Florence Italy Blog

Italian recipes: Pasta & Roses for a perfect Valentine’s dinner!

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:42:14 +0000

Valentine’s day is approaching! Here you are an exclusive idea for those who would rather stay home with their lovers for a romantic dinner, instead of going to the restaurant!

Spaghetti & Roses

200 g di spaghetti
6o g thinly sliced ham
20 g butter
1 dl cream
20 g roses’ petals
salt

Choose the roses; they should be preferrably pink. Take the petals and clean them gently with a damp towel, cut them in thin slices and keep aside 6 whole petals.

Cut the ham into small cubes.

Stir fry the onion with some butter, add the ham, fry it for a while and add the cream. When the cream starts boiling, add the cut petals and cook the sauce at medium heat for a few minutes.

Once cooked, put the spaghetti in the sauce’s pan and fry them for a while. Serve them in a plate, decorated with the whole petals.

You will surprise your love!

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Italian literature: Federigo Tozzi

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:53:51 +0000

Although his name is not very famous, Federigo Tozzi has been considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century by his contemporaries. Born in Siena, he developed his love for reading since his youth. Reading his novels is not easy, since his style is complex and somehow tiring for the reader.

What comes out from his line is mostly the great sadness he had inside towards the whole world, and the uncapability to live.

Within his works, Con gli occhi chiusi (with closed eyes) is the most representative.

If you’re interested in the Italian literature, check our Italian courses with customizable program.

Italian artists: Bronzino

Istituto Galilei — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:12:44 +0000

Agnolo di Cosimo Tori, known as Bronzino, has been one of the greatest Mannerist painters of the sixteenth century who worked during the governess of Cosimo I de’ Medici. His paintings can be found in numerous museums and churches of Florence.

Among his numerous art pieces, his elegant portraits of the main important personalities of his epoque are probably the most famous; with his style, he influenced the European court portraiture for a whole century. He also painted two idealized portraits of Dante and Petrarca.

Bronzino decorated the Chapel of Eleanora di Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio, with some religious themes. These frescoes are a perfect example of the mid-16th-century aesthetics of the Florentine court, traditionally interpreted as highly-stylized and non-personal or emotive.

Want to discover more about Bronzino and many other Florentine artists? Check our Art history courses, with personalized programs and schedules!

Italian Christmas Tradition: Pandoro

Istituto Galilei — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:41:24 +0000

The Pandoro is a typical Christmas yeast bread, which was created in Verona. Its provenance can be found either in the Viennese pastry, in the French brioche or in a dessert of the Venice’s aristocracy (called “pane de oro”, golden bread).

The Pandoro is actually an evolution of a Veronese sweet bread, called Nadalin, and was created in 1800 by Domenico Melegatti. Its typical shape is that of a frustum with an 8-pointed star section ideated by the artist Angelo dall’Oca Bianca.

It is usually served covered by a Vanilla-scented icing sugar, and sometimes it is filled with gelato or chantilly cream ad it is a MUST on our Italian Christmas tables! We recommend you to try it!

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Nearby Florence: Fiesole

Istituto Galilei — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:17:10 +0000

If you are in Florence and you would like to make some nice excursions not too far away, a good choice could be to go and visit Fiesole. Easily reachable by bus from the center of the city (it takes around 20 minutes with bus n.7), Fiesole is located upon a lovely hill from which you will see a wonderful view of Florence.

Not only a beautiful small town, Fiesole is enriched by many important artistic and historic monuments: from the Etruscan area to many beautiful Churches, Convents and Palaces. And the view from there is always breathtaking!

Would you like to visit Fiesole with our Art History expert? Take one of our art history courses or one of our guided visits!

And if you’re more interested in a relaxing holiday combined with a cooking course in Fiesole, check out the cooking course we organize there!

Italian recipes: rice & figs pudding

Istituto Galilei — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:45:29 +0000

Autumn has come! Although here in Italy is mostly mild and nice, we need something sweet to cheer up during those typical gloomy days. Let’s prepare a lovely dessert with figs!

Ingredients

200gr of rice
1lt of milk
10 fresh figs
4 eggs
160gr of sugar
3 tablespoons of rhum
a little butter
1 pinch of salt

Preparation

Boil the rice in the milk with a pince of salt until it will absorbe all the liquid. Remove from heat and let it cool down.

Peel the figs, dice them and put them in the rice. Add sugar, rhum and eggs. Mix well.

Pour the mixture in a greased mold, or in four individual small molds, and cook in water bath in the oven for about one hour.

Let the pudding cool down, remove from the mould and serve it decorating it with some figs or bitter chocolate sauce.

Autumn will be sweet this way!

Source: Buttalapasta

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Italian literature: Calvino’s “Il Barone rampante” (The Baron in the trees)

Istituto Galilei — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:31:43 +0000

“Il Barone rampante” (The Baron in the trees) is a novel written by Italo Calvino in 1957. It’s a very funny and amusing story, where the adventures of an Italian rebel nobleman living up on the trees are told. Page after page, you will discover the strong personality of Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, the baron, told by his younger brother Biagio.

This masterpiece of the Italian literature can be analysed under many aspect: as a romance story, environmentally, narratologically, sociologically, and in questioning the role of the individual and the community.

The novel received the Viareggio Prize in 1957. However, Calvino “refused the prize on the grounds that its acceptance simply helped shore up an outmoded institution, the literary prize!”.

Discover and study many other masterpieces of the Italian literature in our Italian one-to-one personalized intensive courses!

Italian slang: “Come il cacio sui maccheroni”

Istituto Galilei — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:53:39 +0000

“Come il cacio sui maccheroni”: that’s what Italians say to describe two things which are perfect together. Like exactly, cheese and macaroni! The sentence means, in fact, like the cheese on macaroni and it can be compared to the english “just what the doctor ordered”.

It definitelly looks perfect!

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Italian recipes: Pesto!

Istituto Galilei — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:49:16 +0000

Pesto is one of the most known Italian pasta sauces, with his great flavour. But not everyone knows that it is very easy to prepare. You can choose to make it with mortar and pestle, as the tradition teachs, or if you have just a few time at your disposal you can just mix all the ingredients with a blender. Here you are the recipe

INGREDIENTS

50 g basil leaves
1 small fresh garlic glove
a pinch of cooking salt
1 tablespoon full of pine nuts
15 g of grated Italian sheep’s milk cheese
15 g of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
4 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare the ingredients
Wash the basil leaves in cold water and put them to drain on a cloth. Clean them cutting out the stalk. Peel the garlic glove.

2. Traditional preparation with mortar and pestle

Put the basil leaves, garlic, cooking salt and pine nuts in the mortar. Crash them slowly with the pestle with circular movements. When the basil is completely crushed, add the cheeses and start to crash again until you’ll get a homogeneous blend. Now add olive oil and keep working the sauce until it becomes smooth and creamy.

3. Preparation with the blender

Put all the ingredients together in a blender and mix them slowly, so the sauce won’t overheat.

A typical Italian recipe, simple and tasty! Learn more and more recipes with our Italian cooking courses, held by professional chefs!

Art symbols in Florence: The Marzocco

Istituto Galilei — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:03:00 +0000

Walking around Florence’s historic centre, you have of course noticed those lions with the Florence lily – there are many just in front of Santa Croce church; these heraldic lions are called Marzocco, and the most famous of them is the one created by Donatello, that you can see at the Bargello Museum.

The strange name comes probably from the word Marte, whose Roman statue had previously been Florence’s emblem. The lion is seated and with one paw supports the coat-of-arms of Florence, the lily. It had such a strong power that the Florentine troopers used to be called marzoccheschi, sons of the Marzocco.

Donatello’s original, sculpted in the fine-grained gray sandstone of Tuscany called pietra serena, has been conserved in the BArgello since 1855.

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