| 24Apr2013 |
ITALIAN CULTURE EXPERIENCE CLASS: TOSCANA/TUSCANY
Toscana or Tuscany exemplifies Italian culture. This was where the Etruscans settled and the purest Italian is spoken. In Toscana, there are still towns and cities largely unchanged since medieval times, with their walls and towers of stones. For many, Toscana is a place that placates the soul diffusing an ancient sense of calm. In other words, a heaven of tranquility surrounded by beautiful bucolic scenery in a hectic world.
Firenze, heart of Toscana and home of the Renaissance, lies in a green hallow surrounded by hills full of olive groves. It is uniquely enriched with monuments and historic buildings created by Tuscan geniuses throughout the centuries, artists like Giotto, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico and Leonardo da Vinci.
Tuscan cuisine is considered excellent. In fact, while Sicilian cuisine is divine, in Napoli cooking is considered a passion, in Toscana cooking is considered an art. The secret lays in the harmony and restraint, the divina proporzione that governs the ingredients in the same way as they govern Florentine sculptures and architecture. The purity and the natural flavors of the ingredients make it pointless to use tricks such as creams, sauces, gravies and excessive seasonings. Tuscan steaks, free range chickens, pork, peas, white beans, game and fish need only one addition to make to most of their natural qualities: extra virgin olive oil. Tuscan art of cooking reflects also on the eating habits. While the rest of Europe in the 1500’s was still eating with their hands, in Florence and in other parts of Italy the nobles were already using silverware. In fact, when Caterina de’ Medici married Henry II in 1533, she introduced silverware to the French court.
Tuscan cuisine, like the city of Firenze, is superb in its simplicity, a pure gastronomic art. We can start with the bread, which is essential in Tuscan cuisine. It has a hard crust and has no salt. Originally it was a substitute for pasta which was considered a luxury. In fact, many old recipes call for slices of bread to provide the carbohydrates like pappa al pomodoro, crostini ai fegatini di pollo. This is the reason why we do not have a lot of pasta dishes, but a lot of antipasti and second course. Then we have the beans. They are cooked in many ways, we have bean antipasti, bean soup, and beans with tuna. They were introduced to the region around 1500 by the Medici Pope, Clemente VII. And what to say about the famous dish Bistecca alla fiorentina. To be perfect, the steak should come from a young steer and be the thickness of two fingers together. It is grilled over charcoal for five minutes each side. After cooking it is sprinkled with sea salt and pepper and olive oil. Toscana is also very famous for their olive oil which is the main source of fat. Other specialties are pork dishes and hare. In fact, a very famous dish is pappardelle con la lepre. A fairly recent addition to Toscana’s culinary heritage is the pecorino toscano. After World War II, farms throughout the region were abandoned as farmers moved to the cities. On the island of Sardegna, instead, the opposite was occurring, with an overpopulation of shepherds and not enough land to accommodate them, in the 1950s and 1960s there was a migration from the island to the main land.
As for desserts, zuccotto is very famous, a sponge cake moistened with liqueur and filled with cream in the shape of a dome to resemble Firenze’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore designed by Brunelleschi. Maybe the most famous cake of this region is Panforte di Siena, a cake made with almonds, hazelnuts, spices and fruit and the cookies ricciarelli, almonds cookies always from Siena.
Toscana is also home of Chianti, known all over the world as Italian wine, though there are many more wines worth tasting. For example, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a dry red wine which dates back to the eighth century. Among the white wine there is Vernaccia di San Gimignano, which was one of Michelangelo’s favorite wines. He described the wine as something that “kisses, licks, bites, tingles and stings”. Michelangelo expressed his appreciation for good wine in his statue of Bacchus, the god of wine, in the Bargello Museum in Firenze. Last but surely not least, there is Brunello di Montalcino, which is one Italy’s finest wines.
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