Uccelletto means "small bird" and cooking fagioli this way is in the same manner that small birds are sometimes prepared. These are simply the best way to enjoy beans, in my opinion. Of course, everyone knows that we here in Tuscany love our beans. We really do, and we've come up with some great ways to cook them. This one is my favorite, and I think you will like it as much as I do.

• 1 pound dried white Tuscan beans
  
  
• 1 pound peeled tomatoes
  
  
• 4 medium cloves of garlic
  
  
• Extra Virgin Tuscan Olive Oil
  
  
• 1 small sprig of fresh sage
  
  
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

If you can find fresh white beans outside of Italy, do use them. But for dry beans, follow any cookbook method for soaking and cooking. I usually cover mine overnight in water, in a pan with a lid. Drain, refresh the water, add salt and cook for about 2 hours over medium heat. Drain.

Sauté the garlic in a generous amount of olive oil until it is golden brown. Many cooks remove the garlic cloves, but I like the flavor and leave mine in the pan. Add the beans, tomatoes, sage, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the sauce is thickened and reduced. Delicious!

Regular readers know by now that I am a devotee of any and all books with Tuscany as a part or the whole of their subject. I love cookbooks, novels, memoirs and travel books that have a Tuscan focus. I admit a special penchant for Tuscany guide books, and I have more than I can count. Sometimes a new addition to my collection is just something that takes up space. Florence: Art/Shop/Eat by Paul Blanchard is tiny, and claims very little shelf space, but it contains a huge amount of erudite and informative insights into the art of Florence. It is also full of succinct but terrific suggestions for shopping and eating in our beautiful city.

On the shelf at my bookstore, this little volume was totally unprepossessing. Its color was an odd avocado; its graphic were an even odder mix of classical and graphic art, featuring the head of Botticelli's Venus framed by some smears in a very strange shade of green. I placed on my "to consider" pile, and, frankly, I'm not sure how it got from a consideration to a possession. I am, however, glad that it made that transition, for I have enjoyed it immensely.

What I enjoy most about this book is its sections on the art of Florence's museums and churches. The background and explanations are remarkably clear and intelligent. I've read, literally, dozens of descriptions of Florence's art treasures, and I have learned more from Blanchard's little book than I've ever gleaned from any other guide. He is a terrific writer and a wonderful art historian. If he were to lead tours through our museums, he would be as popular as Chartres' Malcolm Miller.

The book's insides far surpass its outsides. Each major museum or church has a very clear schematic, and other attractions are explained and illustrated in a helpful manner. Art is featured in the title in bold print, and Florence's commercial gallery get attention here, also. These listing are sorely lacking in most guidebooks, and I was thrilled to find them here.

Blanchard's book is divided into sections that focus on the neighborhoods of major attractions. Good lists of restaurants are provided for each area, and shopping sections follow suit, but go a bit further in that they are broken into types: antiques, shoes, children's clothing, bookstores, etc. Restaurant listing are brief, but they all contain phone numbers and hours.

If you are packing light, and who isn't these days, consider Paul Blanchard's Art/Shop/Eat Florence. It has nearly all you need to navigate the city, and it can be carried in a small purse or coat pocket. I plan on taking it out with me often.

When the laws designed to protect our wines were passed in 1968, things really began to change. Wine production had been high in Tuscany, but methods were slap-dash, and very little thought went into producing high quality wines. But the law passed, and Chianti, made of Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes) was the first Italian wine to be granted a Designation of Origin.

Then, as things began to change, wise producers made courageous moves, experimenting with methods and vines. Vineyards were soon transformed. There was a greater density of plants, but a lower yield per vine-stock. Fertilizing methods changed, and even the architecture of the wine cellars changed. Production dropped drastically (from nearly 5 million hectoliters in 1983 to almost 3 million in 1999), but the wine produced was much better.

Additionally, in the quarter century that followed the original DOC award, the area covered by vineyard in Tuscany dropped to nearly half of what it had previously been. But the new wines were here, and they were more popular and more successful than anyone had dreamed. Wine cellar techniques had evolved into a science, and the lesser output has only meant success.

Today, there are six DOCG wines in Tuscany, and 34 DOC wines. We present a list of the latter.

A List of the DOC Wines of Tuscany 

ANSONICA COSTA DELL'ARGENTARIO
A delicious white wine of a straw color

BARCO REALE DI CARMIGNANO
This DOC, which was awarded in 1994, includes several wines: a red; Carmignano rosé ; dry, sweet and vintage Vin Santo; and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice.

BIANCO DELLA VALDINIEVOLE
This is a dry white with a strong perfume. It is best served with antipasti, soups, and fish.

BIANCO DELL'EMPOLESE
Also good with fish, this is a straw-yellow that is dry and delicate.

BIANCO DI PITIGLIANO
With a slight bitterish taste, this dry and delicate white is also best with antipasti, soup and fish.

BIANCO PISANO DI SAN TORPE
A perfumed and dry white wine of straw-yellow color.

BOLGHERI AND SOTTOZONA SASSICAIA
Almost all of the Super Tuscans come from this area. There are several wines bearing this DOC: reds, whites, rosés, and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice. Sassicaia is a red of garnet color, velvety and dry, richly perfumed with harmonious taste.

CANDIA DEI COLLI APUANI
These white wines are of three types: dry, sweet, and Vin Santo. The dry wines are excellent with fish, and the sweeter ones are perfect with dessert.

CAPALBIO
Again, a broad range of types: white, rosé red and Vin Santo.

COLLI DELL'ETRURIA CENTRALE
An even broader ranging DOC. It includes whites, reds, rosés, new wine, Vin Santo, and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice.

COLLI DI LUNI
This is the region of Toscana's northernmost DOC. It produces reds and whites; the wines of this area, the Lunigiana, where much loved by the Romans, and Napoleon, also.

COLLINE LUCCHESE
The reds from this area are of a particularly ancient tradition, going back before the year 1000. Also produced are whites, rosés, Vin Santo and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice

CORTONA
Another DOC with a broad range, this one was established in 1999.

ELBA
Includes all the usual suspects of the broad range DOCs, and additionally, Aleastico, an exclusive production of this DOC. Wine growing continues to be the primary activity of the island, as it was in Roman times.

MONTECARLO
This best known wines of this DOC are the whites and reds, but it produces the usual full range of types.

MONTECUCCO
This designation was established in 1998, and includes whites and reds.

MONTEREGIO DI MASSA MARITTIMA
Producing whites, single-variety whites, reds, rosés, vintage reds, Vin Santo and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice.

MONTESCUDAIO
Of long tradition, developed during the Signorie, this DOC includes white, red and Vin Santo.

MORELLINO DI SCANSANO
This is a ruby red color that tends toward garnet with aging; It is slightly tannic, pleasant and perfumed, and very good with meat and cheese.

MOSCADELLO DI MONTALCINO
This is a sweet dessert white, which is a magnificent accompaniment to classic Sienese pastry.

PARRINA
This is a very small DOC that includes white, rosé, red, and vintage red. Of an ancient tradition, and extending to the sea, vines have been cultivated in this area since the Etruscans.

POMINO
White, red and Vin Santo. Going back as far as the 13th Century, this area produces wines of well-merited international renown.

ROSSO DI MONTEPULCIANO
A red wine of character that goes well with red meat, cheese and salumni.

SAN GIMIGNANO
Established in 1996, and including the full broad range, all of which are of high quality.

SANT'ANTIMO
This DOC includes white, single-variety white, red, single-variety red, new wine, dry, sweet and vintage Vin Santo, and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice.

SOVANA
Wines were produced here in Etruscan times. The DOC was established in 1999 and includes rosé, red and single-variety red, both superior and vintage.

VAL D'ARBIA
This has been described as a modern wine of ancient tradition. It includes white and sweet, semi-dry and dry Vin Santo.

VALDICHIANA
This DOC is best known for its characteristic sparkling white wine; it also includes single-variety white, rosé, red, single-variety red and vintage Vin Santo.

VAL DI CORNIA
Through extremely careful selection the quality of whites, rosés, reds and vintage reds of this DOC has been vastly improved.

VIN SANTO DEL CHIANTI
To produce this wine, the grapes are allowed to wither after harvesting, in order to increase their sugar content. Types include white and vintage; the taste is either dry or sweet with an intense fruity perfume. Rosé and Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice are also produced.

VIN SANTO DEL CHIANTI CLASSICO
White dessert wine produced in the types dry, sweet, vintage and rosé Occhio di Pernice.

VIN SANTO DI MONTEPULCIANO
Vintage, vintage rosé, and rosé Occhio di Pernice.

ORCIA
A very young DOC, established in 2000, and including whites, reds, and new wine.