INGREDIENTS* 250 ml of warm water - about 1 cup * 25 gr dry yeast - about 1 tsp * 450 gr flour - about 3 cups * 1 ½ tsp salt * 70 ml extra-virgin olive oil - about 1/4 cup, plus more for drizzling on top * sea salt to sprinkle on top
Thanx to my job in the tourist sector it often happens to me to visit hotels, tourist and student apartments, B&Bs, farmhouses located in Florence and in Tuscany..Yesterday I have visited an apartment of Piazza dei Giudici and I have taken pictures from the window of one the room that they will rent to students...
MethodHeat some oil in a large deep pan and lightly fry the chopped vegetables, garlic and parsley. Clean the small fish and add them with the chilli. Fry lightly and season with salt. Pour in the vinegar and allow it to evaporate, then add the wine and tomatoe. Simmer for 10 minutes, them pass the mixture through a sieve. Heat some oil and fry the cuttlefish, octopus and squid, then add the sieved mixture and gradually all the ther fish, calculating the time necessary for each to cook properly (i.e. shrimps, scampi and cockles will be last). Add water, if required. Meanwhile, toast the bread and line a large tureen with the slices. Pour the fish stew over it and serve.
Ribollita is a famous Tuscan soup whose name literally means "reboiled". Like most Tuscan cuisine, the soup has peasant origins. It was originally made by reheating (ie. reboiling) the leftover minestrone or vegetable soup from the previous day.
1) When did your property first open? How many staff do you have working with you?I opened on September 2000 and I have an employee.2) How many rooms are available at your property? How would you classify your property's target (luxury, tourists, students)?We have 5 rooms and our target is mainly tourist looking for a luxury experience.3) How many tourists do you receive each year? What are the most popular nationalities (and in what percentage of guests, roughly)?Most of our guests are Americans. The remaining are European citizen, especially English, German and Spanish but also Australians and Canadians.4) Why would you recommend a tourist should stay in a B&B rather than a Hotel? What is the best time of year to stay at your property?The strengths of a B&B are the warm welcoming and the value for money. The B&B offers a quality like a 3 or 4 star hotel at a reasonable price with the acceptance and assistance that only a friend could reserve. Every moment is the right one for staying at Cimatori and is always a good time to visit an art city like Florence; our great effort should be toward fall / winter time when the influx of tourism usually falls and competition, especially the big hotels, makes war on falling prices. Moreover on Fall and Winter you can visit the city better and there are less queues at museums.
Make a fairly stiff dough with these ingredients, kneading it thoroughly, and adding more flour if it comes out too soft. Flour it and let it rest, covered, for about an hour. Then roll it out into an eighth-of-an-inch-thick sheet, and use a serrated pastry wheel to cut it into strips as long as your palm and two fingers wide. Make a cut down the middle of each cencio (so as to obtain two strips joined at the ends), twist the side strips without breaking them, fry them in hot oil or lard, and dust them with confectioners sugar when they’re cool. This recipe is sufficient to make a platterful. Should the dough have formed a crust while it sat, knead it again before you roll it out.
Vin Santo is a traditional Tuscan wine that is not only made commercially, but also on farms and in people’s homes. It’s a rich, sweet wine that got its name (Vin Santo means 'holy wine') as it used to be used by the priest in Holy Communion.Halfway between wine and whiskey, this almondy, caramelized sweet wine is some of the most distinctive after-dinner wines found in Italy.Traditionally, you might also be offered a glass of Vin Santo when you visit someone’s home – hence the nickname the ‘wine of friendship’.There are wide variations in Vin Santo's quality – those producers who make good ones tell ominous tales of others cutting their wines with spirits to bring them up to the required alcohol level, adding caramel for color and flavor, and so forth.
Set in the Italian Renaissance cities of Florence and Venice, Assassin's Creed II, the sequel to one of the most popular games in video game history, has been receiving rave reviews and setting sales records worldwide, with over 2 million copies sold within a month of its launch....
An Interview with Ms Linda Loppa, Director of Polimoda International Institute of Fashion, Design & Marketing(Interview by Marco de la Pierre, Communication manager of DotFlorence.com & StudentsVille.it)Polimoda came into being in 1986, an initiative which was organized and financed by the city councils of Florence and Prato, and by business associations in collaboration with the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), State University of New York.1. When was the school founded?2. How many students are there every year? More than 950 students attend Polimoda courses every year.3. Where do the students come from? 40% of the students are international and come from all over the world, while 60% are Italian and about 25% are from Tuscany.Polimoda Library4. Why do students choose Polimoda in Florence? Polimoda is known for its high standards and has well over twenty years experience in fashion education. The Institute's strong point is without doubt its close relationship with businesses which on the one hand allows us to adapt our study programmes to real market needs, and on the other facilitates access to employment for the students as they undertake a period of internship undertaken at the end of their courses and Master courses. We are very proud of the rate of employment of our graduates, which is 90% within six months of completing their studies.5. What kind of courses do you offer? Which are the most popular courses? Polimoda programmes are subdivided into the two general areas of Design and Marketing, covering all professional careers in the fashion system. The three-year post-diploma courses are our core business - Fashion Design, Footwear Design, Pattern Making, Marketing Management and Marketing Communications - and as of this year an optional fourth year master class is available. In addition to these, there is a wide and constantly updated range of Masters courses taught in English and Italian. The most recent are the Masters for Fashion Stylists and Fashion Brand Management. As for the most popular courses, this year we have seen a significant increase - up to 40 per cent - in enrolments on courses in the marketing area, especially for the three-year courses in marketing management and marketing communication. The Fashion Design course, one of our strongest options, is also greatly in demand. [More...]6. How has the school developed over the years? Polimoda Fashion Institute of FlorenceWhen Polimoda came into being 23 years ago, it had about fifty students and only two courses, Fashion Design and Marketing. Over the years, the name of the institute – originally known as the International Fashion Polytechnic – gained a reputation at a national and international level, while both the number of students and the range of courses continued to increase. This year we have five undergraduate courses and 25 Masters in Italian and English, as well as orientation and summer courses. This growth has been matched by the acquisition of new buildings and structures, thus extending the facilities of the historic Villa Strozzi in Florence: the 'Scuderie' at Villa Strozzi house the lecture rooms where theory is Director of Polimoda, Ferruccio Ferragamotaught and the computer laboratories, the Design Lab where the design and pattern making laboratories are, and Castello dell'Acciaiolo in Scandicci where the footwear laboratories are. In 2002 Polimoda Srl, now Polimoda Consulting, came into being to provide services to businesses in the fashion sector and now consists of a group of 35 important businesses. Today Ferruccio Ferragamo is the President of Polimoda, while the Chairman of Polimoda Consulting is Santo Versace: the support provided by such important personalities of the fashion world is of immense value to the Institute and is confirmation of the faith that both the fashion system and businesses have in our teaching methods.
This is a delicious spongy cake, popular around Carnival time in February but now found year-round, particularly in shops in downtown Florence.Put the sifted flour, baking powder, oil, milk, grated orange rind, saffron, sugar, eggs, and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl and beat together thoroughly until all the lumps are eliminated and the batter is smooth and thick.....
