Villa I Tatti

At the end of the last century when the art historian Bernard Berenson was a young man, he rode out on his bicycle every morning from his Florence pensione, his pockets filled with candles to light the obscure corners of unknown churches all over Tuscany, returning in the dusk to write up discoveries that would one day make him famous. In later, more prosperous years, his charming villa, I TATTI, just outside Florence, became the focal point for all the visiting members of the literary and artistic set. Now it is a Renaissance study centre (visits for ordinary tourists can be arranged through the Italian Tourist Board in Florence) and lucky Harvard University students can freely prowl the formal gardens. And equally freely supply a Renaissance recipe like this one. It is good served with a selection of other Tuscan antipasti such as crostini, prosciutto and olives, or a salad of beans & cheese.