La Festa di Sant' Antonio - Coming Together
Cercina is not a little town or even a village – it is merely a cluster of simple country houses and farms, two trattorias, a tiny grocery store and an 11th century Romanesque church. The main event every year that draws hordes of Florentines to make the trek to this idyllic countryside enclave is La Festa di Sant’Antonio d’Abate, the Feast of Saint Anthony, protector of farm animals.
Every other year, the parade starts at Trattoria i Ricchi, led by a marching band and locals on horseback to the church square where the animals are blessed. La Festa di Sant’Antonio brings everyone together for three days of card games, communal lunches and the local favorite, Il Tiro della Forma / Throwing the Form. Our menu this week, is a tribute to those memories starting off with Fettunta coi Fagioli. (That, together with a glass of Chianti, is one of the finer things in life!)
Menu
Featured wine: Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona, Toscana Rosso, 2020
Ruby red in appearance. Fruity, lightly herbal and enriched hints of spices. This wine is ready to drink now. Full-bodied, soft and balanced. This is a very versatile wine and can match all courses, especially with meat, salami, and cheeses.
Chef's Travel Notes
Who could have imagined on that fateful day, the little general store on a winding country road where I stopped for an afternoon panino would become the venue for years of special moments and lifetime memories? At only a few miles from the center of Florence, of course this hilltop Tuscan locale was beautiful, but what made me fall in love and stay were the people – those who lived there and those who regularly would come for Sunday lunch, a card game with friends or a walk in the country to fill their cisterns with local spring water.
Cercina is not a little town or even a village – it is merely a cluster of simple country houses and farms, two trattorias, a tiny grocery store and an 11th century Romanesque church. The main event every year that draws hordes of Florentines to make the trek to this idyllic countryside enclave is La Festa di Sant’Antonio d’Abate, the Feast of Saint Anthony, protector of farm animals. Legend has it that on the night between the 16th and 17th of January, domestic animals regain their voices. But if you should happen to hear chatter from the stables or rumblings from the family cat, just roll over and try not to listen as it would bring “beastly” bad luck to eavesdrop.
Every other year, the parade starts at Trattoria i Ricchi, led by a marching band and locals on horseback to the church square where the animals are blessed. January 17 also marks the unofficial beginning of Carnevale, the time leading up to Spring and Easter and a time to celebrate the gifts of the land. At Cercina’s church, loaves of bread are blessed, sliced, toasted, rubbed with garlic, dipped in bowls of newly harvested local olive oil (la fettunta) and offered, together with the region’s new wine, free of charge to all the celebrants.
La Festa di Sant’Antonio brings everyone together for three days of card games, communal lunches and the local favorite, Il Tiro della Forma / Throwing the Form. It is based on an ancient game where men launch a round of aged pecorino cheese down our street, curvy Via Docciola, to see who can roll it the furthest. Here it doesn’t matter your stature in life, everyone joyfully plays together, especially when the flavorful round happens to break. What ensues is much laughter and backslapping as the game is suspended, fiascos of wine appear and the participants polish off the cracked opened cheese before resuming competition.
Our menu this week, is a tribute to those memories starting off with Fettunta coi Fagioli. We bake the unsalted Tuscan loaves, slice and toast them rubbed with garlic and dipped in Tuscan extra virgin olive oil before topping them with a mound of cannellini beans. (That, together with a glass of Chianti, is one of the finer things in life!)
Pappardelle sull’ Anatra, wide homemade pasta ribbons with duck sauce is another favorite from the trattoria’s menu. We make the fresh egg-based pasta fresca, hand cut it and sauce it with a hearty stew-like duck sauce.
Arrosto Morto di Tacchino Ripieno, Rolled Turkey Breast is always found on the Sunday menu at Cercina. Here we stuff it with an herb frittata, baked ham and fontina cheese. We finish it off in the oven with Chianti to create a flavor-filled sauce, “sughino”.
Torta Rovesciata di Anasas, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, is this Americana’s contribution to a traditional Tuscan menu. When I first arrived at Cercina, I was apprenticed under Francesco’s elderly, Zia Ada, their expert baker. After weeks of making the same desserts, I volunteered to make something that I thought the local Tuscans would like. My first simple attempt was this old “Betty Crocker” classic, which initiated a series of other American specialties. Soon people would come not only for the exquisite Tuscan fare, but also for the unusual menu of Yankee sweets.
Looking at the old photos of this beloved festa (Grazie, Franco Ricchi!) I am reminded how much I loved this cast of characters and how much they loved each other. What makes this even more extraordinary is the fact that these men were fervent in their opposing political beliefs! Zio Oreste was a well known Italian fascist, Evangelista Righini was a life-long communist and the Ricchi family were Democrat -Christians. Yet these people lived happily together all their lives. Of course, there were heated political discussions in our smoke-filled bottega, but at the end of the evening, there would be a round of grappa and promises to return the next night for a friendly game of cards and more debating. What happy, happy times. If only we could learn from their example.
Pace,
Christianne