This is one of my favorite food shows in Florence. This weekend, February 3-5 at the Fortezza del Basso, over 640 stands on all elements of food and cooking. David Paolini has hand-picked some of Italy’s best.More than just food, there are also speakers and events held off site around town. The show is mostly... Read More » The post Taste- Florence’s Artisan Food Fair appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

I don’t know about you, but since covid I feel like I have been holding my breath. We got through the lockdowns and now we are surviving the overtourism which is understandable. EVERYONE wanted to come back to Italy. I just had my last group of the year and this weekend we went to a... Read More » The post BREATHE appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

I adore cooking and shopping but not the cleaning up. Luckily my husband Andrea, does that part for me. We function as a team. When the heat arrives in summer, less time spent in our tiny kitchen the better. The King of Summer in our house is the Pomodoro. We love the variety. Italians have... Read More » The post Summer Pantry- Non cooking meals Italian style appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

We have had a long wet winter and spring. I recently returned from two weeks in Sicily and was glad I had brought a sweater as well as an umbrella. We actually were pretty lucky to only be rained on one day of touring. But the hills are such a vibrant green and everything is... Read More » The post Celebrating Sicily appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

When you come to visit Italy and are looking for restaurants, people used to read guidebooks and plan their eating and make reservations. Now it’s more often FB or Instagram mentions which make you want to visit a place. When I moved to Italy, there was no internet, just the guidebooks. I tended to ask... Read More » The post Taste Florence- Trattoria Mario appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

When I first started traveling I found a passion for going to markets around the world to understand how people eat, what local specialties are and what’s in season. In 1984, when I moved here, I went to the market often to listen to how people ordered what they wanted, get some recipes and make... Read More » The post The Rebirth of the Website- Back to Business appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

Whenever people mention “Under the Tuscan Sun”, I always think about summer here which can be extreme. This summer is no different, if anything it’s hotter and drier. I grew up in the Bay Area outside of San Francisco. Our summers were also extreme and we didn’t have air conditioning. Now, I am becoming a... Read More » The post Tuscan Summer – The Heat is On appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

It’s been a long haul. Finally am back teaching and running  my culinary weeklong programs!  Great week to start as we had a huge heatwave! I couldn’t do the grilled steak meat at Dario Cecchini’s in Panzano, but we did hit the panino truck he has down the street. It’s been great to finally be... Read More » The post Welcome Back! appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

I seemed to have fallen off the blog, but after my cancer surgery, I needed time to recuperate. The doctor’s told me 4 months. I was a good patient. I listened and didn’t push as I wanted to start Spring off healthy and ready to work. In April, I got my clean bill of health... Read More » The post The Covid Renaissance appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more

Well, this has been a year of doctors, surgery, tests and got the big news the other day. The Big C. I will be having surgery to remove it in a little over a week.The first thing the Doctor said was to drop a few pounds. That never hurts! For several years now, I have... Read More » The post Fork in the Road- Changes appeared first on Divina Cucina ..read more