renaissance the wealthier people would have meat. whereas the poorer people basically just had beans, some kind of soup and some bread and that was it. i have to say, we use what we have. it says something about the character of the tuscany people. we have tuscan bread without salt. i know, i remember when i was a kid and we came here and we tasted the bread and i was like, this is terrible, this is the worst thing i ve ever had in my life. we never got used to it. seeing these basic ingredients here in the city market is one thing but the only way to truly understand tuscan poor food is to get out of the city and go deep into the endlessly beautiful countryside. isn t that kind of amazing when you look around, is that, i mean, you really don t see a contemporary building for miles. look at that. i m following the river arno, 50 miles south of florence, to a
even if there are still 130 or so defunct ones around the city. these little wine windows don t exist anywhere outside of tuscany, another example of renaissance genius. there are too many of them. yeah. and then, completely by chance, we come across another. but the sign would be from when? that sign. the little doors of paradise. paradise, yeah. hi, hi, there you are again. hi, how are you?
big-hearted city by the sea. tucci: oh yeah, nice. .drew people from across europe and beyond. in the town center, is a tiny place called torteria da gagarin. it opened in 1959 and sells just one thing. known as the cake , it s a pancake made from chickpea flour. the torteria is a local institution, serving up the cake in, what else, a huge hunk of bread. tucci: this is good, i like this. it s absolutely delicious. and he says that he makes it
that s the most convincing. [laughs] for me panzanella is one of the greatest dishes of tuscan poor food. giving brittle old bread new life by using fresh tomatoes to create a surprisingly refreshing salad. knowing my love of food and art, daniela has invited me to a festival this evening. a very fancy festival. the one thing that everybody has in common is the food. yeah. this event is about as far as you can get from the wheat threshing festival. here florence s richest and most powerful families have gathered, as they have for centuries, to toast the city s new creative talent from chefs and musicians, to artists hoping to follow in the footsteps of da vinci and michelangelo. you are right now in a situation where, more or less 500 years ago, the medici would have done something like this.
the city is the capital of tuscany. 500 years ago, it was the playground of some of the richest families on earth. in the countryside, they used their land to cultivate the finest produce and cattle. in the city, they bank rolled the incredible explosion of art, science, and architecture known as the renaissance i love that just about everywhere you turn, there is something incredible to see. the chance to actually live among these treasures, even for just a year, lured a young family from suburban new york to florence nearly 50 years ago. it seems that no matter where you are, you can always see that my family. meet joan and stan tucci. i have a photograph of this. you remember? back in 1972 we moved here because my dad was a high school art teacher taking a year off to follow his dream.