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. 

The triangular square

Piazza Matteotti, Greve in Chianti

Piazza Matteotti, looking south

Greve in Chianti is arguably the liveliest, most interesting and possibly most hospitable town in Chianti, but its square is indubitably the most attractive sight in Greve. Roughly triangular in shape, it is also distinctive for its porticoes around all three sides and the chain of terraces above, from where residents, restaurants and bed and breakfast places enjoy the view.

the beautiful porticoes of Greve: shade in summer and shelter in winter

Where monks still tread

Badia Passignano: the Abbey

Plumb in the middle of the Antinori wine estates in Chianti sits the Abbey of San Michele a Passignano, in its nest of cypresses.


The abbey was founded in 890 and joined the Vallombrosans (a branch of the Benedictine Order), in the 11th century, under the aegis of Saint John Gualbert or San Giovanni Gualberto (for more on his Vallombrosans see a previous post, Of Monks and Forests). The abbey has been renovated several times and resembles more a castle than a monastery. 

the forbidding western bastions of the monastery, softened by caper bushes

Simply good food in Florence

The Republic of Fabio Picchi

In 1979 Fabio Picchi opened his first restaurant in Borgo La Croce, a neighbourhood east of Florence's historic centre, in via de' Maggi and via del Verrocchio, next door to the Sant'Ambrogio mercato comunale, or public market. These days you will find 6 or 7 different establishments run under the name or variants of Cibreo all in and around via de' Maggi and via del Verrocchio.

assortment of herbs and flowers in former tomato tins, on display on the C.bio terrace

The name: cibreo is a homely Tuscan ragout or stew of chicken giblets once made by Fabio Picchi's mother; the leftovers were minced with artichokes and added to spinach pie. Apparently it was scrumptious although it is not on offer at any of his restaurants.
 

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.

the Greenhouse comes into its own...

...preparing for the cold...

Citrus trees start to suffer when temperatures get below 5 degrees Celsius. Recently there were a couple of nights that were pretty close to the limit, so we decided, for caution's sake, to retire our citrus into the greenhouse: one clementine, two lemons and a lemon which has reverted to its scion and become an attractive Seville orange...

  
...are now safely housed in our new greenhouse will be put to the test for the first time this winter...

The citrus will be in the company of a gardenia, two plumbagos, a polygala, three amaryllis, a cactus, a recovering orchid and a small mandevilla, not to mention their permanent hosts: jasmine, a large mandevilla and a stephanotis...

The greenhouse has been fitted with a special red light to promote growth and warmth. We hope our tender plants will be cosy over the winter.

And we look forward to quiet winter days when we hope to sit inside enjoying the green and the - relative - warmth.

the Sky above Le Ripe

night sky, late summer...

...the milky way above

Tomato Tribute

Solanum lycopersicum

 (fruit of the month)

 

Our beef tomato (cuore di bue) crop this year has offered up some impressive specimens.

One above all, weighing in at 877 grams, has inspired a tribute from afar. 

"Every August a tomato festival is held in the little village of San Giovanni Pomodorino. Contestants come from near and far for the coveted prize, pomodoro gigantico, which is to produce a cuore di bue as near as possible to 1 kilo in weight. 
 

This year Lulu from the nearby village of Santa Letizia Martina arrived late for the ceremony.  She rushed up to the stall where the judges were already preparing to award the prize.  Only one tomato had managed just under 850 grams.  

When they saw the size of Lulu’s entry the judges conferred and decided to accept her exhibit.  They placed the tomato on the scales.  It came in at just under 900 grams.  The chief judge who came from the rival village of San Giuseppe Solanum surreptitiously put her finger on the scales to give a reading of 1000 grams.
 

Lulu returned in triumph to her village where the cuore di bue now sits benignly in a niche, labelled In excelsis australis."

Thanks to H of Higher Bugford, North Devon.

Summer wildflowers

Summer fields sprinkled with flowers

Besides scabiosa, wild chicory, poppy (rare at this point of summer) wild dianthus (pink) in the river meadow below Le Ripe, many 'new' wildflowers intrigue the curious observer.

Silene vulgaris, bladder campion, maidenstears

The Elusive Golden Oriole

Heard but not seen

male Golden Oriole

The Eurasian Golden Oriole, (Oriolus oriolus) or rigogolo in Italian, winters in Africa and passes through Europe in the summer.

A few years ago a birdwatching visitor reported a fleeting sighting of a yellow and black bird he imagined to be a Golden Oriole in the fields below Le Ripe. 

dowdier female

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.