Picking porcini mushrooms like Heston Blumenthal
I have a soft spot for British chef Heston Blumenthal. I’ll admit, I could never in a million years make one of his dishes. He’s not particularly good looking. And I do sometimes wonder whether his dishes are a little over the top. But he does fascinate me enough that I try to tune into his [...]
When life gives you olives… make olive oil
If I were in Sicily, I’d be picking lemons and making lemonade. But this is the Maremma, daarrrlings, and here the last weeks of autumn are olive harvesting season. For the born and bred Maremmani, there is something infinitely comforting about an olive tree. Forget all those religious connotations, the olive tree to the Maremmano [...]
Etrusca-who?
It’s hard not to write about food every time I hope on this blog. Let’s just say, I’m a closet food fanatic. But today, I’m resisting temptation and writing about my other great love – the Etruscans. I’ll be the first to admit that I’d never heard of the Etruscans before I came to the [...]
Thinking about truffles…
If truffles were fish, I’d say they were fishy business. Obviously, that analogy doesn’t exactly work, but it’s how I started thinking about the glorious fungi that is the truffle, or if you’re going native ‘tartufo’. Truffles in the Maremma are a winter affair. In fact, they are one of the best things about the [...]
Il Sale della Terra museum opening in Manciano
This weekend, I was luckily enough to get in touch with the Maremma’s peasant roots or ‘contadini’ culture in the Fiora Valley. The Fiora Valley’s fertile fields have been providing the rest of the region with fresh produce, dairy and meat for centuries. It hasn’t always been the easiest job, but it did foster a [...]
Welcome back!
Benvenuto! Welcome back! I’ve been writing furiously, trying to finish some more content on the Maremma for other equally obsessed fans of this gorgeous corner of Southern Tuscany, and I have to say, I couldn’t have come back at a better time. The Maremma in winter is, admittedly cold for a Southern sun kind of gal [...]
