The traditional way of making Bruscheta

Mixed Bruschetta


Ingredients:

Goat cheese and tomato (self explanatory)
VEGETABLE PUREE - FOR 10 PEOPLE:
8-1/2 oz (250 grams) Lentils
8-1/2 oz (250 grams) Chick Peas
8-1/2 oz (250 grams) Cannellini beans
salt, extra vergine olive oil, tomato concentrate--to taste
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 hot pepper (peperoncino)

Preparation:
Boil the vegetables and drain them; meanwhile fry the garlic, rosemary, and some of the hot pepper in the olive oil and then add the vegetables with a bit of their water. Add salt to taste and tomato concentrate for a touch of color. Pass through a food mill and add a bit of oil. Place on top of the toasted bread slices with a piece of bacon on each.

Towns: Sorano in Tuscany

The Masso Leopoldino represents one of the most striking features of this incredible town.

The Rocca - as it is called in italian - has been appreciated for its strategical qualities since the Middle Ages and was probably fotified by additional structures before the 9th century.



Taking a drive in the south of Tuscany during your vacation, you will find a special little town. Park your car in the outside parking space and prepare to walk up hill into a fantasy world.




The buildings both historic and the modern day rental vacation villas are made from the particular type of material called tuff. It is unique in color, and malability. The Tuscan vacation rentals farmhouses in the southern part of Italy are made of tuff.



Visit the incredible fortress, which is without cars and intervention of modern day activity. You will feel as if you have walked back in time. The large sandy colored blocks are testaments to the local activity.

The town of Anghiari in Tuscany

The most important period in the history of the town is connected with the Battle of Anghiari which was fought in the year 1440 between the Visconti armies from Milan and those of Florence which were allied with the Pope. Machiavelli spoke about the battle in his Historiae fiorentinae and Leonardo da Vinci did a huge (short lived) fresco painting of it in Florence. The position on a dominant hillside in the middle of a vast plain made Anghiari an important strategic point.




You will find a great little outside bar where you can sit have a drink while admiring a one of a kind landscape. The classic dish of Anghiari is bringoli: thick spaghetti handmade from just water and flour by the village housewives, covered with a sauce made from porcini mushrooms gathered in the woods of the Tiber Valley, or else with a chianina meat sauce. Right across from the bar, In the heart of the old town, you can see signs of its past history, arched windows, a large fresco and a multitude of coats of arms in both stone and terracotta.



The old watch route was the road found at the northern section of the city walls. Since 1444 this stretch of the circuit of walls has undergone a number of reconstruction works in order to make the village impenetrable in the event of an artillery attack.


Together with the ancient Cassero, the bell or clock tower is one of the tallest points on the Anghiari skyline. The tower was built in the thirteenth century being completed in 1323 and then destroyed by Vitellozzi Vitelli on the 24th June 1502.





MAY 2005: LA SCAMPANATA (MORNING BELL): This is an event that occurs once every five years and lasts for the whole month of May. The members of the "Societ� della Scampanata" (virtually the entire town) make a date to be in the main square at 6 o'clock every morning. Anyone who is late is dragged out of bed, given a more or less "fair" trial and then hoisted up onto a special carriage and pulled around the town while everyone else throws everything they can think of at him until he is completely covered and entirely unrecognisable.

JULY/AUGUST: MUSIC, THEATRE AND SPECIAL EVENTS AROUND THE OLD WALLS : Special shows and events that enliven the centre of Anghiari all summer. A mixture of concerts, guided tours, dinners and shows scattered through the natural backdrop of the little squares and corners that are the real centre of gravity.

FROM 10 TO 18 AUGUST: "TOVAGLIA A QUADRI" (THE CHECKED TABLECLOTH) - 1TH Year : A traditional Tuscan open-air dinner entwined together with a musical play performed across four courses. This entertainment has achieved a prominent position amongst the best of all the events of the summer in Tuscany. It takes place in the natural "stage" of the little piazzetta del "Poggiolino" in the heart of the old town centre and is created by the Pro Loco and the Teatro Stabile di Anghiari.

Discover beautiful Tuscany

Tuscany it is really an incredible place with a lot of towns and villages to discover like Sorano

The Masso Leopoldino represents one of the most striking features of this incredible town.



The Rocca - as it is called in italian - has been appreciated for its strategical qualities since the Middle Ages and was probably fotified by additional structures before the 9th century.




Taking a drive in the south of Tuscany during your vacation, you will find a special little town. Park your car in the outside parking space and prepare to walk up hill into a fantasy world. You will first follow the path up to the fortress which has stood here for years - get a ticket and visit the underground museum.






The buildings both historic and the modern day rental vacation villas are made from the particular type of material called tuff. It is unique in color, and malability. The Tuscan vacation rentals farmhouses in the southern part of Italy are made of tuff.




Visit the incredible fortress, which is without cars and intervention of modern day activity. You will feel as if you have walked back in time. The large sandy colored blocks are testaments to the local activity.

Reaching for Paradise at the Island of Elba

I reached this paradise by ferry in just one hour from the city of Piombino near follonica in the province of Grosseto, just one hour from Siena and two from Florence.
The Mediterranean breeze was already talking of great promises that were all kept by the great hospitality and warmth of the Elba people.
The entire island is a natural reservation, and here you will find spectacular natural sights, wonderful landscapes, preserved fauna, and cozy seaside villas and apartments.
Sunsets have been unforgettable.
The Elba Island has a moltitude of small beaches and little gulfs that are almost unknown to the majority of people and that you can reach only by private boat. We rented a small boat and loved to spend the whole day at "our private beach".

Each town is a lovely step to simple life, and nightlife is truly enjoyed at towns such as Marina di Campo, Procchio, Porto Azzurro, Capoliveri, Riomarina and many others wichoffer clubbing, dancing, live music, lovely strolls along the beach and plenty of fun for the wee ones.

Waging war and tasting food in Angiari

During the middle Ages, Anghiari was under the dominion of the Lords of Galbino subsequently passing into the Camaldolesi�s power.

Florentine�s State army was conducted by Giampaolo Orsini and Micheletto Attendolo and Milan�s army by Niccol� Piccinino.
The victory of the Florence State was such as decisive as to consent them to stay over the control of central Italy.
According to Machiavelli�s writes, the battle was held in about 20 hours and, nevertheless the hard combating, only one soldier died, felling off his horse, as faithfully represented in the mural �The Battle of Anghiari� which Florence, many years later, entrusted to Leonardo da Vinci to commemorate the epic achievement.
Leonardo started the work on cartoons transferring them to an internal wall of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. While he was working on the mural several main artists were coming to the capital to watch the painting and to learn about Leonardo�s innovative technique.
Peter Paul Rubens made a copy of �The Battle of Anghiari� hosts in the Louvre and Biagio di Antonio, from Paolo Uccello�s school, made another one kept in Dublin, in the National Art Gallery of Ireland.
The mural was unfinished and definitively lost during the drying process in Florence. However, it was substituted in Palazzo Vecchio by a same object Giorgio Vasari�s mural.

What to visit in Anghiano:

- The Fortress: an imposing defensive structure completed in the 14th century, further destroyed and rebuilt in different periods. Together with the ancient castle the fortress is keeping the clock tower coming back from the 17th century.
- Palazzo Marzocco: built up in the 15th century, it was the residence of the aristocratic Angelieri family. Nowadays is hosting �The Battle of Anghiari Documentation Centre�.
- Palazzo Taglieschi: a beautiful Renaissance building with an elaborated fa�ade, houses the National Museum of Arts and Popular Tradition hosting an interesting collection of paintings, frescoes, terracotta, statues, sacred furnishing and instruments coming back from different artistic periods. Its masterpiece is the wooden sculpture by Jacopo della Quercia representing �The Madonna and Child�.
- The Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie: it was built up between the 17th and the 18th century and hosts a wonderful glazed terracotta named �Madonna delle Grazie� by Della Robbia�s family.

The heart of Chianti is Montefioralle

The town was originally called Monteficalle. It is situated on a hilltop facing the Greve valley, surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and cypresses. Parts of the ancient walls are still visible, while the small streets are marked by old homes, a donjon, and several towers.



The ancient village and castle of Montefioralle were an important stronghold during the wars between Florence and Siena. A house in the circular main street of Montefioralle is pointed out as the birth-place of Amerigo Vespucci. The doorway is identified by the wasp ("vespa") and V of the Vespucci family.




In 1250 it became the headquarters of the League of the Greve Valley. The town was once endowed with two sets of walls. It had an octagonal shape with four gates. With the fall of the Sienese Republic, Montefioralle lost its prior importance and most of its inhabitants moved to Greve. We advise you to visit the church of Santo Stefano and the parish church of Montefioralle.




It is an easy 20 minute up-hill walk from Greve and provides you with lots of picture spots, silence and landscape typical of this area. From Montefioralle, there is an interesting hike along the back roads to Panzano. Situated in the hills above Greve in Chianti, it is noted for the one street that completely encircles the church of S. Stefano (inside an interesting 13th century Madonna and 14th and 16th century Florentine paintings): a simple building is traditionally indicated as the house of Amerigo Vespucci. The church of S. Cresci can also be visited close by.

Montefioralle, which originally belonged to the Buondelmonti and Ricasoli families, began life as a fortification that could have hosted a sizable garrison (as well as refugees from the surrounding countryside in times of war), with a central keep and thick walls that now contain houses.