The famous Florentine Steak - Bistecca alla fiorentina

I would like to write about my favorite dish which is Bistecca alla fiorentina – The Florentine Steak which is also one of the most famous dishes of Tuscan cuisine.
The Florentine steak is a cut of beef combined with the specific preparation. It is a high cut including the bone and it have to be cook over a wood or on the grill if you don’t have another possibility with doneness "blood".

I asked my friend who has finished the culinary school what is the definition of Bistecca alla fiorentina. He explained me that the Florentine Steak is you get from the cut from the loin (which exactly is the part corresponding to the lumbar vertebrae, the middle of the back from the tail) from Chianina or Maremmana beef. In the middle this kind of cut should be the bone in the shape of “T” and for that reason in English this type of meat is called “T-bone”. The steak should have the thread on the one part and the sirloin on the other.

The history of the Florentine steak is so old as the city from which it takes the name. However, its tradition, its fame and its name can be traced from to the celebration of the feast of San Lorenzo and the Medici family. At San Lorenzo’s Day on 10^th August, the city was illuminated with light of bonfires and the habitants used to roast the large quantities of beef. At the celebrations of San Lorenzo’s day were present some English knights and Florentine people offered them the meat roasted over fires. They called it in their language beef steak referring to the type of meat they were eating. From here a translation adapted to the current language created the word bistecca which is used to the present day.

The most important thing is the preparation of the Florentine Steak which is shared often between two or more persons. It should be a piece of meat of 1 or 1,5 kg with thick of 4 fingers without seasoning, fundamental operation to prevent hardening. It is grill 4-5 minutes per side (flipping it only once) and 5-7 minutes vertically standing on its bone so as to make the blood drain out. Traditional accompaniment to Bistecca alla fiornetina are the cannellini bean with olive oil, the salad and grilled potatoes. On the table it should be present the traditional red Chianti vine.

Buon apettito !

Il Porcellino - The mascot of Florence

One of my favorite statues in Florence is Il Porcellino in Italian cinghiale which is the local name for the bronze fountain (without water :) ) of a boar. It is situated in Market of Porcellino .

Il Porcellino was sculpted by Pietro Tacca – the Baroque master in 1634. The original was found in Rome and removed to Florence in the 16^th century by Medici Family. Originally the bronze boar was intended for the Boboli Garden and it was associated with the Greek mith of something strong and talisman. It is one of the most popular features for tourists. There you can also eat the best Lampredotto in whole Florence in company of Porcellino. The present statue is a modern copy, cast in 1998 by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry and replaced in 2008, while Tacca's bronze is sheltered in the new Museo Bardini in Palazzo Mozzi.

Visitors should to put a coin into the boar’s jaws with the intent to let it fall through the underlying grating for good luck, and they rub the boar's snout to ensure a return to Florence.

So when you will visit Florence you have to also say “Hi!” to this nice boar called Il Porcellino.

Inferno in Florence – Visit the Florence along Dan Brown’s book.

Inferno in Florence – Visit the Florence along Dan Brown’s book.

"If you know where to look, Florence is paradise." Dan Brown

Some days ago, exactly in the mid of May Ron Howard the director of “Inferno” – the third part of the best seller written by Dan Brow has stared with shooting the first scenes of this book. It was a big event for all habitants in Florence. The biggest interest has created Tom Hanks.

 

 

 

This book offers an interesting key to visit this city. Through the investigations of professor Robert Langdon about Botticelli’s “map of inferno” you can get to know this town very well. With Inferno, you'll delve into the mysteries of ancient Italy, Florence's medieval past during the times of Dante and of the Renaissance. If you enjoyed the previous books of this writer you will enjoy also this part.

Reading this book and soon watching the film based on it  you will get to know for example Porta Romana there starts the adventure of Robert Langdon. This monument belongs to the ancient walls of Florence, dating back to the 14th century, and it is the largest and best preserved gate of the city. This entrance still has the original iron doors and a marble slab with the Medici coat of arms. Today around the Porta Romana are placed restaurants, bars and beautiful park called Cascine.

 

 

The professor Langdon crossed also the Boboli Gardens which I have described previously. The Boboli Gardens, along with the Pitti Palace, is the most noble area of the Oltrarno, the left bank of the Arno river.

The Vasari Corridor is also the important place for the main protagonist. In Italian Corridoio Vasariano is an elevated enclosed passageway in Florence which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, it then joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing the Lungarno and then following the north bank of the River Arno until it crosses the Ponte Vecchio. The corridor covers up part of the façade of the church of Santa Felicità. The Vasari Corridor then snakes its way over rows of houses in the Oltrarno district, becoming narrower, to finally join the Palazzo Pitti. Most of it is closed to visitors.

 

Professor Langdon reached to the Palazzo Vecchio in search of additional clues, visiting the hall, then Francesco I's "studiolo" off to one side of the hall and then the stupendous Hall of Maps on the 2nd floor.

 

The protagonist follow also the street of of Dante Alighieri. He presents us the Via della Ninna when he dash into Piazza della Signoria and off into the streets that most retain their medieval aspect in Florence. This is where the Casa di Dante, or Dante's House, is located as well as the church where his muse, Beatrice Portinari, is buried.

 

So as you can read there are many places to get to know. So I would like to invite you to read or watch the movie – I will do it! If you are planning your holidays in Italy or Florence you can follow the footsteps of Robert Langdon – he has visit the Florence in few hours. Now in that city are organized many tourist tours during which you can see the exactly way of the main protagonist of the “Inferno”.