• Serve 6 people
• 500 gr ripe tomatoes
• 1 large red onion, halved and sliced thin
• 500 gr 2 days old or more country style loaf bread (Tuscan bread has no salt)
• 2 cucumbers, trimmed an finely sliced
• Bunch fresh basil leaves
• 8 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 5 tablespoon red wine vinegar

This is a country style Tuscan -bread salad served mainly during the summer months, its origin is a farmer dish, and there was no waste in the Tuscan countryside. The trick for a great panzanella is the dressing of the salad, it is delicious and fresh.

Cut the tomatoes into small chunks and put them into a colander sprinkled with a little salt far about 10 minutes to drain away their Juices. Put the onions into a small bowl of cold water sprinkled with a little salt and a splash of vinegar. The best bread is non sliced country bread, if you make bread get a Tuscan bread recipe. Break it up into chunks and put into a bowl with enough cold water to just cover the bread, if the crust is thick and difficult to break off then ad the whole loaf to the water. Leave it far about 10 minutes to soften. Squeeze the bread thoroughly with your hands, and finely crumble it into a large serving bowl. If the bread is not squeezed well enough, the salad will be soggy. Put the tomatoes, drained onions, cucumbers and the basil into a separate smaller bowl and dress with the olive oil and the vinegar, then season with salt and pepper. Mix well and then add to the bread. Mix through well, adjusting any seasoning to taste. It is important to taste it and add more salt, pepper, oil and vinegar make sure that the Panzanella stay in the refrigerator for 1 hour

History

The events of Artimino have double ties with the history of this Villa and to the person who built it. Ferdinando I de' Medici had it built between 1596 and 1600, completing the natural beauty of the surroundings with an artistic gem of rare value. For more than fifty years, unfortunately, his successors very rarely chose this place for their pleasure sojourns, perhaps because of the high cost of maintaining it, in light of the always more unsettled finances of the last members of the Medici family. Only Cosimo III, who came to power in 1670, returned to spend a few holiday periods there, and brou­ght his court with him... Among the persons in his entoura­ge was Francesco Redi, who never ceased to extol "the precious wines...the best in Tuscany.........", celebrated in the famous dithyramb: "Ma di quel che si puretto/si vendemmia in Artimino/va' trincame più di un tino" Violante of Bavaria, the wife of Grand-Prince Ferdinando (1672-1731) was the last to assiduously fre­quent this villa, as it permitted her to stay away from court, to go riding and for long walks in the woods. .When the Medici family died out, the ownership passed to the House of Lorraine, together with the rest of the Medici heritage.

In 1782, Pietro Leopoldo sold it to the A Lorenzo Bartolomei. It subsequently passed to the Count Passerini, and then to the Honourable Emilio Sommarini whose wife Carolina Sommaruga commissioned restora­tion works in 1911. Among these was the realization of the outside staircase. Damaged during the War, the villa was restored according to the indications of Giovanni Poggi, at that time Superintendent for Galleries and Monuments of Florence. At the end of the 1950 the villa was bought by the entrepreneur Emilio Riva. In 1969, aIl the antique furnishings which, after 1782, had been a part of ­the villa, were sold at a big auction. Today, Villa Ferdinanda belongs to a company which organises meetings, concerts and banquets there. At the initiative of the Comune of Carmignano, several rooms of the basement were given for the Archaeological Museum, which preserves the Etruscan findings from Artimino and ' surrounding areas.

Architecture

Ferdinando I entrusted the design of the villa to Bemardo buontalenti (1536-1608), architect to the Medici court and pivotal figure of the Italian mannerism. He had an extremely versatile character which enabled him to range from civil to military architecture to the invention of a new machine for working semiprecious stones.

To build the villa of Artimino, he took his inspiration from Giuliano da Sangallo, the architect of the villa at Poggio a Caiano. The artist was already old when he received the appointment, and he only went to the Artimino work yard only with the purpose of making special controls, leaving the exe­cution to the master builder Santi Maiani and, subse­quently to Gherardo Menchini. Although Far away from building under construction, Buontalenti followed the progress of the works, and was able to leave his imprint on them. In his mind, the con­cept of the villa as it had been understood in the 16th century. The rectangular design of which triggered off a disposition of masses that was both solid and graceful, was amalgamated with that of a Fortress. The two corner escarpment ramparts, decorated with pietra serena toothing, derive from the latter. The extensive white-pla­stered surface was cadenced with the linear series of windows framed in pietra serena. In the centre of the front Facade there was a loggia architraved with Doric columns surmounted with the bust of Ferdinando I. The imposing large staircase for entry to the main floor, Formed of two flights of stairs curved to converge on a single rectilinear flight of stairs, was built in 1930 during the restoration commissioned by the Countess Carolina Maraini Sommaruga. It was realized by the architect Enrico Lusini who based it on a design, attributed to Buontalenti, which Lusini himself had discovered in the'Gabinetti di Disegni' of the Uffizi Galleries. The masca­rons made of pietra serena and the details of the balustrades in the western perspective, close to the central window­ are noteworthy. Below, the lovely portal of ashlars work is surmounted by a marble copy of the Medici coat of arms. Lastly, on the roof of the building there is the series of chimney pots of various shapes, from which the name La Villa dei Cento Camini (the Villa of one hundred chimneys) originated: 'one hundred' meaning many, just as many as there were rooms to heat during the period of winter hunting.

The lack of designs bearing witness to the plan for a normal garden in the Medicis villa leads us to believe, first of all, in the absence of water on the hillock of Artimino, or even in the desire to Iet the magnificent nature of the place surrounding it, integrating it harmoniously. Inside, a large number of rooms occupied both the ground floor and the two upper floors. In the basement, an underground passage (still visible) had been dug out of the rock, at the height of a man, which came out about 100 m from the villa, in a southerly direction, to facilitate fight in case of need.

The rooms are arranged along a longitudinal axis, and take their name either from the use for which they were intended or from a particular characteristic.

On the ground floor: the Salon of the Lion and the Salon of the Bear were thus called, due to the presence of two stone statues that depicted the two animals; the Room of the Lanzi [the Duke's guards ; the Room of the Harquebusiers; the Room of the Broken Lances.

On the first floor: the little Porcelain Room preserved a collection of Faience porce­lain; the Armoury Room; the Pootmen's Room; the War Room, because it contained seventeen lunettes, no longer in existence, depicting battle scenes; the large Room of the Villas, a representation room with lunettes that reprodu­ced the various Medici residences, on the sides of which are located the apartments of the Grand Dukes: Ferdinando's faced Florence, and Grand Duchess Cristina's had a view in the direction of the village of Artimino.

On the second floor: the Salon of the Eagle and of the Annunciation, above which there were several Rooms of Paradise and of Hell, thus named perhaps because of their connection with the weather.

AlI rooms reflect the rule of simplicity observed on the outside: they are refined in their proportions and details. The rooms covered with vaulted beamed ceilings contain few decora­tive elements, among which the magnificent pietra serena fireplaces with the Medici coats of arms are prominent. Only two of the eight service buildings of the same era as Villa Ferdinanda remain. 'La Paggeria', a simple buil­ding with a rectangular design and lowered arches on the lower part and architraved little columns in the upper part, an example of great elegance and simplicity realized to Buontalenti's design, has been the seat of the 'La Paggeria Medicea' Hotel since 1983.

We can say that this is one of the best country restaurants in the Florence area, even if technically it resides in the province of Prato. Founded By Delfina Cioni, now almost 100 years of age, must be the good food and the air of Artimino!! The restaurant is today managed by her son Carlo Cioni, that follows the path of his mother respecting the tradition and the culture serving only and exclusively Tuscan dishes. During the summer you can enjoy the amazing view of the unspoilt valley of olive groves,vineyards, country villas and the antique church from the 900's from the terrace of the farmhouse where the restaurant resides in the hamlet of Artimino and to the left the view of the Medicea Villa La Ferdinanda.

You are welcomed by Carlo with his wide friendly smile and in the summer months seated under the pergola. A cold glass of prosecco and a plate of mouthwatering lightly fried bite size mixed meat balls or salami and cherries set the mood for a wonderful culinary experience that will follow.

The ribollita, typically a winter bread and vegetable soup is a drier form and not to be missed or the homemade fresh pasta with duck.

Vegetarians are also not disappointed as there are many dishes from the antipasto to desert, an example are the oven baked stuffed zucchini flowers.

In the winter the restaurant does not lose it's appeal, set is a cozy stone farmhouse with a open kitchen ,bricked arches, terracotta floors and plenty of large windows. The spit turns over the wood fire and the chef is busy serving his creations. The game dishes at Delfina are refined and succulent. Carlo goes to every extreme to ensure the produce is authentic and of the best quality, hand selecting even the beans!

Da DELFINA
Loc.Artimino 59015
Via della Chiesa, 1
Tel.055/8718074
Fax 055/8718175

Closed Sunday evenings and Monday, but be sure to check.

All major credit cards. (From the Santa Maria Novella station in Florence, take a 15 minute train ride to Signa, and a cab from there to Da Delfina).