Discover Tuscany’s Blog: exploring Tuscany and all its hidden corners…

A not-to be-missed exhibit currently in Florence is without a doubt the one dedicated to Rafael’s famous painting, the Madonna del Cardellino, which after years of restoration has returned to shine more beautiful than ever.
On a recent day we went to Palazzo Medici Riccardi which is just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral and where the painting is on exhibition after a demanding period of restoration as it awaits to be relocated to the Uffizi Gallery.

The Madonna del Cardellino is not the only work on display in this exhibition, in fact, there are four additional works from the same period (early 500’s): The “Gravida” (attributed to Raphael), the “Monk” (from the Florentine school) and the interesting table that covered this painting and a characteristic glass terracotta by Girolamo della Robbia, “The Madonna, Child and Saint John.”

Read more about the exhibition >>

In Tuscany, like in many areas of the world, the Christmas holidays are a special moment to spend time with family. And what better way than to spend time together than over a nice meal?
Christmas Day is a very special occasion and a fine meal is part of the grand celebration, anyone on a diet sets it aside for the entire day.

Christmas lunch today is a feast based on a centuries-old menu that still pleases both the old and the young.

Read more about Christmas traditional lunch in Tuscany >>

Christmas in always is a very festive affair! This year, however, the holiday season in Florence seems a bit less bright, a tad less colorful than it usually is. It might be due to the current international economic crisis that discourages too much gift shopping on everyone’s part, as many worry about losing their jobs and what the new year will bring. This also seems to be the case for tourists, as there seems to be less people in general in the historical center when this period generally means lots of crowds.

Continue reading about Christmas in Florence »

About a week ago, the New York Times (http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/travel/30Florence.html ) had an article on Florence. It was interesting because it takes a literary classic, E.M. Forster’s “A Room With a View”, as the central point from which to compare the experience of visiting Florence, how it was back then and how it would be now. The author and books editor of The New York Observer, Adam Begly, goes back and forth between what Lucy experienced over a century ago in Forster’s classic and what a visitor sees and experiences in Florence today.

Continue reading about visiting Florence »

It’s time for ‘olio nuovo’ in Tuscany

Tuscany today is still a region with a strong rural character, its agricultural products being synonymous of quality and excellence in Italy and abroad. If the month of September is traditionally dedicated to the grape harvest and the production of great Tuscan wines, October and November are dedicated to another Tuscan product of excellence: olive oil.

Extra virgin olive oil (EVVO) is one of the base ingredients in Tuscan and Italian cuisine and anyone that cooks knows that a good EVVO (even better if organic) is indispensable for the success of many dishes.

If you find yourself in Tuscany during these weeks, take the occasion to learn more about olive oil by following the various phases of its production from the field to the table. You can see how olives are harvested, follow the olives to the oil-mill and obviously taste the freshly pressed olive oil.
Many Tuscan dishes are perfect for tasting new olive oil, from the simple bruschetta to the ribollita to  “zuppa Toscana” or Tuscan soup .
You can find excellent recipe ideas for more Tuscan dishes at Tuscan Recipes .

Continue reading about Tuscany's "new" olive oil>>

We finally made it! After several long and intense months of work, we launched a new version of our Discover Tuscany Travel Guide a few days ago! We completely reorganized the content and navigation, added new sections and new pictures and integrated this Blog and the Forum. The Florence section is growing so much that we decided to make it a separate website: Visit Florence, our travel guide about Florence, Italy.

We have so many ideas about how we want Discover Tuscany to be in the near future and are very excited about this new website. It will be a lot easier to publish and organize our articles. We have not yet included all our Tuscan experiences from this year, but we’ll be constantly adding new content over the course of the next weeks. So if you’re interested in Tuscany and Florence, add DiscoverTuscany.com and VisitFlorence.com to your bookmarks and come back to visit us regularly!

The tiny village of Marradi organizes every Sunday in October the traditional Sagra delle Castagne or Chestnut Festival, and this year marked its 45th edition.
This last weekend we participated too!
Marradi is a characteristic little village of the Upper Mugello almost on the border between Tuscany and the Emilia Romagna territory. The Chestnut Festival organized in Marradi is dedicated to marroni chestnuts since these delicate chestnuts grow here and across the Mugello. They even are identified and protected by law as the “Marrone del Mugello IGP“, considered one of the best quality chestnuts in Italy.

Read more about the Chestnut Festival >>

In the area of the upper Maremma hills where we went to explore, an agriturismo (farmhouse) seems to be the most common form of accommodation. The area is largely cultivated and is home to the Montecucco DOC wine region and, while it is lesser known than its neighbors, the Brunello di Montalcino or the Morellino di Scansano, it is no less good and enjoyable. For our last minute trip to Maremma we searched online and finally decided on contacting the agriturismo Il Passo degli Ulivi which offered independent apartments.

Continue reading about our stay at Passo degli Ulivi »

We have just returned from a short vacation in Maremma: we decided at the very last moment to leave on this trip, taking advantage of the warm sun and nice days this mid-October was giving us.
We had never visited the upper part of Maremma close to Monte Amiata, between the Tuscan coast and Val d’Orcia. It was a nice surprise. The landscape reminds us of the Crete Senesi which so often are potrayed in postcards from Tuscany: soft hills of vineyards, brown and yellow fields with big, isolated trees in the middle of a cultivated field, woods with oaks and chestnut trees. There are few houses, mainly farms that often offer accommodation and may also have a restaurant where you can have a good typical meal.
Read More about our Holiday in Maremma

If you were in downtown Florence in the area around the Duomo or Piazza della Signoria this past Saturday afternoon, you likely encountered a parade in historical costume, drums, flag throwers and even a cannon! This procession went from the Palagio di Parte Guelfa to the Duomo to meet a large cart full of wine bottles before continuing on to Piazza della Signoria. If you saw all of this you might also have wondered what exactly was going on. What you witnessed is the welcome by Florence of the “carro matto” (crazy cart) from the nearby wine producing town of Rufina!

Continue reading about the Carro Matto in Florence »