Simposio’s Florentine cookbook is a collection of authentic Florentine recipes from traditional Florence cuisine framed by the stories of Renaissance Florentines. Men and women, sinners, anachronistically flung in Dante’s Inferno and then celebrated with tasty Florence dishes arranged in thematic menus. Because in their sins lays their genius. Because they teach us to accept who we are and toast to our flaws. Because in their company I’d love to dine.
authentic Florence cuisine in a beautiful Florentine cookbook
ABOUT SIMPOSIO’S FLORENCE CUISINE AND COOKBOOK
Florence’s cuisine is rich, tasty, and varied. This Florentine cookbook aims to make you discover some of the best authentic Florence recipes while experiencing them fully through the eyes of a local, accompanied by stories, characters, and traditions. Whether to cook or discover Florence’s food, this Florentine cookbook will guide you through the flames of Dante’s Inferno and its guests seated at a never-ending banqueting table!
From the intro.
“Welcome to Florence, a city that needs no introduction, just a little framing to contain the endless beauty, history, and food it has given birth to.
My frame will be Renaissance. Rich, beguiling, unforgettable Renaissance.
But forget any do-goodism, forget any idealization, we are cooks, and cooks are earthbound. We handle dirt-covered vegetables; we cut bloody pieces of meat and know where they come from; we use heat and cold, salt and sugar, acid and sour. We know there’s good and bad in everything and everyone. We don’t need sweeteners to understand how the food chain and the world we live in work. We don’t need sanctification, not of ingredients, not of recipes, not of human beings. We welcome the truth. Be it a burned cake or the wrong amount of salt. Mistakes and flaws are part of our daily life. As are our instincts. There’s not much left to do but accept them like we do when throwing away the inedible stone-hard bread or eating the salty soup laughing at our prodigality.
Renaissance was a time of great optimism. Rediscovering the classics and the divinities that were more human than ethereal – and, still, glorious -, liberated those lucky enough to access the reemerging culture. If sin wasn’t the only label for untamable feelings, sensations, and behaviors, perhaps humankind wasn’t destined for eternal atonement. Possibly, suffering was just one of the hues of a broader palette of vibes. Maybe freedom was the canvas to paint on.”
How to approach Simposio’s Florence cookbook – and Florentine cuisine!
My warmest suggestion for approaching this Florentine cookbook is to consider yourself that white canvas, ready to welcome Florence’s cuisine through new stories, new flavors, and new sensations, free, for once, to descend into the underworld of what we are told to be wrong. Character flaws, weaknesses, and mistakes are, even today, identified with sins. What if, on the contrary, they are the nourishing of our unique personalities? What if we need them to grow, to evolve, to do something great out of our existence? Leonardo Da Vinci will guide us through this anachronistic Inferno. Where, guilty of arrogance, I placed my favorite Florentines and their stories. Followed by authentic Florence recipes to celebrate them – and their unapologetic sins – via chopping, whisking, sauteing, baking, and slow cooking.
Get ready to meet lusty Filippo, gluttonous Caterina, greedy Filippo, angry Michelangelo, heretic Girolamo, charmer Lorenzo, and traitor Sandro.
Benvenuti a Firenze.
Claudia
SIMPOSIO: FLORENCE’S CUISINE IN A FLORENTINE COOKBOOK FROM ITALY
The Simposio cookbooks are made in Italy by an Italian author and printed and distributed locally.
The traditional, classic, modern and authentic Florence recipes are researched locally and accompanied by local stories, personal anecdotes, beautiful pictures, and Italian culture and folklore.
READY FOR RENAISSANCE FLORENCE?
TAKE A LOOK INSIDE FLORENCE’S SIMPOSIO
In Simposio’s Florentine cookbook, you’ll find:
- 176 pages
- beautiful food and travel pictures
- 25 authentic Florence recipes from traditional Florentine cuisine
- stories and legends
- painters, sculptors, patrons, queens, preachers
- Italian culture bites
INDEX:
06 Welcome To Florence
08 Cooking Notes
10 A Florentine Playlist
12 Dante Alighieri
16 The New Renaissance
20 Minchiate Fiorentine
28 Leonardo Da Vinci
34 Acquarosa
37 The Lustful
38 Filippo Lippi
42 Sugo Scappato
44 Ossobuco Alla Fiorentina
46 Zucca Al Vino Rosso
49 The Gluttons
50 Caterina De’ Medici
60 Carabaccia
62 Papero Alla Melarancia
66 Schiacciata Fiorentina
71 The Avaricious and Prodigal
72 Filippo Brunelleschi
76 Peposo
78 Fagiolini Alla Fiorentina
80 Schiacciata Or Tiaccia Con L’Uva
85 The Wrath And Sullen
86 Michelangelo
90 Zuppa Di Patate
92 Francesina
96 Pomodori Alla Fiesolana
99 The Heretics
100 Girolamo Savonarola
104 Porrata Bianca
106 Arista Alla Fiorentina
109 The Violent
110 Florentine Games
112 Zuppa Lombarda
114 Uova Alla Fiorentina
118 Calcio Fiorentino
120 Pappa Al Pomodoro
124 Fagioli All’Uccelletto E Salsicce
129 The Panders And Seducers
130 Lorenzo De’ Medici
138 Stracotto Alla Medici
140 Porrata
144 Alchermes Bianco
146 Alchermes Pot
149 The Traitors
150 Sandro Botticelli
156 Crespelle
162 Cavolfiore Alla Fiorentina
164 Budini Di Riso Alla Fiorentina
START YOUR FLORENTINE RINASCIMENTO
Snuggle on the couch, pour yourself a glass of Chianti, light a candle, and put on the cookbook’s playlist: your adventure in Florence’s cuisine and Renaissance is about to begin!
Claudia