Panther Contrada

Mellowing in Italy - Siena, Saturday 2007 May 12

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May 12th 2007
Cooking lessons again. Today we learned to make Aquacotta soup – literally “cooked water”, once an equivalent of “stone soup”. This version has a tomato base, is cooked for a long time, and is served over stale bread, topped with parmesan. The second dish, beef stew, is similarly an old recipe, originally made by the wives of brick-makers. Tradit ... read more

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Siena

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Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis... ... read more