FLORENCE, ITALY – This city thrives on its art. From Michelangelo to young contemporary artists in a variety of art schools, it has an unimaginable number of artistic reasons for going there.

There’s Michelangelo’s David in all its marbled glory, at the Accademia; the Uffizi Galleries are perhaps the world's greatest museum of Renaissance art; and throughout the city are small galleries displaying contemporary and historical sculpture and canvas.   
 
But, there are also artists of a different type in the form of chefs who work in small restaurants and at the many cooking schools that dot the countryside and the cities. Florence is, after all, an experience of the palate as well as the intellect.

First, the art that everyone knows about. Florence is, after all, Italy’s artistic heart and soul – a living cultural account of western art. It was the home of Michelangelo and Botticelli, of Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo de Medici, Tomaso Peruzzi and Giorgio Vasari, of Donatello and Raphael.

The fact that Florence is one of the most visited tourist destinations of the world, means that you might plan to visit during the shoulder seasons of April/May or October/November when you don’t have to wait for hours in line to see the David of Michelangelo, or to visit the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens, the Brunelleschi’s Dome, among other great Florentine sites.    

As cities go, Florence is a small town with a population of about 425,000. That makes it a walker’s city with virtually all of the great sites within the city core. The Ponte Vecchio, - the wooden Bridge that spans the Arno River - dates from early Roman times and looks as if it were still crowded with the crammed blacksmith and butcher shops of the medieval period.  But these days you’ll find an endless variety of gold necklaces and silver bracelets as modern Florentines hawk their tourist baubles.  

But it’s not for trinkets that you go to Florence. In this city, art and history are everything - Florence's Archaeological Museum; The Baptistry of John the Baptist dates from the 11th century; Il Duomo (the Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore) is the city’s architectural gem begun in 1296 and consecrated in 1436. Brunelleschi's Dome is a masterpiece of construction. Climb the 500 or so steps up to the cupola and you’ll have a magnificent view of the city below and the Tuscan hills in the distance.

 

The Uffizi Gallery is still the most impressive of the Florence galleries and museums. Housed in a 1560 Medici palazzo, Uffizi is home to a vast number of numerous works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci as well as works by Michelangelo, Titian and Rubens.   

Several rooms are must-sees for anyone serious about art. In the Botticelli Room you’ll find the Allegory of Spring, Pallas and the Centaur, Madonna of the Pomegranate, the Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi, and other works by Sandro Botticelli. The Leonardo Room features the Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci. It also houses works by Perugino, Luca Signorelli and others. And the gallery also houses Michelangelo's Holy Family, Titian's Venus of Urbino, as well as later paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

Because only small groups are let into the museum at one time, you might have to wait in line for several hours before you get to the gallery box office. But, a simple phone call to 39-055-294-883 will allow you to buy your tickets for just $1 extra.
 
TUSCAN CUISINE

Eventually, however, you’ll search for more than galleries and museums and that will lead you to Tuscan cuisine, arguably the finest in all of Italy. Spend a day or a week in a Tuscan kitchen and you will take home one of the finest experiences that Italy can offer – something that will last forever.

Sharon Oddson is one of those culinary artists, whose daily artistry is done atop a variety of stoves and in ovens as she teaches North Americans at La Cucina del Garga how to put together a lavish Tuscan fare in a magnificent 16th century palazzo right in the heart of Florence.

Hers is only one of scores of cooking schools throughout the Tuscan region, schools varying in cost and content depending on your budget and interests, from small boutique kitchens where in one to two days you can learn a few recipes, to lavish estates in the Tuscan countryside where you spend a week or more becoming an expert in regional cuisine. In addition to her Florence School, Oddson leads a four or eight-day cooking vacation in the southern Tuscan countryside.  

La Cucina del Garga is of the more modest variety of Tuscan cooking schools, set in the heart of Florence not far from the Ponte Vecchio on a tiny street across from the restaurant that also bears its name, Trattoria Garga. Oddson is a Canadian ex-patriot from Winnipeg, who years ago came to Italy for visit and ended up staying, marrying artist Giuliano Garga and then working with him in their exquisite restaurant. Garga’s is on everyone’s “best” listings for Florentine eateries and the recipes that Sharon teaches are from the restaurant’s menu.

In the restaurant, courses such as asparagus risotto, black cabbage, bottarga di muggine, are served with style and taste. And from the kitchen that prepares the cod in tomato sauce, the excellent lamb cooked in rosemary or pink berries, come the recipes taught at the school.

The Florentine region is a place of enormous beauty and subtlety. The hills of the Tuscan landscape are like oceans of grapevines, cypresses, and olive trees that were originally brought to Tuscany by Greek traders. Small villages adorn the hilltops and daily shopping is a way of life. Men and women alike buy small portions that will fit into a daily diet and everything is fresh and seasonal – and life, as well as the food, is simple.   
   
It is this simplicity that Tuscan cuisine is all about - the simplicity of recreating ancient customs and traditions into a grand contemporary feast. That’s why emphasis is placed on using essential ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs and Tuscan wines that accompany every course.

Olive oil has become a symbol of Tuscany and is known as "liquid gold" (probably due to its price). There are many different types of olives trees, the most common being frantoio, leccino, moraiolo, and divastro. Each of these trees determines the oil's distinct flavor.

In Tuscany, the olives are hand-picked while still attached to the branches of the tree and before reaching complete ripeness. This process, know as "brucatura,” usually lasts from mid-November to mid-December.  Extra-virgin oil results from the first cold-pressing, using the traditional method of mill-stone or disk pressing. It’s decanted in little jars several times and then bottled. The remaining pulp is sent to another mill and pressed again for regular oil, then pressed last for lubrication oil. The dried out remains are often used to fertilize olive trees.

The Cooking School del Garga offers small and intimate one day courses where all participants are encouraged to help prepare a superb four-course lunch that might consist of veal, pasta, cheesecake and salad which is then served in a renaissance atmosphere surrounded by beautiful frescoes.

During the colder months you enjoy the cozy fireplace and for those who venture their way in the summer period you will be in the courtyard under the loggia. The only prerequisite to attend classes is a love of food and Italy. Participants are presented with a souvenir apron and booklet containing the recipes and wines used on that day.

La Cucina del Garga, Via del Moro 48\r, 50123 Firenze, Italy, Tel\fax: 055 211396; the website is www.garga.it .