an Historical Florentine Pudding

Lo Zuccotto

Recently a friend brought a pudding to Le Ripe which I had heard of but never tasted.

The pudding casing, made of spectacularly red sponge slices, hid a half-chocolate mousse, half-cream filling studded with candied peel and chocolate kibbles


 Formerly known as Caterina's Helmet, this Florentine pudding hails from the days of the Medici.

 In the late Renaissance at the height of the family's fortunes, Caterina de' Medici, Lorenzo il Magnifico's daughter, as queen of France, apparently asked Bernardo Buontalenti to invent a new dolce to celebrate the Spanish ambassador's arrival. 

Pisa's High Line

Seeing the city from the heights

Since 2018 Pisa has opened to the public a walkway along its ancient city walls. We tried it out recently and recommend it if you have an hour or two to spend in the city and are looking for a novel perspective.

The walkway runs for three kilometres between Torre di Legno Piazza del Rosso, not far from the Arno river, and Piazza dei Miracoli. We highly recommend following it in this direction, as the views of Pisa's most famous monuments are enjoyed best this way. If it is summer, preferably choose the morning, so that you have the sun behind you.

Markets and Festivals in Chianti

Some of the best local festivals and markets...

Greve's attractive triangular, porticoed square provides the perfect setting for a variety of markets and festivals during the year

Apart from three weekend markets selling fruit and veg, cheese, barbecued meats etc in Greve in Chianti and Castellina in Chianti on Saturday mornings and Panzano on Sunday mornings, there
are several antique/flea/craft and specialist markets as well as a selection of festivals on offer throughout the year in the Chianti area.

A Night Visitor at Le Ripe

Giant Peacock Moth

Great peacock moth, giant emperor moth, Viennese emperor, the Saturnia pyri, native to Europe: this Saturniid moth is the largest European moth. Its wingspan can reach 20cm.

Birdfeeders and Italian Birds

The Avian Learning Curve 

British blue tits, already wise to feeders

At Le Ripe we have always been keen to feed our birds. In winter, when it is frosty and cold, the small migratory birds which stop at Le Ripe, as well as those which are resident,  can generally be assured of a square meal each day.

The Big Kitchen at the Pitti Palace

A Kitchen for Kings

Before the guided tour to the newly-renovated Medicean Cucinone or Big Kitchen started, there was time to explore the Royal Apartments of the Pitti Palace.

the divine right to luxury

The Royal Apartments are perfect examples of the much-money-little-taste syndrome: magnificent workmanship and raw materials, to be sure, in the brocades, the gilt mouldings around doors and windows, the damask wall coverings, the tassels and fringes and folderols, but the final effect is heavy and ostentatious in the extreme. Buone cose di pessimo gusto as the poet Guido Gozzano wrote.

A Happy Ending for Mister Fox

The Fox has Fled

Regarding our posts The Downside of a Fence  and Mystery Solved

we are delighted to announce that in all probability, Mr Renard has escaped the confines of our garden where he was inadvertently imprisoned during the installation of our perimeter fence.

Ordinary Lives

The Diary Museum of Pieve Santo Stefano

'The famous river bathes the small plain..' a homage to Pieve Santo Stefano and its river by the poet Carducci

As you waltz between Arezzo, Anghiari, San Sepolcro and other delights, you might take a detour to a little town called Pieve Santo Stefano which, thanks to the efforts of the journalist and writer, Saverio Tutino, has become home to and promotor of an archive dedicated to diaries, the diaries of ordinary people collected since 1984. The writings come from all over Italy and span two hundred years of the country's history. 
The archive now holds 7,000 diaries.

Mystery Solved

The Downside of a Fence part 2

We are now pretty sure of our mystery guest's identity because there have been several signs and, last night, a sighting, plus a convincing confirmation from the internet - to do with smell.

We first thought it might have been a fox. This was partly wishful thinking, because the possibility that a porcupine was enclosed in our garden with all its juicy bulbs, corms and tubers just waiting to be foraged, was just too scary.

The Downside of a Fence

On the Inside Looking Out
(The Downside of a Fence part 1)

 When our fence was installed, over days and weeks, the noise of the men and machines ought to have scared off any residual larger inhabitants left in our garden.
But it seems it didn't.

 

Ocimum Basilicum

It's not Summer without Basil

Once on a trip to Greece we noted the pots of small-leafed basil sitting, round and pretty, on verandahs. To our surprise we discovered that it was decorative basil, that the Greeks do not eat basil. Subsequently we introduced some Greek friends to pesto and it caused quite a sensation.

How to fool a bumble-bee

...and further your species.

The other morning while hanging out the washing I spied an interesting flower bobbing in the grass. It had three mauve petals and was being plundered by a bumble bee. Or so it seemed.

 

On closer examination the bee turned out to be part of the flower which was a tiny orchid.

Found in Woodpile

Nest eggs

Uncovered in woodpile, roughly-woven nest of moss, straw and wood shavings with six tiny eggs. Might be redbreast or starling eggs?

If anyone reading this blog can identify the eggs, please send us a message.

a Small Spring Miracle

the 

 Daffodils

Le Ripe is lucky to be set in the middle of 30 hectares (74 acres) of land, mostly comprised of woods. However at the bottom of our hill, along the Pesa river, are two large meadows, separated by a small rise.

 

the campo di sotto, or bottom meadow, one of two near the river

We don't often go down there but we do keep the fields clear of brambles and other invasive plants. 

The sweet side of Siena: ricciarelli

Almond Complex

pretty well the archetypical ricciarello

A good ricciarello (richyarello) is thickly dusted with icing sugar which is cracked on the surface; it is  lightly crunchy on the outside but soft and melting on the inside. It should have a definite marzipan (or bitter almond) taste and be quite sweet. It traditionally appears at Christmas to be consumed with vin santo or other sweet wines but nowadays we can indulge anytime of year.

these ricciarelli look perfect; they also look homemade as they do not have quite the 'boat' shape of the commercial ones

The ricciarello would appear to go back a long way, to the time of the Crusades, or so the Sienese would have it. A returned crusader called Ricciardetto della Gherardesca (a mouthful in himself), legend says, had tried these tasty Middle-Eastern morsels in the Holy Land and introduced the recipe to his hometown.

The Sword in the Stone and the Open-Air Abbey

Chiusdino, Montesiepi and  

San Galgano

Chiusdino today

An hour and a half's drive south of Le Ripe, in the Val di Merse, lie several medieval treasures which attract visitors all year round.

reconstruction of Chiusdino as it might have looked between the 12th and 13th centuries, around the time Galgano Guidotti lived there

The medieval nucleus of the hilltop town of Chiusdino, the Hermitage of Montesiepi and the Abbey of San Galgano are linked by their association with a 12th century knight who said farewell to arms in order to become a hermit.

San Galgano, Ambrogio Lorenzetti 1338-49,Sala dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico Siena

David and the Quakes

 Goliath returns

It could be the name of a 60s pop band, but instead the topic of this post is Michelangelo's David and the earthquakes which are currently making Florence and Chianti tremble.

epicentre near Greve in Chianti

From Friday December 19th 2014 two earthquakes of a reasonable if not terrifying magnitude (3.5 and 4.1 on the Richter scale) and multiple tremors have been unsettling the Chianti area directly south of Florence. Our dear Greve in Chianti, the delightful market town, cultural and logistical centre of the Chianti wine-growing district, is near the epicentre.

The Return of the Wolf III

 Lupus in Fabula 
 or 'Speak of the Devil'

We have good reason to suppose that wolves are inhabiting or at least hunting in our neck of the woods. In the heart of Chianti where, despite our extensive woodlands, civilization (farmhouses, villas, roads, vineyards, olive groves, gardens, villages and towns) makes itself firmly felt. This phenomenon seems to be corroborated by a recent article in The Guardian newspaper.

 Locals have firm evidence that our deer have met their natural predator. The carcass of a roe deer was found mauled, amputated and gutted against a neighbour's fence. The desperate deer had sought refuge inside the fence but was caught, halfway to safety.

The Return of the Robin

Who killed Cock Robin?

     Who killed Cock Robin?
        I, said the Sparrow,
        with my bow and arrow,
        I killed Cock Robin.

        Who saw him die?
        I, said the Fly,
        with my little eye,
        I saw him die.

        Who caught his blood?
        I, said the Fish,
        with my little dish,
        I caught his blood.

        Who'll make the shroud?
        I, said the Beetle,
        with my thread and needle,
        I'll make the shroud.

        Who'll dig his grave?
        I, said the Owl,
        with my little trowel,
        I'll dig his grave.

        Who'll be the parson?
        I, said the Rook,
        with my little book,
        I'll be the parson.

        Who'll be the clerk?
        I, said the Lark,
        if it's not in the dark,
        I'll be the clerk.

        Who'll carry the link?
        I, said the Linnet,
        I'll fetch it in a minute,
        I'll carry the link.

        Who'll be chief mourner?
        I, said the Dove,
        I mourn for my love,
        I'll be chief mourner.

        Who'll carry the coffin?
        I, said the Kite,
        if it's not through the night,
        I'll carry the coffin.

        Who'll bear the pall?
        We, said the Wren,
        both the cock and the hen,
        We'll bear the pall.

        Who'll sing a psalm?
        I, said the Thrush,
        as she sat on a bush,
        I'll sing a psalm.

        Who'll toll the bell?
        I said the Bull,
        I am strong, I can pull,
        I'll toll the bell.

        All the birds of the air
        fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,
        when they heard the bell toll
        for poor Cock Robin.
 

The first robin redbreast of the cold season appeared yesterday in our garden and the lines of this old rhyme came to mind. 

the Thorn Tree and its associations

 The Facts and Fables of the Hawthorn

the hawthorn in September

Summer has all but ended. We still await the equinox to declare it officially over, but autumn is clearly making itself felt. A series of heavy rainfalls have seemingly washed the green from the landscape which is now tinged with yellow, the cooler temperatures and shorter days reminding us of what's to come. Our fig trees are laden, the quinces are heavy on the bough and bright berries glow on hedge and shrub (above deer height, for the lower fruits have been devoured).

the berries or 'haws' are really pomes which contain stones like those in plums

I was admiring the scarlet berries of the hawthorn today and it occurred to me that I have not done this tree/shrub justice in my recent post on trees at Le Ripe. This is a tree with a story, or rather many stories.