Barga at night - Pasticceria Fratelli Lucchesi - Chocolate
This is the fourth in the series of articles with the title "Barga at night" - the hidden side of Barga that people generally don't see. The idea is to follow and document people who are working while most of us are sound asleep in our beds. Continue reading ‘Barga at night - Pasticceria Fratelli Lucchesi - Chocolate’
La Festa di San Giuseppe - frittelle
Today is Father's Day in Italy, well almost, it's the Festa di San Giuseppe - St. Joseph's Day. Traditionally in this area the fathers get to eat frittelle, or even better - frittelle di riso- fried rice fritters and maybe polenta made with chestnut flour, castagnaccio -a cake made from chestnuts or if they are lucky, necci con ricotta - crêpes like pancakes made of chestnut flour cooked between two circular heated plates of metal - the testi or cotte (depending just where you live in the area) Continue reading ‘La Festa di San Giuseppe - frittelle’
Barga at night - Panifico Regio Bello
This is the second of a short series of articles with the title "Barga at night" - the hidden side of Barga that people generally don't see. The idea is to follow and document people who are working while most of us are sound asleep in our beds. We started the series with the Pasticceria Lucchesi (article here) - this week the award-winning barganews photographer O'Connor lost yet another night's sleep as he documented Maurizio Lemmi and his crew in the "Regio Bello" bakery in Barga Giardino preparing our daily bread.
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3° Concorso Nazionale di Scuole Alberghiere
I.S.I of Barga – I.P.S.S.A.R. “Fratelli Pieroni”, with the sponsorship of the Province of Lucca, organized the third edition of the Competition for Catering Schools – City of Barga – “A taste of typical products”, first international edition. Prize giving at the Teatro dei Differenti Continue reading ‘3° Concorso Nazionale di Scuole Alberghiere’
Barga at night - Pasticceria Fratelli Lucchesi
This is the first of a short series of articles with the title "Barga at night" - the hidden side of Barga that people generally don't see. The idea is to follow and document people who are working while most of us are sound asleep in our beds. We start the series on a sweet note following just what happens in the Pasticceria Lucchesi down in Barga Giardino. Continue reading ‘Barga at night - Pasticceria Fratelli Lucchesi’
The story we published on Sunday which was somewhat mischievously entitled "Lake Angels and the Pig" had a sequel which was too late to publish that day. It concerns another local pork dish which very neatly divides opinion between those who think that it is a delicate local food with a long history which should be preserved and others who could think of nothing worse sitting on their plate. We are talking about Biroldo. Continue reading ‘Biroldo, biroldo, biroldo’
A crisp cold December morning in Barga Vecchia with the occasional flurry of light snow drifting into the piazza. The Lake Angels were in the piazza with another of their very popular fund-raising events. Usually they are at work during the summer - this time their collective creative juices were flowing around the idea of a winter based event - preparing sausages, roasts and biroldo for the coming holiday season.
Continue reading ‘Lake Angels and the Pig’
Polenta di neccio and Ossi di maiale
Chestnuts - When this area was hit by famine, it was the food ingredient that kept many people alive. Dried chestnuts ground into flour is still known in Garfagnana as "the poor mans flour". One of the most delicious dishes that can be found during the winter months in Barga is polenta di neccio - polenta made with chestnut flour often accompanied by ossi di maiale - pork bones.
Continue reading ‘Polenta di neccio and Ossi di maiale’
The streets of Barga this weekend were filled with people enjoying Barga Cioccolata - Barga Chocolate. Now in its second year, this event brings to Barga, chocolate manufacturers and artisans from all over Tuscany who display their wares in the cantinas and small shops in Barga Vecchia.
Continue reading ‘Barga Cioccolata’
The Barga Jazz Club was supposed to be shut this evening but anybody passing by would have been surprised by the amount of activity going on behind the doors of the club.The Lake Angels were in action. Continue reading ‘Lake Angels Christmas baskets’
The AS Barga sports group were out in force at the Fosso - the area just outside the main gates of the city, preparing roast chestnuts and necci (article here) for the many visitors to Barga this week. As they are roasting the chestnuts for a large amount of people they have a different system for preparing them rather than using the more slower traditional padella -they instead use large metal cages which are turned slowly over the flames. Continue reading ‘Roast chestnuts on the Fosso’
AS Barga cooking Necci - sweet chestnut crepes
The AS Barga sports group were out in force at the Fosso - the area just outside the main gates of the city, preparing roast chestnuts and necci for the many visitors to Barga this week. Necci - the simplest of ingredients …. sweet chestnut flour, water and salt mixed into a thick paste and cooked between two hot plates over a flame. Continue reading ‘AS Barga cooking Necci - sweet chestnut crepes’
Roast chestnuts in Barga Vecchia
Sometimes some of the tricks that life plays on us seem very hard to understand. This morning Barga woke to the news that somebody ended their life yesterday by jumping from the high bridge which joins Barga Giardino and Barga Vecchia. Continue reading ‘Roast chestnuts in Barga Vecchia’
Roast chestnuts as the cold weather bites
Last month one of the great characters of Barga Vecchia, Natale Bertolini celebrated his 80th birthday. (article here) Since that day he has been talking about preparing some roast chestnuts for all the regulars in Aristo's bar as a kind of thank you for the party that was organised to celebrate his 80 years on the planet.
Continue reading ‘Roast chestnuts as the cold weather bites’
The grape picking season - the vendemmia which started last month (article here) on most of the vineyards around Barga now moves onto the next stage. The crushed grapes have been sitting bubbling quite happily in large barrels for at least a week and now it is time to separate the juice and move on to the secondary fermentation. Continue reading ‘Vendemmia - Svinata’
More Cheese Rolling in Barga Vecchia
As we already reported last month (article here) - as the winter approaches it is the time of year for the Traditional Cheese Rolling in Barga Vecchia. Forget about the dangers of bull running in Pamplona in Spain, for the unprepared visitor to Barga, there is far more risk of being damaged by a fast moving (and strong smelling) sheep's cheese hurtling down one of the narrow streets of Barga Vecchia. Continue reading ‘More Cheese Rolling in Barga Vecchia’
Vendemmia 2007 - quality good but quantity low
The vendemmia - the grape picking harvest is in full swing in the vineyards dotted on the hills surrounding Barga.
Most people are reporting that this year the grape harvest is going to be good as far as quality of the grapes but low on quantity.
Continue reading ‘Vendemmia 2007 - quality good but quantity low’
September - traditional Cheese Rolling
It's September. The nights are starting to draw in slightly, there is a colder snap in the air in the mornings and some of the older traditions of life in a small city based around a medieval castle come to the fore. September is of course, the time of vendemmia - grape picking (images here) but it is also the time for the September Cheese Rolling. Continue reading ‘September - traditional Cheese Rolling’
11th Festa di Via della Madonnina
You know that everything is still right with the world when events like the Festa di Via della Madonnina can still take place every year no matter what.
A small back road in Barga Giardino is closed off once a year and tables and chairs take the place of the cars as banners, balloons and a few electric lights are strung across the road.
Continue reading ‘11th Festa di Via della Madonnina’
This evening at least 600 people sat down under the new covered seating at the Johhny Moscardini sports stadium to enjoy this year's annual Fish and Chip Festival.
Freshly cooked pasta, grilled steak and sausages were also on the menu but this evening all eyes were on those freshly crisp fried fish and chips that you can only get once a year prepared by the expert hands of the AS Barga cooking team who have now been serving up pesce e patate for 25 years
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