Farm experiences

Recipe for Chicken Mars style: the red planet on your plate

Midsummernight dream. The dish created by Antonio Corsano, chef at Fattoria del Colle, for Calici di Stelle 2012. Foto and text by Bonella Ciacci

Chicken mars Style from the chef Antonio Corsano at Fattoria del Colle

The dinner organized for the wine event that takes place on the 10th of august was completely dedicated to the stars and included dishes which reproposed old traditions or simbolic ingredients of mid summer rites. The chicken Mars style was inspird by the red planet in its colours and tastes, a balance between sweet and spicy. It is however an unpublished recipe which exalts the Tuscan products such as saffron, Vin Santo and extra virgin olive oil. Once again tradition originates a new dish which is apt for gluttons who are are attentive towards the news food trends.

When a present becomes a treasure and a story

Here’s how a towel becomes a unique present, able to tell a story hundreds of years old and to make a bathroom extremely elegant

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

ToscanaLovers-Siena-towels-Damas-pattern

Magic? Not at all, we are in the boutique for Tuscan handicraft, where we can find what we need. The shop is in Siena, in the centre of the Palio city, and is called Toscana Lovers.  One finds ceramics, cutlery, shawls, embroidered sheets…. and many other objects of great tradition made nearly entirely by hand.

We would like a towel, but not any old towel but something that will remember us to someone dear it and give a touch of class to their bathroom.  So here is something unique: these towels are in lines or cotton, made by the wooden looms built in Anghiari two centuries ago during the Napoleonic occupation and still today functional. It is these centenary machines that give the cloth a particular softness, and then of course the designs that recall those visible in Sienese paintings from Medieval times onwards, there is even a towel with the typical rhombus from Pienza and the fringes which recall the one portrayed in the  Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna  (1308-11).

Not only rice for a wedding in a farmhouse in Tuscany

At Fattoria del Colle – country inn in Tuscany – wedding couples from al lover the world and of different religions often choose

Wedding_ fattoria_del_Colle_horn_of_plenty_with_rice

small hearts or bubbles as a wedding wish

At Fattoria del Colle every wedding is different. The location changes as does that of the banquet, the entrees and the cutting of the cake are also different…in other words every couple has a unique experience planned carefully in every detail. Wedding couples of every nationality and religion have different habits and traditions, so the usual throwing of rice after the ceremony becomes something else.

First of all, on the contrary to what happens inItaly, foreign wedding couples come

Wedding_in_Tuscany_Fattoria_del_Colle

out before everyone else form where the marriage has taken place and then they stop to greet relatives.

The moment the couple exits is solemn and usually underlined just like and maybe more than their entrance. For the photographs this is perfect!

It is consequently necessary to organize a space where to stop with a doorway or a staircase for the bouquet throwing.

Peposo, in a recipe the story of the heart of Tuscany

This is one of the tastiest and easiest meat dishes in Tuscany, but it is also one with a beautiful story. This is the recipe belonging to the  “cocciari” in Petroio   [caption id="attachment_7579" align="alignleft" width="300"] Peposo-Tuscan-recipe-Fattoria-Del-Colle[/caption] Delicious advice from Donatella Cinelli Colombini Petroio (Siena), a special little hamlet  10 km from Fattoria del Colle, and is well known for its production of terracotta objects from Renaissance times. Vases, jars. flower boxes, ...

Christmas cake: the biscuits called cavallucci of Siena

These are Christmas cakes with an aniseed aroma and when they are just made they are deliciously soft and when they get hard loved by grandmas and hated by kids

Cavallucci_Christmas cake of Siena

All Sienese remember the cavallucci cakes being kept for months in glass jars until they became hard as rocks and where usually offered by grandmas for the afternoon snack. A nightmare which in the end kept this delicious cake from Christmas tables. The secret was to make few of them and eat them straight away. They are extraordinarily delicious, especially if matched with ricotta or whipped cream but please don’t keep them for months in glass jars!
Here below you find the recipe belonging to Patrizia Cenni patisseur at Fattoria del Colle, who every morning serves guests wonderful home baked cakes according to local tradition.

Read the recipe below!

Italian recipe: gnocchi di semolino with white truffle

The chef at Fattoria del Colle, Antonio Corsano, prepares for us some “Gnocchi di semolino with white truffle of Crete Senesi” ideal for winter days [caption id="attachment_7407" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Gnocchi di semolino_restaurant_Fattoria del Colle"][/caption] We suggest a recipe which is simple and quick: gnocchi di semolino. These are disks of Durum wheat or, depending on the occasion they can be shaped differently. They can also be called "gnocchi alla romana", and in fact it is not a typically Tuscan dish but where we are, in southern Tuscany, it has now become a traditional dish coke during cold winter evenings. Already in the late 19th century...

Christmas cake: recipe for panforte Margherita of Siena

The Sienese traditional Christmas cake is panforte in the sexy version called “panpepato” and in the version created for the Queen Margherita and I’ll give you the recipe

Panforte-Margherita-by-Fattoria-Del-Colle

Many many years ago in Siena they used to say that the panforte “panpepato” << united families >> because of its aphrodisiacal virtues that made the critical moments in marriages something of the past. True or untrue this characteristic of the panforte also caused some high level problems. It seems in fact that when Queen Margherita di Savoia came to visit the Palio city, her visit was anticipated by an inspection by her chamberlain who also had the job of choosing the dishes for the “royal palate”. When he came to learn about the aphrodisiac virtues of the panpepato he immediately excluded it from the menu and the Sienese population, most contrite when they heard that their most famous and delicious cake was being disdained, decided to make a version more “chaste” version” that was christened panforte Margherita in honour of the queen.

At Fattoria del Colle the panforte is prepared by the pateisseur and served straight away during the Christmas holidays and most of all during the New Years Eve dinner.

Read the recipe below!

A villa in Tuscany for your holidays in the countryside

To experience Cinderella’s dream, Fattoria del Colle – country inn in Tuscany – presents its villa

Fattoria del Colle - San Clemente - living room

Cenerentola (Cinderella) is the name of an old stone farmhouse on a hill surrounded by vineyards and looking over the spectacular panoramas of the Crete Senesi and of the Val d’ Orcia. The lodging is on the first floor and is divided into two apartments united by a small lodge: San Clemente and Sanchimento can be used divided or together if require by a large group. In total there are five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two sitting rooms with cooking area and a large fireplace.

Italian extra virgin olive oil from Trequanda is a super-oil

The Trequanda area, where Fattoria del Colle is found, has always been renowned for its exceptional extra-virgin olive oil and the 2012 produce is very good

Olives 2012 Fattoria Del Colle

Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The quality of the oil depends 50% from the soil and microclimate of the olive grove, a mix of permanent elements such as ex position to the sun and some variable elements such as amount of rainfall and temperatures. Connected to the production area is also the presence of the malevolent oleic fly, who lays its eggs inside the olives in so ruining the quality, or obligating the farmers to use pesticides. Trequanda does not have this problem; its olives are sound by nature because the fly does not arrive as far as this region 404 metres above sea level 25% of the quality of the oil come s from the “cultivar” (variety of the olive trees) and from the cultivation, in other words choices made by the farmers. It is very important when and how the olives are picked, and that they be transported to the mill the same day that they are picked without being squashed.

Real and virtual Christmas shopping at Toscana Lovers

The best Tuscan handicraft boutique in the centre of Siena “Toscana Lovers” has a new web site and many new hands made objects on sale

ToscanaLovers_Christmas shopping

Would you like to buy an exclusive present such as a collector’s knife created by the knife makers in Scarperia, or a hand woven tablecloth decorated with Renaissance designs, but also soap obtained through the use of bronze mould and aromatized with iris and violet…….you can do it from your home! Important objects and the classical small gifts as Christmas presents.

In the new “Toscana lovers” web site there are 180 sheets with detailed descriptions regarding every object.
The buzz you get from shopping in a real shop is in fact stronger, but even in the virtual shop.

There is practically everything that Carlo Gardini (my husband) and Chiara Nesi have found during the three years of research among the best Tuscan handicraft laboratories.
Starting from the life style dinner service with its shake rims and relief decorations for a royal welcoming, to the towels with honeycomb design with hemstitch finishing that make them resembles those from our grandmother’s bottom drawer, including pepper

Would you like to relax? Come to Fattoria del Colle in Tuscany

Regenerate with massages, Jacuzzi tub with a view, great wines, and traditional recipes for a candlelit dinner….at Fattoria del Colle for the wellness weekend

Relaxation room Fattoria Del Colle

In the wellness centre at Fattoria del Colle the massage rooms are ready. The cabin is intimate, but comfortable and re-proposes the exclusive character of the whole structure with its stone walls, designs with floral tiles, windows with a breathtaking view….The futon for the shiatsu massages is in the warm shady area of the relaxation room.

Carry out the experience made up of water, warmth, panoramas and if you want a toast with great wines in the Jacuzzi.
These are our massages beginning with an experience composed of massages, regenerating essences and aromatherapy <<la natura ti fa bella>> Nature makes you beautiful created especially for our guests.

La natura ti fa bella -shower with essential oils, such as rosemary which gives elasticity and invigorates the skin, followed by a face and body treatment with olive oil, with its antioxidant and nourishing effect, finally, with 4 essences from the Tuscan countryside, a draining massage, purifying, calming and soothing. This treatment is particularly apt for those who require a relaxing approach for wellness. Lasts 2 hours € 180

Face Mousse with poliphenols from grapes to rejuvenate and give back elasticity to the face. Lasts 40 minutes € 70.

Handicraft “collectors knives” because they are works of art

Toscana Lovers, the boutique with the best Tuscan handicraft in the heart of Siena, presents is collectors’ knives from Scarperia, the village of cutting blades [caption id="attachment_7456" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="ToscanaLovers_Siena_handicraft knives_Saladini"][/caption] Scarperia, like Toledo and Sheffield, is one of the oldest places for prestigious blade productions. Still today they are made in the shops by master knife-makers. Among them is Saladini who produces exclusive objects of great tradition but with new and refined styles. The starting point is the traditional shapes, to which are applied up to the minute technology and a refined design. So laser work helps achieve a perfect cut of...