Author: Samuele Sodini

Tuscany Pinocchio Park

Pinocchio Park, opened in 1956, is not a usual park of enjoyment, but rather a precious collective creation of great personality artists.
The literary journey, expressed by mosaics, structures and sculptures immersed in greenery, founded thanks to the union between art and environment: the course is tortuous, the dense vegetation makes sure that each stage becomes surprising and unexpected; the same plants contribute to creating the atmosphere and episodes of the story of the Adventures of Pinocchio.
The same Park is a place of cultural activity always up-dated but never forgetting its just roots: art and illustration exhibitions inspired by reading for children and the Story of Pinocchio, laboratories of puppet creations, shows of puppets, marionettes and street singers enriched according to the season, the visit of the Park.

For more information please visit the Official site.

Learning about Oil in Tuscany

On a glorious afternoon this fall I fell in love with Italian tradition once again. Basking in the beautiful sunshine, I spent time with my  friends learning about and tasting olive oil, at Podere Gli Scassi.

While this age-old tradition is special in its own right, I met a man  who speaks about olive trees, harvesting and oil with such poetic words the farmers before him would surely be honored.

When Lars  Gehrig speaks about his farming techniques and beliefs, his words are filled with respect and admiration for all of the tradition of this  ancient practice. He is impassioned about his lifestyle, living on his olive farm with his wife and family, and even more so about respecting  the earth which gives them their harvest every year.  That afternoon Lars offered us an oil tasting that was straight out of a magazine cover. Situated in the mountains of Pistoia, the farm offers  stunning views of the Tuscan country.

Atable was set outside of the 350-year-old farmhouse for us, complete with wine, oils and  antipasti. While the geese and chickens roamed around the yard we proceeded to taste and learn about the oil which has inspired people  for ages.  The oil produced at Podere Gli Scassi is special because of the family’s approach to farming. They refuse to use pesticides or chemicals  at all.

They also mill the olives in stainless steel, which is beneficial in extending the length of the oil’s freshness as well as preserving  its health benefits. He proudly talks about the low acidity of the oil and the peroxide level, both of which are very important to  the oil’s flavor, freshness and quality.

By tasting other oils alongside his, it is easy to tell in a short amount of time why his oil has won a  gold medal in the Los Angeles County Fair. The oil is so full of flavor and texture I feel as though every drop consumed is a gift.  Our group, most of us being from places outside of Italy, usually tried to buy the best oil we could and enjoyed it. Now, we were experiencing  something so stunning we were speechless.

The taste difference is amazing and inspiring. The flavored oils they produce at  Podere Gli Scassi inspired a lengthy conversation about all the different ways it could be used to enhance our meals and our desserts.  Once you try the lemon oil I feel you will agree that pastry made with this would be divine.

As the sun set and the wine ran out we faced the reality that we must all return to our homes and leave this place. While walking to our  cars, slowly, savoring every moment, it was mutually concluded this experience had changed all of us. It was wonderful to taste the oils  and learn more about the traditions of this beautiful country but more importantly, the time we all spent together on this beautiful farm,  with such a great family, was something so wonderful we will forever carry in our hearts.

From Grapevine

History of Vorno and Villa al Boschiglia – Tuscany

Some of the first archived references to the village of Vorno date back from 944 when Padre Cianelli mentions the church of San Pietro in “Memorie Lucchesi”.  The valley and surrounding hills were battlefields for over 400 years during the many wars between Lucca and Pisa and other archived references date around 1148 when the Lucchese people seized the castle of Vorno from the Pisans (it was to pass between the two sides many times before finally being destroyed). Ruins of other fortified castles and buildings, however, are testimony to an area immersed in history – a history that began even before the arrival of the Romans.

Between the end of the 13th and throughout the 14th century, this history of Vorno was turbulent with the onset of famine, the plague, the battles between Pisa and Lucca and the raiding of the countryside by bandits which caused many families to flee the area.

The most radical transformation came at the beginning of the 15th century when several of the most important families in the area (Trenta, Tegrimi, Garbesi, Mansi, Busdraghi, Sbarra, Gualanducci) created a modern and functional farming system where land was divided up. This original division of land still remains intact today.  A progressive transformation of the area continued until the end of the 1700, which made Vorno one of the most bustling centres on the Lucchese plains, especially in summer when the nobility moved (with family, friends, guests and servants) from their homes in the city of Lucca to the countryside of Vorno where the temperature was certainly cooler.   In 1793 the church of Vorno, now considered too small and “lacking in prestige”, was enlarged under the charge of Giovan Battista Petri who changed and made higher the façade and the central porticles.  On completion the Comune di Vorno did not have sufficient funds to pay for the changes and therefore had to sell some of its properties and possessions to cover the debt.

With the abolition of the rural community at the start of the 1800 Vorno was united with Cantone di Compito and then the Municiple of Massa Pisana, then again with Compito until in 1819, when, with the administrative reorganisation of Maria Luisa di Borbone, it passed indefinitely to the Comune di Capannori.

During the 1800’s the population continued to grow and in 1920 there were a total of 1600 inhabitants.  Already from the start of 1800 the main income was as a washerwoman – a hard and tiring work but very significant as they washed for all the city of Lucca as well as the surrounding plains.  The quality of the water, famous for its lightness, was of great importance but certainly the washerwomen of Vorno were also well renowned for their skill.  The washing would be collected in large baskets called “concari” and then cleaned in the Vorno river, beaten with heavy mallets made from wood. Every Monday, after having loaded the baskets onto carts, the washerwomen would make their way to Lucca to drop off the clean laundry and pick up the next wash.  In 1808 in Vorno there were 80 washerwoman, in 1824 230 and in 1860 more than 250.

The 1800’s brought about newness and social change.  Renowned people came to reside in the area – Francesco Carrara (a well know jurist and political man), Lorenzo Nottolini (famous architect responsible for the acquaduct and the Anfiteatro in Lucca), Felice Matteucci (inventor of the stroke engine), G Battista Mansi, Carlo Controni, Carlo Minutoli and many others.

In 1862 the elementary school opened and then in 1870 the sisters “Dorotee” opened a school for girls in Villa Mansi.  In 1901 an aquaduct was built to supply the many local fountains linked to the spring of Borgognone in Valle.  Today Vorno is sometimes referred to as “little Switzerland” because of its extraordinary ambience, countryside and superfluous supply of spring water.

Villa al Boschiglia dates back to the first half of the 17th century, complying to the characteristics of a typical Lucchese villa built on 3 floors with a large central room surrounded by 4 symmetrical smaller rooms.  It was built as a summer residence for the nobility who lived in palazzos in the centre of the old city of Lucca during the winter and spent the summer in the low lying hills around Lucca where temperatures were a couple of degrees cooler.  The estate at one time also encompassed its own chapel, olive press and servants quarters.

Tuscany – The sexy fountain

With the media bombarding us every day with the world drought problem, Lucca’s ever-flowing fountains are attracting more attention than ever.
Water deserves the value given it and our much beloved architect, Lorenzo Nottolini, would have been extremely proud of the extra attention currently devoted to his beautiful fountains in town. It was the Duchess of Lucca, Maria Luisa of Bourbon, whose statue you can admire in Piazza Napoleone, who decided in 1822 to have an aqueduct built to exploit the springs of the San Quirico torrent in Guamo.
Too many people in Lucca were falling sick because of the water; the wells in town were polluted and the problem of a public aqueduct had to be faced. Heavy taxes were imposed on the population to raise the amount of money necessary for the works, and in 1832 the water channelled through the aqueduct started pouring from the fountain located next to San Martino Cathedral.
The aqueduct is four kilometres long. The arches that run very gently down from the hills to the town begin in Guamo and end in the San Concordio suburb of Lucca.
There are 459 of them with an average height of approximately 10 metres, delimited at both ends by a neoclassical cylindrical stone temple with more than one role: hydraulic, to connect and link the underground pipes to the aqueduct, static because they contain the thrust of the arches and the third role is to decorate and complete the monument.
The Lucchesi refer to the aqueduct water as the water of “la Pupporona”, that is, of the lady with large “puppore”. If you look this popular word up in the dictionary you won’t find it: “puppore” in Lucca means bosom, so a “pupporona” is a lady with a large bosom.
This unidentified young lady, sculpted in neo-classical style, has surpassed the noble Duchess in fame. Her statue stands on a pedestal behind the fountain in Piazza San Salvatore – always referred to by the Lucchesi as Piazza della Pup-porona, because her dress, sliding off one shoulder reveals her bosom and so shows her “puppora”. In town we now have eight fountains which deliver water from the aqueduct.
The chemical-physical characteristics and taste of the water are excellent and superior to many mineral waters on sale. It’s tested daily and you can always see the Lucchesi filling their bottles and thereby getting good water at no cost. This water is also used by the Botanical Garden to water their large variety of azaleas and rhododendrons because of its acidic content.
The style chosen by Nottolini to decorate the fountains reveals his attention to the urban setting. He chose the white marble of Carrara and, apart from the Pupporona, geometrical shapes, such as the cylinder and the parallelepiped, often enriched with engraved masks.
A walk or a bike ride alongside the aqueduct is pleasant and interesting. Keep your camera at the ready, and abandon yourself to the pleasure of looking at such an important masterpiece of architecture, where Nottolini has succeeded in matching beauty and function.
In some way you will find the atmosphere of certain eighteenth century prints depicting the Roman country ruins.
You can start this enjoyable outing by turning left behind the railway station. At a glance you’ll see that the aqueduct is in a critical condition, due to structural subsidence, acts of vandalism, lack of maintenance and the continuous pillage of stones. But it still manages to fulfils the purpose it was built for.
Nottolini’s Aqueduct Duchess of Lucca Maria Luisa Porta S. Gervaso Piazza Antelminelli

Zuppa alla Frantoiana – Tuscan Recipe –

Although the weather was still warm and sunny here in the Garfagnana, I knew it was autumn from my sudden craving for a thick vegetable soup.
Since you might be feeling the same, here is the story of my soup. It isn’t a recipe, because it must be composed of a judicious selection of what is in season.
A good soup takes time. Plan to relax and indulge in some slow cooking.
What would you do with the time you save by opening a tin that can compare with the feel of getting your hands messy with real ingredients, the challenge of mastering the technique of chopping an onion, the smell at each stage of the cooking, the complex flavours of a well-wrought soup and the enjoyment of savouring it on your own or sharing it with family and friends? My soup begins at Cinzia’s stall in the Bagni di Lucca mercatino where I find new-season cabbages, verza and nero, and zucca and some end of season green beans, fresh borlotti beans and zucchini. Cinzia makes me a present of odori (carrot, celery and parsley) on which every soup is based.
From the shop in my village, which I try to patronise as much as possible, I buy some pancetta, a large onion, garlic and a lemon.
The potatoes and San Marzano tomatoes come from my vegetable patch, and from my fridge a piece of parmesan rind I’d been saving for this moment.
I use Marcella Hazan’s method of compiling a soup, adding ingredients one at a time and allowing them to sauté for 2 or 3 minutes before adding the next.
This develops the flavour of each ingredient and has the added advantage that you can prepare the next ingredient while the previous one is cooking.
But first I shell the borlotti beans and put them to boil with some sage leaves and a whole clove of garlic. They’ll be soft in about 30—minutes, which is just when I’ll need to add them to the soup. I pour enough extra virgin Lucca olive oil to more than cover the bottom of a capacious soup pot.
I never use the cheap industrial oils. After all, I’m not servicing a car; I want the oil to contribute the flavour of olives to the finished soup.
The finely chopped pancetta and thinly sliced onion go into the hot oil together over a medium flame and sauté until soft and lightly coloured and the odour wafting from the pot changes from pungent to sweet. I stir from time to time while preparing the next ingredients and adding them in the following order: chopped carrots, chopped celery, diced potato, diced zucca, diced zucchini, green beans cut in small pieces. With each new ingredient the aroma changes.
I pour boiling water over the tomatoes while shredding the cabbages and adding them. As the moisture comes out of the cabbage, the sound begins to change, less the sizzle of frying and more the hiss of steaming. I turn the flame to low and cover the pot while I skin the tomatoes, remove the seeds, chop them and add them.
My pile of chopped tomato is about the same size as the pile of chopped onion I put in earlier; to my taste tomato is a bully and makes all the other more subtle vegetable flavours cower in a corner.
After about 10 minutes, I add salt and pepper, the liquid from the borlotti beans and enough hot water to cover, toss in the parmesan rind (another Marcella trick), replace the lid and keep it at a very slow boil. I put half the beans through a food mill and add the puree to the pot, reserving the whole beans to add a little later.
After washing up it’s exactly the right time to add the whole beans and make a battuto by chopping finely the parsley, garlic and grated lemon rind, which I scrape into the soup along with a spoonful of tomato paste dissolved in a little water, correct the seasoning and leave it to simmer for another 15 or 20 minutes.
The story is coming to an end. I toast a slice of bread, put it in the bottom of a soup plate, ladle the soup on top and drizzle it with olive oil fresh from the frantoio. I eat the soup and am pleased with the plot.
It will be even better tomorrow after the flavours have had time to marry.