Located only 27km as the crow flies from Venice, Treviso has always lived in the shadow of the campanile of San Marco. For most of its life, that was a good thing. Its proximity to the capital of the great Venetian Republic meant that the government ringed it with a great defensive wall and […]
Pick me up in Treviso Read More »
One of the hallmarks of Tuscan regional cooking is that a lot of it makes use of stale bread. I recently wrote an article about it outlining some of the traditional soups and salads from the region all with stale bread as their main ingredient. However, it’s not just savory dishes which use it.
Pinza di Claudio: chocolate, nut, and bread cake (recipe) Read More »
Well, it’s almost Easter and time to break free of the restrictions of Lent and celebrate with all the wonderful Easter food we’ve been dreaming of. Here in the Tuscan Valtiberina, Easter is of particular importance, especially in the town of Sansepolcro, whose name means Holy Sepulchre, referring to the tomb of Christ. In
Easter in the Valtiberina Read More »
This recipe is from Veneto. As promised in the last post, here is a recipe for azime dolci, the Venetian jewish cookies I tried in the ghetto at the weekend. Pane azzimo, is the Italian for unleavened bread and these are called azime because they too are unleavened. And like pane azzimo, they are traditionally
Azime dolci: Venetian passover cookies (recipe) Read More »
The 15th and 16th centuries saw a shameful period of what would now be called ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Europe. In 1492, all jews were expelled from Spain and soon other southern European states followed suit. Similar expulsions from England and France in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had concentrated Europe’s jewish communities in Spain, Portugal, the
Dolci ebraici veneziani: Venetian jewish pastries Read More »
This recipe is from Tuscany. No sooner is carnival out the way than we have an excuse for another sweet blow-out: San Valentino, or Valentine’s Day. And in a country famed for lovers and romance it’s seen as a big occasion—notwithstanding the fact that the original Saint Valentine was Italian. It’s also the very beginning
Torta di semolino: semolina cake (recipe) Read More »
