A SUNDAY DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY
about 25 minutes east of florence on the road to pontassieve is a fantastic destination for everything from sunday emergency groceries, to a quick panino or a sit down meal with bistecca alla fiorentina. in fact, la bottega di rosano always packed with customers. the staff is friendly and knowledgable and even sell fresh bread on a sunday, which is a rare treat - no bakeries in the city are open on sundays.
i am a bread monster and could live on bread alone, but tuscany is the only region in italy that makes bread without salt so it is not something i am crazy about. the absence of salt is uncomprehensible to me eventhough i know it has historical significance. in a nutshell: at some point in history the tax on salt was raised by the italian government and the tuscans decided to rebel and stopped putting salt in their bread! however i have to admit that the saltless tuscan bread they sell at rosano is a tasty exception, especially when accompanied by some wild boar sausage and fresh pecorino cheese. and that is exactly what we did last sunday! the bread has a thick crunchy crust with a dense but light core. we continued with artichokes that had been grilled and then marinated in proper tuscan olive oil. since we were having a bistecca fiorentina for our main course we shared a plate of homemade gnocchi served with broccoli and gorgonzola cheese - divine! we also shared an order of artichokes stuffed with pecorino cheese. of course each course was accompanied by fine red wines from different regions of italy! so if you find yourself in forence on a sunny sunday afternoon and you feel like a drive into the eastern countryside, i highly recommend heading towards la bottega di rosano for a snack and a shop up! their small grocery store is well stocked with top quality cheeses, salami, oil, wine, fresh vegetables, pasta and more. your other option is to reserve for lunch and to treat yourself to a bistecca fiorentina!
la bottega di rosano
trattoria e panini
via 1 maggio, 10
rosano, firenze
tel: 055.8303013
posted by kishko at 8:00 AM
4 Comments:
mmm...bistecca alla fiorentina! there's nothing quite like it :)
Wow ... I had no idea about the history behind making bread without salt. Great post!
Apparently, the salt tax story is only one possible explanation for saltless Tuscan bread. Another one is the decision of the Pisans to block the salt trade in the 1100s, driving salt prices sky high.
There are other theories as to the origings of Tuscan saltless bread: one being the standoff between Pisa and Florence in the 1100s when Pisa blocked the salt trade and salt prices rocketed. I think it's great - it really complements salty Tuscan food and a good wood oven baked bread is even more delicious without salt.
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