Written by Istituto Galilei on September 1st, 2010
Pesto is one of the most known Italian pasta sauces, with his great flavour. But not everyone knows that it is very easy to prepare. You can choose to make it with mortar and pestle, as the tradition teachs, or if you have just a few time at your disposal you can just mix all the ingredients with a blender. Here you are the recipe 
INGREDIENTS
- 50 g basil leaves
- 1 small fresh garlic glove
- a pinch of cooking salt
- 1 tablespoon full of pine nuts
- 15 g of grated Italian sheep’s milk cheese
- 15 g of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 4 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare the ingredients
Wash the basil leaves in cold water and put them to drain on a cloth. Clean them cutting out the stalk. Peel the garlic glove.
2. Traditional preparation with mortar and pestle
Put the basil leaves, garlic, cooking salt and pine nuts in the mortar. Crash them slowly with the pestle with circular movements. When the basil is completely crushed, add the cheeses and start to crash again until you’ll get a homogeneous blend. Now add olive oil and keep working the sauce until it becomes smooth and creamy.
3. Preparation with the blender
Put all the ingredients together in a blender and mix them slowly, so the sauce won’t overheat.
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Written by Istituto Galilei on August 6th, 2010
Walking around Florence’s historic centre, you have of course noticed those lions with the Florence lily – there are many just in front of Santa Croce church; these heraldic lions are called Marzocco, and the most famous of them is the one created by Donatello, that you can see at the Bargello Museum.
The strange name comes probably from the word Marte, whose Roman statue had previously been Florence’s emblem. The lion is seated and with one paw supports the coat-of-arms of Florence, the lily. It had such a strong power that the Florentine troopers used to be called marzoccheschi, sons of the Marzocco.
Donatello’s original, sculpted in the fine-grained gray sandstone of Tuscany called pietra serena, has been conserved in the BArgello since 1855.
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Written by Istituto Galilei on July 20th, 2010
The “Cannoli” are probably the most famous Sicilian desserts. Their names is due to the word cannolo, which in Sicilian means “little tube”. Because of the many Italians from Sicily living there, they are very popular also in America.
Our Cannoli are made of a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet filling usually made out of ricotta cheese and chocolate chips or succade; they are produced in various sizes, from the very small ones to the huge ones you can see in the original Sicilian confectioneries.
They were created in the Palermo area, for the period around Carnival (simbolizing fertility); however, now they can be eaten all year-round and are very good in Summertime also because of their freshness.
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Written by Istituto Galilei on June 15th, 2010
Art can be made out of anything; is something that we all learnt from the 20th century artists and painters, who could give life and make art with the strangest materials and objects.
Alberto Burri was an Italian painter, though he didn’t use a brush to create his masterpieces. His art is strongly connected with materialism, and is made out of fire.
He started to paint while internated in a criminal camp during the second world war, using everything he could find in a place like that. He turned into astraction using unorthodox materials, making collages with pumice, tar, and burlap, and started a series of canvases that bulged into the 3rd dimension. The bright colours of his works, all dominated by “scarves” of fire, give a very drammatic feeling to the whatcher.
He also gave an astonishing example of land art, covering the area of a destroyed town (Gibellina, destroyed by the earthquake) with white concrete, calling it Il Grande Cretto.
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Written by Istituto Galilei on June 7th, 2010
Cats seems to be very important when it’s about Italian slangs and colloquial expressions. Probably because they have always been part of life for all the inhabitants of the many small villages which characterize Italy.
The colloquial expression written in the title – Non c’è trippa per gatti – is literally translated as “There’s no tripe for cats”, and it’s used when there is no hope you will get what you want, no matter how much effort you’ll put in it. Its meaning is probably due to the fact that cats would love to eat tripe but humans will never share it with them!
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Written by Istituto Galilei on June 1st, 2010
Summertime: blue skies and blue seaside! Here you are a perfect, fresh, savoury dish made by anchovies, which will suit your summer dinners.
Very easy to prepare, wonderfully tasting. Try to cook this spaghetti yourself…buon appetito!
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 (2 ounce) can anchovy fillets, chopped
- 1 cup fine bread crumbs
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- ground black pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
- Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and anchovies to cook for about 2 minutes; stir constantly.
- Stir in breadcrumbs and turn off heat. Add parsley and black ground pepper; mix together.
- Toss anchovy sauce with hot pasta and sprinkle with cheese; serve.
(Source: Allrecipes)
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Written by Istituto Galilei on May 24th, 2010
With his portraits – defined sometimes as “aristocratic” because of their elegance and refinement – Modigliani is considered one of the most important artists of the XX century. But like for many other artists of his same period, his life was nothing but simple.
Amedeo Modigliani (or Modì, as we also known him) was born in Livorno. His childhood and first youth were characterized by a difficult financiary situation, family problems and bad health. He studied first in Florence and Venice, where he came in contact with drugs and started a dissoluted life, which continued in Paris. Drugs ans alcohol followed him until his death.
His work are easily recognizable for their elongated forms and mask-like faces. He was known to be fast in painting (he could complete a portrait in one or two sits); those who were portraited by him used to say that Modigliani “undressed their souls”. His style was influenced by many artists like Cézanne and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrèc but doesn’t belong to any artistic current. His portraits give a strong sensation to the whatcher, who often feels hipnotized by their empty eyes and long lines.
Modigliani’s work can be found in many important galleries of modern painting.
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Written by Istituto Galilei on May 18th, 2010
This marvellous church in central Florence is considered one of the most important pieces of the Florentine artistic evolution, as it was completed by various artists in a long time. Built upon a first little church called Santa Maria dello Spasmo (of which we can still see the crypt), Santa Trinita (Holy Trinity) was started in a gothic style and was the first Gothic church in Florence (followed by Santa Maria Novella).
The church was gradually enlarged and enriched and finally in 1300 became an Abbey. In 1500 Buontalenti was asked to modify the presbitery and to rebuild the convent. He’s the author of the Mannerist façade and he created the monumental altar (that was removed in 1800). Then, the cloister was commissioned to Alfonso Parigi il vecchio and some parts of it were added in the following centuries.
Santa Trinita is the mother church of the Vallumbrusan Order of monks founded in 1092 by a Florentine nobleman.
The church counts numerous chapels where you will find many masterpieces; are you interested to know everything about them? Go there with one of our experienced art history teachers! The church can be infact included in our art history programs.
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Written by Istituto Galilei on May 14th, 2010
It’s something so beautiful that can happen in Springtime: how many of you have seen a beautiful girl or a handsome boy and it was “amore a prima vista”? That means literally “love at first sight”! Your eyes widen, your heart starts to beat quickly…
but it can happen to girls also when they go shopping…they see a nice dress or a lovely pair of shoes and they literally fall in love with it…so it was “amore a prima vista”, love at first sight!
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Written by Istituto Galilei on May 12th, 2010
The beautiful season is wellcoming us with her colourful and juicy fruits! The following recipe is for a delicious crostata with apricots…try to bake it…and you will have a perfect snack for every spring and summer day!
Filling:
8 Medium Sized Fresh Apricots
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 to 3 Tablespoons Amaretto Liqueur
1 Cup Apricot Jam
Crust:
9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Finely Ground Cornmeal
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Toasted Almonds
Directions:
Cut the apricots in half and remove the pit. You do not need to peel apricots as the skin is very delicate and will blend into the filling. Coarsely chop. In a heavy pan mix the chopped apricots and sugar and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes until the fruit has softened and begun to break down. Add the amaretto liqueur and apricot jam and mix well.
Mix together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until well blended. Add the egg and egg yolk and continue to mix just until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, walnuts, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until the dough comes together.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Take about 3/4 of a cup of the dough mixture and set it aside. Press the remaining dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Spoon the apple mixture into the crust and use a spoon to smooth across the bottom crust. Mix the almonds into the remaining dough, and using your fingers, break up the remaining crust mixture into small pea sized pieces and drop it across the top of the tart. Do not worry that it doesn’t cover completely as it looks more rustic this way!
Bake the tart in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until it is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Source: http://www.italianfoodforever.com/
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