Experience a truly enchanting holiday in one of my Tuscan Villas
San Zeno, the Duomo in Lucca.
Waiting for the new edition of Grapevine… I decided to let you enjoy publishing some nice picture about Tuscany that I will find sufring the web.
For sure a nice way to inspire a trip during your staying here in Tuscany.
For the chick pea soup
350 gm chick peas
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
4 shallots ,thinly sliced
1 carrot, roughly chopped
4 dessertspoons olive oil
A sprig of fresh thyme
A sprig of fresh rosemary
3 fresh sage leaves
2 litres water
salt
For the vegetable tartare
1/2 sick celery
1/2 courgette
1/2 carrot
2 shallots
1/2 red pepper
15 fresh leaves basil
50 ml olive oil
salt and pepper
For decoration
4 basil leaves fried in the little olive oil
Soak the stick chick peas for 12 hours or overnight, rinse and put them in the saucepan with 2 liters of water .
Add the carrot and the celery and pinch of salt and simmer for 1 and half hours. While the chick peas are cooking, gently fry the shallot in the little olive oil with the thyme leaves, rosemary needles and sage leaves.
Drain the cooked chick peas over a bowl keeping the cooking water for later. Add the chick peas to the shallot and herbs, add 3 or 4 ladles of cooking water and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Blend into a smooth cream or “veloute” using a hand-held blender, adding a little more cooking water if necessary.
To make the vegetable tartare,wash and trim all the vegetables, then cut them into small, similar sized cubes. Place the remaining ingredients- the fresh basil leaves, olive oil and salt and pepper-in a tall jug and blend using a hand-held blender.
Dress the vegetable with the basil oil.
Put a small amount of the vegetable tartare in the middle of each of your serving bowls. Its best to use a small metal ring to help keep the vegetables together and create a neater shape. Pour the chick pea veloute around the vegetable tartare, decorate with the fried basil leaves and serve.
After you have the imported decision of you choice of property and decided to buy, you can either sign a preliminary agreement (contratto preliminare) and then sign a deed of sale (contratto definitivo).
Before doing so, however, you lawyer will check that there are no encumbrances (mortgages or loans over the property,for example)and check all entries in the Land Register up the date of the sale.
The preliminary agreement, which is in written form, stipulates the terms and conditions of the purchase and indicates the contains of the deed of sale and the date for the execution of the deed of sale .
Once the preliminary agreement has been signed ,the purchaser is obligated to buy the property and the seller is obligated to sell it. If one of the parties doesnt execute to deed of sale, yo can either terminate the contract or go to court.The judge will make an order which will produce the some effects as the deed of sale, unless this possibility has been excluded by the preliminary agreement.
A deposit (cappara) is usually paid, the amount being agreed between the parties at the signing of the preliminary agreement. The deposit paid by the purchaser may be a caparra confirmatoria which means that if one of the two parties doesnt execute all the clauses of the contract, the party who has executed all the clauses can decide either to keep the deposit and terminate the contract ask for compensation.
The involvement of a notaio(which is not the same as a British solicitor ) is not essential for the signing of the preliminary agreement. Here in Italy he must only guarantee that the deed is legal, that the house is in order and that the payment is made in a legal manner.
The property is not transferred with the preliminary agreement but with the signing of the deed of sale , which must be in written form. The deed of sale requires the payment of the price minus the deposit already paid, and the consignment of the house.
When a property is sold it is on condition that it is sold in the state in which it was accepted at the time of signing the preliminary agreement. It is therefore of paramount importance that you check everything properly to ensure that no changes have occurred between signing the preliminary agreement and the deed of sale, e.g. changes due to natural causes.
If something has been changed or damaged or is missing,you must bring this to the notice of the seller. You can come to an agreement for a reduction in the price or, if not, you can apply to the court.
The year -long celebration of the 150th anniversary of Puccins birth is now drawing to a close.
His actual birthday on 22 december will be celebrate musically with a concert in the Teatro del Giglio with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and solo artists.
This has been a remarkable year in Lucca for Puccini fans, old and new,with the opportunity to see and hear almost his entire works, including rarely performed operas such as Le Villi and Edgar.
However , the Buon Compleanno concert is no so much Saynara as See You Soon since this gala event will be fallowed on the first of January by chamber concert with a hour and a half of some of his most celebrate arias as well as music by one of his contemporaries, Emilie Tavan, who composed for silent films. In the afternoon what could be nicer after a Hogmanay party.
The 2008 Puccini Project was orchestrated by a number of bodies not only to give an overview of his work but to help consolidate and develop the commercial and tourism potential of the maestro for the benefit of the Provincie of Lucca, as a stepping stone to increasing business for hotels and other tourism-related commerce.
This year hotels and restaurants were given opportunity to buy tickets at 10E so they could offer guests and customers a special package with significant cultural highlight. The aim , also, is to stimulate tourism during the off -season-the New years Day concert is an example of this and intended to be annual event.
Casale Sodini is proud to offer you the chance to savour – “Meeting with the Artists in Pietrasanta”.
Book the Villa during January 2009 for a stay at any time in 2009 and we’ll include “Meeting with the Artists in Pietrasanta” program of event at no extra cost!
This enchanting medieval town, so beloved to very renowed sculptors as Mitoraj, Botero, Cascella, Finotti, Capotondi, Rhon, Gamundi, Heppe, etc. , will be the special meeting point where spending a delightful and unforgettable day. This chance is not to be missed! It is an opportunity reserved to few and lucky people who love to be in touch with the “sculptor’s closest world”. Realise a work of art is always an intimate process for the artist and he is sometimes very jealous about his works, but we are allowed to this unique, incredible experience.
To start our trip, it is a pleasure for us to welcome you in Duomo Square (one of the most beautiful square in the world) around 10 o’ clock, 10:30 a.m.
We immediately reach the artist’s studio/workshop. The artist waits for us, as an old, kind friend, just to disclose his secrets and show us how his sculpture was born. Behind a creation there is always an hard work, lot of passion and affliction till the last day, when the work is finished and the artist finally feels a great joy and forgets the agony.
A fine collection of bronzes take the same care and attention, in order to see statues made of bronze, we will visit a foundry, where we could feel again the same charm as before. The artist, as an intimate friend, will gladden us sharing the “pleasures of the table”.
We can choose a characteristic restaurant in the countryside, or one of the many restaurants on the beach breathing the sweet smell of the sea and eating fresh fish. The inevitable conclusion is a toast to celebrate this wonderful day together.