Winner of 2012 Living Now Gold Book Award for Cookbooks/Ethnic/Holiday
In A Family Farm in Tuscany, Sarah Fioroni, chef, cooking instructor, sommelier, and manager of her family’s organic farm near historic San Gimignano, shares stories of family traditions and daily life at Fattoria Poggio Alloro. After moving to the farm in 1955 to work as sharecroppers, the Fioronis later purchased the farm through their hard work and dedication to the land. They transformed the property into a model of integrated, sustainable agriculture that has been visited by government officials from all over the world and featured in numerous publications, including Organic Gardening magazine.
Three generations of Fioronis continue to work the land using age-old practices, growing a bounty of fruits, vegetables, and cereal crops, such as wheat for pasta, olives for extra-virgin olive oil, and grapes for their award-winning wines. They also keep bees, produce saffron, and raise chickens, Chianina cattle, the prized traditional Tuscan breed, and pigs, the basis of homemade prosciuttos and salamis.
In addition to her engaging anecdotes that reveal how life at Poggio Alloro changes from month to month, Sarah shares more than fifty traditional Tuscan recipes that are prepared daily in the kitchen using the farm’s seasonal ingredients—from hearty winter dishes to salads and risottos featuring garden vegetables to holiday breads and desserts.
The farm is also a popular agriturismo destination, giving visitors an opportunity to stay overnight, participate in various farming activities, and revel in the tastes of freshly prepared food and artisanal farm products, all in a relaxing, scenic environment that is captured by the book’s hundreds of color photographs.
Open the pages of this book and visit Poggio Alloro from your favorite chair, then prepare the recipes and experience the taste of Tuscany in your own home.
Sarah Fioroni, a native of San Gimignano, has worked full time at Fattoria Poggio Alloro since her graduation from high school. Now the farm’s general manager and executive chef, she is also an AIS-certified sommelier, president of the Associazione Strada del Vino Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and a certified teacher for the Fattorie Didattiche program for schoolchildren. In addition to studying tourism and the economy at the University of Florence, she teaches cooking classes at the farm and in the United States, where she often appears at food and wine events to conduct demonstrations and workshops. Interviews with Sarah have appeared in newspapers, magazines and on television in many countries.
Photo by Dario Fusaro, courtesy of Organic Gardening
Schedule for Sarah Fioroni
406 Post Oak Road Fredericksburg, Texas 78624