to some of the region's incredible wineries and vineyards both small and intimate and massive and famous (read about some of our favourite Tuscan vineyards here). However, despite this long history of wine production and this reputation for being excellent producers of wine over beer, a craft brewing scene has developed in Tuscany in recent years, as it has in many far flung places the world over. If you're planning a trip to Tuscany and like wine well enough but can't quite give up your beer (and who can blame you; does anything hit the spot quite like a cold brew when you're on holidays?), then never fear! Read on to our guide to some of the must-see and must-sip craft beer spots that can be found in Tuscany.

Today, in fact, there are over 100 craft breweries in Tuscany alone! Despite the restrictions and intense specifications that are enforced in the production of craft beers in Italy, the industry has flourished in the region. The oldest example of one such establishment dates back to 2006...

Since you have managed to get to another Friday (well done, it's been hard lately) and since it has been a while, we thought we owed you another Italian cocktail recipe to congratulate yourself and toast the weekend. Especially as things start to slowly open up once more and all seems a little more hopeful, it is a perfect time to bring a little bit of Italy into your kitchen and look ahead to holidays in Tuscany that seem nearer by the day...

Sgroppino is a frozen cocktail that resembles a slushie or smoothie and is one of many cocktails that is said to have originated in Venice. While thought to have been originally a digestif served up to Venetian nobility, the exact origins of the drink are unknown but one thing is certain: it is a perfect summer refresher! Enjoyable both in its own right after a long day of work or as a palette cleanser between courses (if you are recreating a Tuscan feast at home to bring a little bit of Tuscany to you for now), this is light, delicious, completely refreshing, and incredibly easy to make. Here's a recipe to make it at home until you can enjoy the real deal while holidaying in Tuscany!

Apple harvests are normally associated with autumn in many parts of the world. However, apples of all sorts are readily available throughout the year nowadays and can be purchased whenever you feel like it. Apples and apple-based desserts are also often associated with comfort eating and hearty, wholesome treats....exactly the sort of thing that so many of us find ourselves in need of at the moment given the current global health pandemic and unprecedented stress and uncertainty that we are all facing. If you're looking for a little slice of comfort and to bring a slice of Tuscany into your homes, then we might suggest trying out this recipe for one of Tuscany's most beloved traditional desserts, the “torta di mele,” or apple cake. Rich, dense, buttery, sweet, and tart, it is exactly what the doctor ordered. You know what they say, a Tuscan apple cake a day keeps the doctor away!

With a lot of our holiday rentals in Tuscany, there are special add-ons that the owners of our villas can offer to further enhance and to enrich your trip such as tours of vineyards, having private chefs sent to prepare dinner in the villa for you, and cookery lessons exploring the best of local Tuscan cuisine. For many, these cookery lessons, in particular, are a very special highlight of their whole holiday in Tuscany that helps them learn more about, and learn to better appreciate, Tuscan cuisine and learn how to prepare delicious and authentic local dishes that they can then go and reproduce at home.

But just because so many of us are stuck at home at the moment, and this is not an option in person for the time being, it does not mean that we have to miss out! We have found a way to bring the experience of learning to prepare excellent local dishes from Tuscany with an experienced Tuscan cook to you at home! Have an authentic Tuscan cookery class virtually by checking out this series of videos from Irene, a villa-owner based in Valdarno in Tuscany. Irene has carefully designed a series of virtual cooking classes that she streams live, allowing us all to have our very own Tuscan cuisine experience from the comfort and safety of our own homes!