No better way to start the morning than tasting balsamic vinegar! We went to Stefano Conti's stand in Florence's covered farmers' market where we were warmly greeted and our tasting began. We tried 4 different types of balsamic vinegar by tasting a small drop placed in a little spoon. The taste of balsamic vinegar changes as it ages in wooden barrels, similar to wine. The older the vinegar, the more distinctive the taste becomes and the thicker it is. The very last balsamic vinegar we tried was about as thick as molasses. Our tasting of balsamics ended with vinegar that was mixed with coffee- a cream that tasted perfect for ice cream!
We also tried two different types of olive oil. Tuscan olive oil is known for its peppery flavor and we got to sample some oil that had been voted the best in Italy.
Our tasting ended with a variety of cooking items and spreads. Pure truffles were to be found in many products including honey and cooking salt. To taste the truffle honey we were given pieces of parmesan cheese to dip in it... the taste is indescribable! Among the other products we tasted were dried cherry tomatoes, plum chutney and pate.
The tour of the Palazzo Vecchio was incredible! Originally built to be Florence's city hall, parliaments and the Lord Priors of the city met here and it is still used for politics today. It originally appeared to be just like any other building from medieval Florence, but in fact the Palazzo is full of secret passageways, put in place by various Florentine rulers who were nervous about the stability of their reign. In 1573, Cosimo I de Medici was elected Duke of Florence and he moved his family into the Palazzo Vecchio. This move initiated multiple renovations and apartment additions, as the building had not been intended as a home. Francesco, one of Cosimo's sons, was a collector of precious things and many of the secret passageways in the Palazzo led to his storage rooms. These rooms felt more like a treasure box though, with beautifully painted walls that actually hid cabinets for all of Francesco's collections. His interested varied from alchemy to seashells. Anything that was beautiful to him was housed in his private rooms.
After our tours through Francesco's treasure box, we went to the Great Hall, a huge meeting room on the main floor of the Palazzo with an incredibly high ceiling and frescos painted on the walls The room is large enough to hold 1,500 politicians. The impressive frescos lining the room were done by Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo and they depict Florence's battles with Siena and Pisa. The ceiling depicts the crowning of Cosimo. Also housed in this room is Michelangelo's sculpture "Genius of Victory" which represents Florence's victory over Siena. The ceiling was very high and a new type of architecture was used to build it known as casatoni. All in all, our tour of the Palazzo Vecchio was very impressive.
With that our activities in Florence ended and our program dispersed, just in time for the rain to unleash. We trudged to the train station later that afternoon- some of us off to Venice, some to Cinque Terre and some home to Rome!
No comments:
Post a Comment