The aztecs called it Xocolatl, or "the nectar of the Gods".

Just as the Swedish naturalist Charles Linneaus in 1775 recognised the unique characteristics of the cocoa plant, which he called Teobroma, a Greek term which means "Food of the Gods", today we call it Amedei.

The siblings Alessio and Cecilia Tesseri, with the help of their family, including their grandmother, Signora Amedei, to whom the business is dedicated – created the perfect chocolate! A true delight for the tastebuds which has permitted the business to garner international attention. The combination of passion, ability and continual research has made it possibile for Amedei to be a unique entity. Besides being the first business to have a woman maître chocolatier, it is the only Italian boutique to have complete control of the production process from the cocoa bean to the final product.

The company won the Oscar for the best chocolate "from bean to bar". It is also the only business to make chocolate by using cocoa beans from the most prized plantations in the world. Alessio has been to Madagascar, hard to reach places in Venezuela, Jamaica, Ecuador, Trinidad and Grenada in search of the perfect cocoa bean.

The results of Alessio’s work and of Cecilia’s determination to only settle for perfection, have made Amedei a designer brand in the world of the chocolatier. At Christmas, why not give chocolate worthy of an Oscar with the Amedei label?

Information:

Amedei Srl, via San Gervasio, 29
56020 La Rotta (Pontedera) PISA
Tel: +39 0587-484849; Fax +39 0587-483208
www.amedei.it
amedei@amedei.it

It is as pleasant to talk with Federica Bosco as it is to read her books, which have garnered popular and critical acclaim both in Italy and abroad. This exhilarating Florentine writer, who is in love with the States, is an author of four novels published by Newton & Compton.

The novels belong to a literary genre that is becoming ever more popular in the world. They have been translated into eight languages and more than 300,000 copies have been sold. To the titles "Mi piaci da morire" (which will become a fiilm), "L’amore non fa per me", "Cercasi amore disperatamente", she has now added "L’amore mi perseguita", which completes the trilogy of Monica, the protagonist’s adventures. We immerse ourselves in her characters, we imagine and visualize scenes thanks to the evocative way in which stories are written.

I would define her writing "cinematographic" - so much so that it is not surprising that Enrico Vanzina from "Mi piaci da morire" wants to make her work into a film. She, a Florentine Carrie Bradshaw (the protagonist from Sex & the City), is more than a niece of Bridget Jones, as some have wanted to define her.

Federica is a thirtysomething year old. For the year that she has been living in Bagno a Ripoli, outside Florence and in Rome, where she took a drama course, she has not been single.

She was a tourist entertainer, "a citizen of the world", and she is passionate about yoga and a vegan. Unlike Monica and her bizarre sentimental adventure stories, Federica surprised herself when she found her own Prince Charming. This leads us to wonder, how would Monica-Federica respond to the question that appears on the cover of "L’amore mi perseguita?" (in bookstores from the 6th of November), that asks: "is there really one great love or is it only a publicity stunt"?

We can find this out by asking her the question at the book presentation which will take place in Florence on Thursday the 4th of December at 21.30 at the Feltrinelli bookstore in via de’ Cerretani, 30/32r.

If as a child I had known about Oriana Fallaci, to the question “what would you like to do when you grow up?”, I would have answered “I want to be Oriana Fallaci”.

I always admired her way of exaggerating, her extreme self-assuredness which allowed her to say what she thought, even when she was sometimes arrogant and provocative because she was full of “anger and pride”.

Right after the attack on the world trade center, she wanted to scream about her feelings of anger and pride to the entire world and the majority of us wanted to follow her lead. On September 11th 2001, a part of Oriana died.

Five years later, during the same month and almost on the same day, perhaps because of destiny, on the night between the 14th and the 15th of September 2006, Oriana left us, having succumbed to the Alien, as she used to call the kind of cancer that she suffered from in those years.

After the publication of Insciallah in 1990, the Tuscan writer went to live in New York. Here she began to write a novel that she would continue to work on throughout the ‘90s until September 11th 2001.

This was her last novel, published posthumously by her nephew Edward: “A Hat Full of Cherries” (Rizzoli, July 30th 2008) “A circular structure” makes her life similar to her last novel: both start off in Tuscany and return there in the end.

She was born in Florence on the 29th of June 1929 and chose to return to Florence to die, 77 years later.

Her novel starts in a small town in Chianti, Panzano, and ends in Tuscany. It is an extraordinary family epic that covers the years 1773 through 1889, with forays into the past and a future that leads up to the bombing of Florence in 1944 "True literature as she desired, what it would have finally been possible to declare without any hesitation about her, was ‘Oriana Fallaci, profession, writer”.

Upon arriving in the United States and after ingesting the famous American donuts during the first days there, one then feels the need to sit in an Italian restaurant that provides refreshment not only for those Italians on vacation who are looking for cooking from home, but also and especially for Americans, many of them VIPs.

In Miami, in fact, it is quite possible to imagine eating in a restaurant and realize that at the next table is Ricky Martin, or rather Shaquille O’Neal or Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez or many other stars (even Italian ones) who have chosen to live in Miami.

This world is well-known to Maurizio Farinelli, who has been living and working in Miami since 1991 and has been working in the restaurant business since he was a young man. “In our restaurants - la Trattoria Sole, Blu la Pizzeria del Sole in South Miami and Blu Pizza e Cucina in the Mary Brickell Village, that make up the Blù Restaurants Group- we have served many famous people”, Farinelli tells us.

“The main reason for our success is, without a doubt, the excellent cuisine managed by Riccardo Tognozzi, our Tuscan Executive Chef from Arezzo along with our moderate prices in comparison to other Miami restaurants.

“Where eating becomes a passion” isn’t only our slogan, it’s a promise: a promise to delight our guests with fresh, quality Italian products in a menu that caters to all tastes, that goes from more sophisticated dishes to our fabulous brick-oven pizzas, all in an atmosphere that is casual-chic!”.

Moreover, in this true flavour boutique you can’t miss the collection of international wines; rich and excellent Italian labels where the Tuscan wines stand out for importance and variety. And it is Chianti that is, in fact, the leading player in several of Riccardo Tognozzi’s specialties, and more precisely in his stew made with Brunello di Montalcino and porcini mushrooms. Tuscan delicacies in the shade of Miami palm trees, everything is possible! 

Information:

Blù Restaurants Group
7201 SW 59th Avenue
South Miami FL 33 143

www.blurestaurantsgroup.com

Here the dream resembles a luxury building, whose roots were laid down in the distant 1200s as the old home of the Olivetan monks, and enchanting nature consisting of woods, olive groves, fields of grain and vegetables grown according to the rules of organic farming.

We are in the Tuscan “Chiantishire”, in the heart of the Val d’Orcia, in the province of Siena, a hair’s breadth away from two of Italy’s jewels, Pienza and Montepulciano. Locanda Vesuna is a leading name here, called after the Etruscan deity who protected the harvest and fertility.

Locanda Vesuna is the dream-come-true of a man, Marco Columbro, and his partner, Stefania Santini, who completed the architectural restoration of the old house according to modern, sustainable building criteria, equipping it with a completely shielded electrical system to avoid any electromagnetic pollution.

The ancient stones of the farmhouse, on which shell fossils emerge here and there, with the cascades of flowers and herbs and the sounds of nature in the background allow you to experience an emotional connection with nature.

This is the perfect place to meditate, to indulge yourself immersed in the jacuzzi situated in the wonderful grounds in front of a breathtaking view of the Val d’Orcia, to dive into the elegant swimming pool that is free from chloride and purified with oxygen alone, to relax in the comfortable suites equipped with all comforts, and even to celebrate your wedding with the good omen of the goddess of fertility.

And there’s more… to delight the palate in a healthy and natural way thanks to Monica’s excellent cooking who manages this corner of paradise with Gian Piero, providing you with undivided attention and goodwill. In this magical atmosphere enveloped with a lavender-scented silence, it is easy to rediscoverthe slow rhythm of time, while going home proves much more difficult.

Informations:

Locanda Vesuna
Podere Pecorile
Località St. Ambrogio - 53020 Trequanda (SI) - Italy
www.locandavesuna.com
email: locandavesuna@virgilio.it
tel/fax + 39 0577 665318/19

Chef Riccardo Messora delights many palates in Melbourne, Australia. Chef Messora originally came from the Livono doc, but he lived in Scarlino, a hillside village in the Grosseto area, on the Gulf of Follonica.

Italian cooking is very popular in Melbourne - Riccardo tells usbecause of the high number of Italians who live there (it is the Australian city with the largest Italian community: of approximately 3,800,000 inhabitants, a good 600,000 are Italian) and any restaurant of any ethnic background has at least one or more Italian dishes on the menu!

When Riccardo speaks, he does not have any Tuscan accent, but rather an Anglo-Saxon accent. This makes us realize that several years have gone by since, after having attended the hotel management school in Clusone in the Bergamo region, he decided to move to London. Herehe spent 8 years, working for important private restaurants and clubs such as Harry’s Bar, Criterion, Escargot and Drones. He then decided to move to Australia where he has been living and working for the past 4 years.

Enoteca Sileno, located in the Lygon Street Italian district is where Riccardo prepares its delicious Tuscan dishes, as ricotta and tuscan black cabbage gnocchi with wild boar ragu’ maremma style.

“The wine cellar and its restaurant, wine bar and showroom are a real institution in Melbourne, besides being one of the main companies in the importation of wines and Italian food products,” says Riccardo. Events, tasting, Italian cooking lessons, often in collaboration with the renowned Australian cooking school William Angliss are held at the Enoteca.

This school, as Pauline Dine, spokesman for William Angliss, states, has formed a strong partnership with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne, working on various projects and promoting exchange programs for students and teachers in order to foster Italian culture and its philosophy.

Contacts
Enoteca Sileno
www.enoteca.com.au

William Angliss
http://www.angliss.vic.edu.au/

In the province of Arezzo, in the locality of Sansepolcro, Palmiro Bruschi, aka the King of Ice-Cream, lives and works!

Intelligence, talent, imagination and much passion for his work caused Bruschi to be awarded with the title of Italian Ice-Cream Champion in 1994, to become a member of the Academy of Italian Ice-Cream Making in 1997, as well as the World Ambassador for Italian Ice-Cream in 2004.

He appears in many Italian television programmes and has also participated in important national and international events as a mouthpiece for the art of Italian ice-cream making.
The presence of the master at the Renaissance dinner that occurred at the “Italy in Japan 2001” festival was particularly important, which took place at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in the presence of both Japanese and Italian authorities. He has also participated at the “Bella Italia” and “Italian Style” shows in Melbourne, Perth, Nice, the Canary Islands, Rottemburg, Miami, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Atlanta, Washington DC, New  York, Moscow, Sao Paulo in Brazil and Dubai.

We can see him as a walk-on in Pieraccioni’s “Mia Moglie è Bellissima”, which was mainly filmed in Anghiari (a small town close to Sansepolcro), to then proudly return to his modern laboratory where not only classic flavours, but also the more unsophisticated flavours of the Tuscan land come to life in his creations.

Vin Santo, Brunello di Montalcino, truffle, spelt, and extra-virgin olive oil ice-creams are just a few examples of his workmanship.

However, a nod to history could not be overlooked by a Tuscan master: the Cremolata dedicated to Piero della Francesca, the great Medieval artist who came from Sansepolcro, in homage to the town, was presented for his anniversary.

Information:

The Ghignoni ice-cream shop, a real ice-cream museum, is situated in via Tiberina Sud, 860, Sansepolcro
www.ghignoni.it and www.gelatoegelato.it

From the character to the individual, from laugher to reflection. This is the new Panariello. He is no longer the Tuscan performer who we have known for so many years who is capable of entertaining us for hours and hours during his show.

Now he is also engaged in the struggle for the defense of animals. This is certainly not because his activities would make us talk more about him. Giorgio does not need this kind of attention.

He is busy with his show “Del mio meglio live” which is part of the summer competition that began on the 14th of July last year in the Verona Arena, and included performances in Modena, Taormina, Palermo, Lecce, Cagliari, and Florence on the 4th and 5^th of September.

A cocktail that combines theatre, culture and solidarity in which there are alternating monologues between his most successful characters and moments of bitter reflection when there is talk of abandoned or badly treated animals.

Panariello started his noble project as an ambassador of the association “La squadra per gli Animali” that brings together Enpa, LAV, and the Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane e Animalisti Italiani, the biggest national associations of animalists who have joined together to defend animals in difficulty.


The project has taken off thanks to the important contribution received In June on the occasion of the 39th edition of the Baroque Prize awarded by LucianoVinella, a well known entrepreneur from Puglia.

Its success also follows donations made during the summer championship and profits from Panariello’s book.Panariello’s “Non ti lascerò mai solo”, edited by Mondadori, is in bookstores from the 4th of October - which is also the festival of San Francesco, the patron ofanimals. Francesco is also the protagonist of a story about the relationship between a man and a dog.
Panariello, like the protagonist of this novel, has had his lifechanged for the better by his two dogs, Crusca and Zeus. 

Information on the web:
www.giorgiopanariello.it
www.lasquadraperglianimali.it