Sapori e Saperi Adventures

30/08/2024

Autumn in Tuscany - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/bread-cheese-wine-tours-in-italy-6252256

18/08/2024

Last bash of the summer. Over 200 people came to our village for the annual dinner in the piazza.

It always starts with zuppa and ends with cake and a big round of applause for everyone who helped make the summer events so enjoyable 👏👏👏

15/08/2024

All over Italy wherever you go you see tangible signs of the past. Sometimes I feel as if I can hold hands with the people who lived here 1500 years ago. Obviously other people feel the same. Here’s an excursion organised by the Ecomuseum of the Casentino, where we go on our Woad & Wool tour, along with photos I've taken during my 20 years in Italy.

“Excursion to discover the numerous stone signs left by history: the remains of an ancient castle, a blacksmith and also springs, streams, bridges and fascinating stone heads. All along the routes used by transhumant shepherds” [shepherds who moved their flocks from the mountains in the winter to the coast in the summer].

12/08/2024

These are the marsh grasses we're going to learn to weave into baskets during our Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For tour.

If the grasses aren't cut every year, they gradually dye out. This group of volunteers are dedicated to maintaining the grasses and teaching people how to weave the traditional baskets which once contributed to the livelihood of many people living around the Padule di Fucecchio.

11/08/2024

Dinner last night in the piazza
PORCHETTA wreathed in laurels
Grazie to our hunting team 😋😋😋

10/08/2024

Read this week's newsletter to find out more about the NEW Carpets of Sardinia Tour - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/woad-and-wool-in-italy-6250980

07/08/2024

A DINNER NOT TO BE MISSED! PORCHETTA 🐖 presented by our Hunting Team
Booking: Giuseppe ‭+39 366 1222602‬

📍 Casabsciana (Bagni di Lucca)
📆 10 August 2024 at 20.00
📋 Menu
Prosciutto and melon
Penne all'Amatriciana
Porchetta & fries (or roast pork loin)
Fruit salad with cream
Water & wine
€25

03/08/2024

New Tastes & Textiles Tour: Carpet Weavers of Sardinia. Read the newsletter to find out more. - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/woad-and-wool-in-italy-6250464

03/08/2024

I was having an afternoon snack of peaches, mirtilli (wild blueberries) and ricotta while looking at my Facebook feed, and look what came up first from Mirko Tognetti who teaches our gelato course at the Cremeria Opera.

30/07/2024

Isn't it incredible that our tiny mountain village at 600 metres (nearly 2000 feet) is getting a fibre optic network! Well, not quite yet. When I asked this technician whether it would be connected next week, next month or next year, he laughed. 'Next year', came the reply. Still, I always marvel at the high level of services delivered to the mountain regions of Italy.

28/07/2024

The summer festive season begins! Having fun at the hunters' dinner at Casabasciana.

25/07/2024

WATER from the tap. NO transport. NO recycling.
Why doesn't every restaurant in Italy serve this instead of bottled water?
Do you ever think about how many journeys are involved in taking empty bottles to the springs, transporting the full ones out to the warehouse and beyond to supermarkets and restaurants and private consumers? How many kilometres are involved in recycling? The energy needed to make new bottles? TOO MANY AND TOO MUCH.

23/07/2024

MAIALE PESANTE=HEAVY PIG=MATURE PIG with the correct proportion of fat to lean. It's crucial to the texture and flavour of good salumi (cured pork products).🐖

I read today that it's also crucial for making Creon to treat people with pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis. Fat pigs produce more of the enzyme needed to make the drug. The demand for low-fat pork means less enzyme and less Creon. Can't we have fat pigs and eat a bit less? It will taste better and we'll be contributing to patients' quality of life.

Learn about heavy pigs on our salumi courses
📍https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/advanced-salumi-course-tuscany.html
📍https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/advanced-salumi-course-bologna-parma.html

22/07/2024

Boyhood friends Giancarlo and Mario emigrated from Casabasciana to Belgium in 1958 when they were both 14. Like swallows every summer they return to their old homes. Last night they invited the whole village to celebrate their 80th birthdays.
Here's to lasting friendships!

21/07/2024

If you’ve come on our Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool tour, you’ll recognise these looms and the dedicated women who weave on them.

18/07/2024

All craftspeople and people who work with their hands will understand these words:

Knowledge of the Hands
"The knowledge of the hands isn't learned from books, but during the repetitive ritual of movements, which little by little generates an indissoluble symbiosis between the hands and the material." –Giorgio Mesturini 2014

All our tours are designed to sustain and celebrate the 'Knowledge of the Hands', a form of wisdom too often ignored in the present day.

16/07/2024

We're proud of Jeffrey Mitchell's success. He took our Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany in March this year and is already in production 👏👏👏

Culpeper Cheese Shop owner expands into artisan meats following recent culinary education trip to Italy.

14/07/2024

SEASONAL FOOD

Porcini aren't only for autumn. They appear any time when the conditions are right.
🌞 Warm
💦 Wet
💤 No wind
These were foraged two days ago — 12 JULY‼️‼️ — by friends of mine.

07/07/2024

Autumn in Tuscany November 2024 - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/celebsard2404-6248652
Read the newsletter to experience the tour through the photos of our guests in 2023

02/07/2024

Learn to make salumi in Italy and next summer you'll be eating melon with your own prosciutto - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/cheese-courses-in-tuscany-6247408

16/06/2024

06/06/2024

I always hope my tours will encourage you to dig deeper when you travel instead of just skimming the surface. It can be so much more rewarding. Sometimes I succeed. Here's what a guest (who came without her husband) on my Celebrating Sardinia tour just told me:

"So, I think I am going to bring my guy to Italy next spring. Just he and I. My plan is to land in Palermo to explore and then take the ferry to Sardinia and head to Sant Antioco for a bit.

"I have you to thank for opening this door for me and am deeply grateful for the inspiration and ‘push’ you give for your group to really connect.

"I have gotten some serious mouthing off for going back to a place I have just visited! WHY?!? they stammer

"My response: ‘it’s a secret…’😉"

You can connect too with people like cheesemaker-shepherd Matteo on next year's Celebrating Sardinia tour: https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/celebrating-sardinia.html

04/06/2024

If you’re in Lucca or the Garfagnana, this is the festa to attend Sunday 9 June from 4 pm! Good food, music and fun 🎉 And the wonderful Turri family. Ismaele teaches my salumi course. That porchetta will be to die for 😋

🌸🎉 Festa di Inizio Stagione all'Agriturismo Venturo! 🎉🌸

Non prendete impegni per domenica 9 giugno! Vi aspettiamo dalle ore 16.00 nel nostro splendido giardino per una giornata indimenticabile. Ecco cosa abbiamo preparato per voi:

🍕 Pizza deliziosa
🍖 Porchetta succulenta
🔥 Grigliata per tutti i gusti

🎶 Dj set a cura di Noi dell'Armata Funky, per farvi ballare tutta la sera!

🐴 E per i più avventurosi, lezioni gratuite di equitazione al nostro maneggio!

Non perdete l'occasione di trascorrere una domenica diversa, all'insegna del buon cibo, della musica e del divertimento. Invitate amici e famiglia, e venite a celebrare l'inizio della bella stagione con noi!

📍 Agriturismo Venturo
📅 Domenica 9 giugno
🕓 Dalle ore 16.00

Vi aspettiamo numerosi! 🌞✨

01/06/2024

Autumn Tours & Courses in Sardinia and Tuscany 2024 🍁 - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/celebsard2404
Read the newsletter to find out what you can do this autumn

Small group tours in rural Italy for curious travellers and courses with Italian artisans for food professionals and keen amateurs

25/05/2024

New August dates for cheese and gelato courses - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/cheese-gelato-240526

25/05/2024

Early-bird Discount: Woad & Wool Tour in Italy - https://mailchi.mp/sapori-e-saperi.com/woad-and-wool-in-italy-240524

21/05/2024

TASTES & TEXTILES: WOAD & WOOL
The 'tastes' were as good as the 'textiles'. Here's a little of sample of the delicious dishes we were served.

Vegetable tarts with fricandò and salad by Federica Crocetta at Locanda Le Querce
Fresh green pea soup at La bottega di Montemercole
Beans on toast 😂 by Giorgio Montini at Villa Catarsena
Selection of artisan sheep's milk cheeses by Lorenzo Cipriani
Asparagus risotto by Giorgio Montini at Villa Catarsena
Tortelloni with black truffles at Piacere Quotidiano
Mixed seafood antipasto by Francesco at Bottega delle Esperienze

Not counting the food we made ourselves and the Esso station. Watch this spot!

📌 https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/tastes--textiles-woad--wool.html

19/05/2024

A happy afternoon under the portico learning bobbin lace from the delightful women of the Tombolaie di Mercatello sul Metauro. Even if you decide bobbin lace is too fiddly for you, you can't help being charmed by your teachers, who are equally thrilled at the opportunity to share their skills with you.

Another enjoyable experience on our Woad & Wool tour.
Learn more: https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/tastes--textiles-woad--wool.html

16/05/2024

Shopping at Busatti. It's a wonder there's anything left on the shelves!

In need of some shopping therapy? Pack a large suitcase and join us next May on the Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool tour.

Learn more: https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/tastes--textiles-woad--wool.html

15/05/2024

Can't stand the suspense as we open our parcels dyed with woad, calendula, madder and walnut husks!

Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool tour
Learn more: https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/tastes--textiles-woad--wool.html