A walk in Siena
A walk in Siena
Are you ready to have a walk around Siena with us? | Coffee break at Morbidi | Lunch at Taverna di San Giuseppe | Photos to make you travel
Are you ready to have a walk around Siena with us?
Yesterday Tommaso and I went to Siena for a LIVE Virtual Tour with @Livguine. We had the chance to share our favourite spots for a coffee or lunch, where to buy unique souvenirs - I think about pottery and lovely prints -, the best view over the countryside and San Domenico church, the back alleys, the breathtaking views of Duomo and Piazza del Campo… but we also talked about bakeries and spices, Palio and museums.
It was lovely to show you around one of my favourite Tuscan towns (or should I say my favourite one?).
If you missed the live tour, you can still watch it here.
Siena is where I went to study at the University. My daily commute by bus would take me from the countryside to Piazza Gramsci, just at the edge of Siena’s historic town centre, where the spectacular silhouette of the Duomo and San Domenico church greeted me each morning before I stepped off the bus to run breathlessly to class. This is exactly the same spot where we began the tour yesterday.
During that time, Siena for me meant stopping by Pizzeria Poppi for a slice of the popular cheese- and prosciutto-stuffed focaccia called ciaccino, the sugar-dusted rice fritters, known as frittelle, from Savelli in Piazza del Campo to celebrate a successful exam, and a coffee before my lessons at Porta Romana.
Here you can enjoy a selection of Tommaso’s photos from yesterday’s walk (and follow him on Instagram for more photos! you can find him as @tommyonweb)
Quick second breakfast
After our live walk with @livguine, it was time for a second breakfast, something I always enjoy when spending some time in a city. It’s a cosy little habit: if I’m in a new city, it gives me time to decide what to do/see/eat next. If instead, I’m in a town I know well, it’s a way to check old favourites, trying something new from their offer. Yesterday we opted for Morbidi.
Gastronomia Morbidi
Via Banchi di Sopra, 75 Tel: +39 0577 280268
Il Morbidi is a gourmet food shop housed over three floors on via Banchi di Sopra. A treasure trove of wonders, this is a great place for purchasing quality food and wines to take home. You can also enjoy a lunch or aperitivo at Morbidi, choosing from their wines, craft beers and cocktails, accompanied by a generous selection of dishes and local products to taste. Il Morbidi offers top quality at the right price, and, if you love England as I do, you’ll be pleased to know that here they make an excellent Pimm’s cocktail.
As it was 11 am, we grabbed a macchiato and we shared a slice of crostata, the typical Italian jam tart. It was crumbly and with a homemade feeling, given by the use of two jams swirled on the crostata: one was tart and fresh, probably a lemon and mint marmalade, and one was a deep burgundy, lovely sour cherry jam.
Lunch
The Siena area is teeming with trattorias and osterias, wine shops, and restaurants offering the best local food tradition: charcuterie boards, cheese and cold cuts, pici pasta, wild boar, and local pork meat products from the Cinta Senese breed. Alongside the unassuming, everyday establishments are many gourmet options dedicated to honouring tradition while creating whimsical, novel dishes.
Yesterday we felt like treating ourselves to a very good meal, so we walked uphill from Piazza del Campo to an early lunch at Taverna di San Giuseppe.
We showed up without a reservation and were so lucky to find a table for two, but if you want to be sure to find a table, book in advance.
Taverna di San Giuseppe
Via Giovanni Duprè, 132 Tel: +39 0577 42286
The Taverna di San Giuseppe is a place for special occasions. Located in the heart of Siena’s historic city centre inside a 12th-century building, the Taverna features large, heavy wood tables, each different from the next. The wine cellar, inside an Etruscan-era home, carved out of tufa, houses more than 600 labels. Here you can also experience a guided tasting of various cheeses, each paired with honey, mostarda, and jams.
If in season, try the pici pasta with wild boar meat and porcini mushrooms, roasted pork livers, wild boar cooked in milk, and ribollita.
We opted for a shared charcuterie board as an appetizer. Along with finocchiona (fennel salami), wild boar sausage, and salami, there was a melt in your mouth crostino with lardo and a drizzle of honey, some cheese from Pienza, and a crostino topped with garlic and parsley breadcrumbs (bread on bread? it totally made sense to me!), topped with an anchovy fillet.
Then we had spaghetti alla chitarra alla carbonara with artichokes (Tommaso), and ravioli stuffed with trippa, with a cheese and saffron sauce, topped with crumbled sausage (me, obviously).
We had some space for dessert, too, so Tommaso went for a classic, a tiramisu, and I had to order a dessert that was screaming my name: gelato fiordilatte (a milk gelato), drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon salt, with a rice flour crumble.
[REMINDER] Let’s meet for a Live Talk and Cook Along
On Sunday, April 10th, we will meet online for one hour of free chats: bring your own drink and something to nibble on, and we will meet at 9 pm CEST - 3 pm EDT - 12 pm PDT. This is an event designed for those who subscribed to Letters from Tuscany. All the details on how to join the event are here.
We’ll also be whipping up a delicious and unexpected chocolate extra virgin olive oil pound cake for Monday morning’s breakfast during the live talk!
When you join our subscription-based newsletter, you are actively contributing to the making of Letters from Tuscany, granting us the time, energy, and resources to research, test and re-test, and photograph the recipes, to write the stories and the interviews, to film the videos that we share here. You are part of why we keep cooking, writing, and sharing, so thank you.
You will have complete access to the whole archive of already published recipes and stories whenever you decide to join us.
Where else you can read me / listen to me
For this week's @foodfmradio @petersyard A Slice of Cheese Podcast, @jlinford celebrates the family of fresh cheeses - the babies of the cheese world. Fresh cheeses are very versatile cheeses, used in both savoury and sweet dishes. I shared my childhood memories of mascarpone and talked Jenny through how to make the best ever tiramisu.
I shared the Tuscan food I can’t live without on Bellissimo Magazine, it is free for Premium Subscribers to Italy Magazine but you can also purchase it outright.