A Wonderful Pasta Factory Tour In A Historic Villa Seized By The Nazis During WWII

Pastificio Chelucci

Food Tours, Pasta Factory

Via di Valente, 7

51100 Pistoia, Italy

Phone: +39 0573 42011

Web: pastificiochelucci.it

Prices: € € € € 

Hand-crafted pasta since 1912, the owner Giuseppe has been in the family business since 1950, is extremely friendly and informative, and made us feel welcome for our free, private tour.

During World War II, the Nazis took over the building, a villa, making it their headquarters in 1942. The family had to walk for two days to Florence while the Germans occupied their home. Once the Nazis fled from Allied Forces in December 1942, they returned home and were the first pastificio (pasta factory) of 36 in Pistoia to resume operations after the war. They are the only remaining pastificio of the original 36 in Pistoia.

The factory has been automated since 1950, but the pastas are still dried the old fashion way and hand packed. In fact, Giuseppe's sweet 94-year-old mother Dina still processes and packs the maccheroni by hand from time to time. The same machine from 1950 is still being used today. They have numerous varieties of pasta, including their signature pastas like "Quasimodi", made with only Tuscan flour from the Pisa area and their secret ingredient, pure local spring water. They recently unveiled a pasta in the shape of Pinocchio characters called "Le Bugie" ("the lies"), the result of a scholarship competition in the local schools.

The factory employs only six people, but they produce a wide variety of pastas using old family recipes and processes. The small river behind the factory once spun the turbines beneath the building which allowed them to resume operations so quickly after the war. Special drying units maintain constant temperatures between 32 and 35 degrees Celsius (90-95 Fahrenheit), ensuring that the pasta does not break, reducing waste, and resulting in quality products. Pastas take from 24 hours to six days to dry depending on the shape (versus two hours for mass produced brands).

The bronze pasta forms used to give the pastas their various shapes result in a special consistency not found in mass produced brands (De Cecco, Barilla). Their pastas take much less time to cook (5 minutes versus 12-15 minutes for comparable mass produced pasta) because the pasta from the brass forms allow the boiling water to saturate the pasta instead of cooking it from the outside. The water they are boiled in also has much more starch then that of the mass produced brands, allowing the water to be used to better thicken sauces before serving.

The valley in which the villa sits is quiet, green, lush, and much cooler than smoldering Florence, so it was a breath of fresh air, literally, after a month in 100 degree Florence and its wall-to-wall tourists. The temperature and humidity in the protected valley setting creates the perfect environment for making top-quality pastas. Giuseppe is working on adding a small gift shop and cafe, culinary demonstrations, and possibly pasta making and cooking classes in the near future, but in the meantime a tour of their operation is a must if visiting Tuscany (I have also included it in my article: Top 19 FREE THINGS TO DO In And Around Florence) and tell him CombatCritic sent you!

CombatCritic Gives Pastaficio Chelucci Tour The Coveted 10 Bombs Out Of 10 ... IT'S THE BOMB ... More Bombs Are Better!

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Title: A Wonderful Pasta Factory Tour In A Historic Villa Seized By The Nazis During WWII

Key Words: Pastificio Chelucci, pastificio, Giuseppe, Chelucci, Pistoia, Florence, Firenze, Italy, Toscana, Tuscany, pasta, factory, tour, travel, value, review, guide, Yelp, TripAdvisor

DayTripQuip™ - Beautiful And Historic Siena From Florence By Train Or Bus

Piazza del Campo

DayTripQuip™: Take the train (Regionale: 1 hour 28 minutes - €8.80/person each way) from Santa Maria Novella Station to Siena. Trains leave throughout the day from S.M. Novella at 10 minutes after the hour. Another option is the bus (Corse Rapido: 1 hour 15 minutes - bus station is just south of the train station - bus schedules below - €7.60/person each way) which is a little faster than the train, cheaper, and leaves you closer to the center of Siena. The Siena train station is a little over a mile and a 25 minute walk to the historical center of Siena where you will want to go. The Siena bus station is very close to the center (centro storico) and its fabulous piazza, ancient churches, beautiful cathedral, and historic buildings. Siena has restaurants, cafes, bars, and shopping galore if you would like a break from the frenzy of Florence for a few hours.

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 Bus Schedule

More Photos

Title: DayTripQuip™ - Beautiful And Historic Siena From Florence By Train Or Bus

Key Words: Siena, day, trip, quip, DayTripQuip, train, piazza, Piazza del Campo, campo, duomo, cathedral, fresco, church, antique, antiques, travel, value, Firenze, Florence

Good Versus Bad Equates To Average Value

• Trattoria Il Contadino
• Via del Palazzuolo 69-71R
• Florence, Italy
• South of Santa Maria Novella Station
• Phone: +39 055 2382673
• trattoriailcontadino.com

 Prices: $$$$

Trattoria Da Giorgo, just down the street, is closed on Sunday and was not an option after our return to the train station from a day trip in Siena, so we decided to try Il Contadino. They have decent food and lots of it with cheap prices compared to the rest of the overpriced tourist traps in Florence. Unlike many restaurants in Italy, they are open seven days a week from noon (12:00) until 10:30pm (22:30), so you can get a meal anytime you like. Arriving around 7:00pm on a Sunday night after a long day in the Tuscan sun, we were quickly seated and shortly thereafter our waiter arrived. 

That was the most efficient service we received the rest of the night because as he and his female counterpart hovered around our table in the nearly empty restaurant, making for a rather uncomfortable experience, they chatted with each other and their friends at the next table. However, when we needed something, we had to try to catch their eye rather than counting on them to notice when they were needed instead of socializing with each other.

Tagliatelle alla Boscaiola

The menu is fixed price, €9 to €12 for lunch, and €13.50 to €14.50 for dinner, a decent value for what you receive in return and there is also an “ala carte” menu if you so choose. For €14.50 (€12 at lunch) you are entitled to a ½ liter of water, ¼ liter of wine (per person/ red or white), primo (first course from the day's menu – pasta, soup, etc), secondo (second course from the day's menu – meat dish), and contorno (vegetable – salad, potatoes, artichokes, broccoli, etc). 

Scallopine

Tagiatelle alla Boscailola, a long, thin pasta in a tomato-based sauce with ground beef, mushrooms, and black olives was my choice as a primo. The tagliatelle were good with rich, earthy tones from the mushrooms and unlike more than a few Tuscan restaurants we have been to recently, perfectly cooked “al dente”. My wife decided to forgo the meat dish, so she ordered the prosciutto e melone (cured ham and and honeydew melon) for her primo. Being difficult to improve on sliced ham and melon, her first course was as good a most places and a fair size portion.

Risotto

For secondi I had the scaloppine ai funghi (pork cutlets in a white wine and mushroom sauce). The meat was very dry and had obviously been sitting around much of the day waiting for a customer to arrive. The sauce was good and there was plenty of it, but a few more mushrooms would have been nice. My wife had the risotto with zucchini and gorgonzola, creamy with a bit of zing from the aged cheese, it could have cooked a minute or two longer to reach the desired consistency of a classic risotto. Our contorni were patate fritte (French fries), crispy but not very hot, and patate arrosto (roasted potatoes) which, like the pork, had also been sitting in a chafing dish for far too long.

We had to remind the waiter two times to bring our wine, a local red, which was decent, lightly chilled and fruity. Instead of bringing a half-liter for the two of us, he brought a single one-quarter liter carafe five to ten minutes after our primi had arrived and another carafe, having to ask him once again, after our second courses had arrived. With so few people in the restaurant, there is really no excuse for such inattentive service.

The restaurant is clean and bright even though it is in a rather seedy part of town, but we were somewhat disappointed by the food and very disappointed by the service. When I gave the waiter my card, telling him that I would post a review on my blog, TripAdvisor, and Yelp, he said "So what? I can post a review on TripAdvisor, so what makes you different from me?" I told him that I am Yelp

"Elite", a TripAdvisor "Top Contributor", and have a blog averaging 40,000 views a year. Enough said.

You will have a better meal in Italy for €30 or less, several places come to mind, but in Florence, with its dearth of reasonably priced restaurants, you will not find many inexpensive options. Although our experience was somewhat disappointing, the food was not bad overall and the prices fair. So if Trattoria da Giorgio just down the street is closed or too full, Trattoria il Contadino would be a decent second choice.

CombatCritic Gives Trattoria Il Contadino 6 Bombs Out Of 10 … More Bombs Are Better!

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Fixed Price Menu (Italian)

Fixed Price Menu (English)

Special Menu (Dinner)

Menu of the Day (Italian)

Menu of the Day (English)

Title: Good Versus Bad Equates To Average Value

Key Words: Trattoria il Contadino, trattoria, Contadino, Firenze, Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Italy, menu, review, travel, value, pasta, wine, meat, dessert, CombatCritic, Yelp, TripAdvisor, tourist

CombatCritic Q&A: Florence 1-Day Itinerary Feedback Please?

CombatCritic Q&A
One-Day Itinerary Feedback

Fairywren61 from Perth, Australia wrote:

Jul 18, 2015, 3:36 AM

We are staying in a villa between Florence and sienna and are travelling into Florence for the day. We want to enjoy the day and not be rushed, we enjoy walking and looking but also taking in some main areas. Here is my initial itinerary: 

San Lorenzo Market 

Piazza del Duomo (Climb to the top… possibly do the bell tower and baptistery 

Vivoli Gelato - Gelato 

Piazza Santa Croce – Eat Gelato here on stone benches, free entertainment and buskers 

Uffizi Gallery - undecided on this, not sure if we will be to rushed to really enjoy it 

Ponte Vecchio 

Any feed back would be appreciated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Fairywren, here are my two cents worth:

San Lorenzo Market 

- The actual Mercato di San Lorenzo (the building) has dozens of food stalls, butchers, and other vendors, so you should at least see it, but the main reason to go there is to buy food. The streets around the nearby Basilica di San Lorenzo are filled with outdoor stalls selling Chinese (leather goods, "Murano" glass, etc) knock-offs if that's what you are interested in. If you want to see a "real" market, I recommend Mercato San'Ambrogio east of the center and just northeast of Basilica di Santa Croce and its wonderful piazza which has now returned to its previous, uncluttered glory.

Piazza del Duomo (Climb to the top… possibly do the bell tower and baptistery 

- Climb away if your heart is up for it (463 steps to the top of the dome), but you will get better views from Piazzale Michelangelo, a short taxi or bus ride away ... AND IT'S FREE! Instead, I would recommend visiting the cathedral (Duomo) itself which is also free. The entrance is through the north door of the front of the massive building with the line hugging the north side. The painting of the Apostles by Giorgo Vasari (16th C) on the inside of the dome with their legs dangling over the sides is one of my favorite frescoes in the world. Tickets are only needed to see the tower, dome, and the excavations below the Duomo.

Vivoli Gelato - Gelato 

- If you like expensive gelato, by all means!

Piazza Santa Croce – Eat Gelato here on stone benches, free entertainment and buskers

- I would recommend getting a gelato at half the price of places like Vivoli at Gelateria Il Gallo Ghiottone after having a cheap lunch at nearby Mercato San'Ambrogio's small restaurant, then strolling to Santa Croce (5 minute walk). I'm not sure what entertainment or "buskers" you are referring to as I have spent a fair amount of time in Piazza Santa Croce and was never entertained other than by the droves of tourists. And there are a couple benches in the piazza, but good luck finding a seat. Sit on the steps of Santa Croce, taking-in the square and the tourists, but not during mid-day when the sun bakes the steps and anybody near them.

Uffizi Gallery - undecided on this, not sure if we will be to rushed to really enjoy it

- The Uffizi should not be missed if you are an art lover, particularly if you love Renaissance art, but you will need 2-3 hours at the very minimum.

Ponte Vecchio

- Don't miss it and snap a few photos, but if you are buying jewelry, be prepared to spend more than you need to.

Buon Viaggio!

CombatCritic



Title: CombatCritic Q&A: Florence 1-Day Itinerary Feedback Please?

Key Words: ComabtCritic, question and answer, question, answer, Florence, Firenze, itinerary, piazza, santa, croce, duomo, Michelangelo, piazzale, one, day, 1-day, ponte, vecchio, Uffizi, Accademia

DayTripQuip™: Ancient Arezzo ... An Antique Aficionado's Allure

DayTripQuip™: Take the train (Regionale Veloce: 1 hour 10 minutes - €8.10/person each way) from Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence. The train station is in the center of Arezzo and just three blocks from the historical center (centro storico), a Roman amphitheater, ancient churches with famous frescoes, a beautiful cathedral containing the mummy of a pope, and a fabulous piazza. Restaurants, antique stores, and shops abound, providing a quaint respite from the crowds of Florence for a few hours at least.

Piazza Grande

Roman Amphitheater

Chiesa San Francesco

Chiesa San Domenico 

Duomo San Donato

Pope Gregory X

Fresco of Maria Maddalena - Piero della Francesca
 

Piazza Grande - Benigni's "La Vita e Bella" Was Filmed Here

Title: DayTripQuip™: Ancient Arezzo ... An Antique Aficionado's Allure

Key Words: Arezzo, day, trip, quip, DayTripQuip, train, Benigni, La Vita e Bella, vita, bella, film, movie, duomo, cathedral, fresco, church, antique, antiques, travel, value, 

One Of The Best Restaurant Values In Florence ... Or Anywhere!

Osteria Vini e Vecchi Sapori

Via dei Magazzini, 3R

50122, Firenze (Florence, Italy)

Tel: 39.055.293.045

Prices:  € € € € € 

We, literally, stumbled upon Vini e Vecchi Sapori while heading for the Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria, the busiest and most famous square in Florence. The streets in Florence are made of large stones, not so evenly laid and sometimes causing tourists to stumble. I had heard of this restaurant through word of mouth and reviews on Yelp, but was not sure where it was. We almost missed it if not for my clumsy feet, hurling me toward the menu outside the door.

The menu says, in English, “NO PIZZA NO STEAK  NO ICE” and consisted of five to seven each of the antipasti (appetizers), primi (first courses), and secondi (second courses) followed by a few contorni (side dishes) and dolce (desserts). The menu changes each day depending on what the chef feels like cooking and the fresh ingredients available. The choices on our first visit were enticing, so we asked if we could get a reservation that night…WRONG!

Tomaso, the 3o something owner and front man, is thin with Harry Potterish glasses and wavy brown hair. He was extremely nice as he explained that the restaurant was sold out for the next week, so we asked for the first available table, which was seven days away on the following Saturday at 9:00PM (fairly early by Italian standards). We snatched the reservation quicker than turtle tucks his head and waited, and waited, and waited…

When Saturday rolled around, we arrived at the appointed hour and Tomaso greeted me at the door … Signor Sorrentino, welcome! Impressed that he remembered my name after only one encounter, the festivities began. The restaurant is very small in a very old building with tall (18 foot) ceilings and tile floors. Beside the five or six tables, there is only a glass refrigerator case, like you would see in a deli, a small counter, and the door to the bathroom and to the kitchen (different doors). The walls are smothered, but tastefully so, with an eclectic variety of original art and prints, making the small room, I mean restaurant, warm and inviting.

pappardelle con ragu di anatra

The restaurant sits on a short, narrow, quiet street just north of the Piazza della Signoria and has five tables or so, holding about 20 people. It reminds me of my favorite Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, Palermo, run by my old friend Tony, an immigrant from Palermo, Sicily and a warm, wonderful person. When Palermo opened back in the late 1970’s, it was just as small and quaint. Now Palermo is huge and packed every night of the week, a few blocks west of its old location. I hope that the same does not happen to Vini e Vecchi Sapori for it will lose much of its charm.

paccheri con fiori di zucca e zafferano

Tomaso sat us, then sat with us to explain the night’s menu. My wife’s dear friend Maddalena was with us and we were celebrating her birthday. We had visited Pistoia and Lucca by train that day, and had eaten foccacia con mozzarrella, prosciutto cotto, e carciofi (thin, herb covered bread with mozzarella, cooked ham, and artichoke inside) in Lucca that was larger than expected, so we decided to skip the antipasti and save room for the wonderful selection of primi and secondi. We started with the pappardelle con ragu di anatra (pappardelle are very wide fettucini-type pasta and they were covered in a rich minced duck sauce - €9) and paccheri con fiori di zucca e zafferano (yellow zucchini flowers and saffron - €8). The papparedelle con ragu di anatra was out of this world, just enough to satiate the palate for the time being, but never to be forgotten.   The paccheri con fiori di zucca e zafferano was delightfully done in a rich, creamy sauce and the pasta was thick and al dente, just firm enough to hold all of the wonderful sauce. I had never had saffron, a spice used mostly in the Middle East, in an Italian pasta sauce before, but it was creamy and dreamy. I hinted to Tomaso about obtaining the recipe, but will wait until we establish ourselves as regulars to make such a proposition.

ossobuco con piselli

Having trouble deciding whether to have the scaloppine alla pizzaiola (similar to veal parmigiana, but much better - €14) or the ossobuco con piselli (veal shank - slow cooked with peas), Tomaso decided for me, it was the ossobuco (€14) and I was not disappointed! The veal shank was cooked to perfection, not huge by American standards, and falling off the bone with a hint of marsala wine sauce. It was delicious, the best ossobuco I have eaten and I have had a few. My wife had the torta ai carciofi (artichoke omelette - €8), but she wolfed it down while I was talking to the couple from Shang Hai at the table next to us, so I did not have the opportunity to get a taste.

 Friends from Shang Hai & Jordon...Tomaso (back)

Our meal was accompanied by a litre of sparkling water (€2) and a litre of Chianti wine (€14), which was dark, rich, and flavorful with hints of berry and chocolate. Being so small, you easily fall into conversation with the table next to you. The first diners were a couple from San Francisco, she a teacher on break, and very nice, he a silicon valley marketing executive, seemingly very impressed with himself and eager to end the conversation. The next couple was from Shang Hai and it turns out that his family was from Glendale, California where I spent much of my childhood and college years, moving to Hacienda Heights after his graduation, where I had spent all of my school years. What a small world! Emma is Chinese, a native of Shang Hai, and extremely engaging and sweet. The couple on their other side, I thought were from Holland by the accent, turned out to be from Jordon and were equally as warm and engaging. It was one of the most delightful dinners I have experienced in a long time.

Front Door & Tall Ceilings

Finally, the dessert was ordered, while I was talking to Emma about her soon to be baby (due on Christmas day), so I did not have a choice in the matter. We tasted the tiramisu (€5), which was light and refreshing and minus the coffee, which by this time in the evening would probably have kept us awake all night, and the meringato (“big meringue” with cream and chocolate - €5), which was good, but not outstanding.

The bill came to €86, but Tomaso rounded it off to €80 even, so we left a generous tip, which usually is not required in Italy. On the way out we met the chef, Thomaso’s mother, and congratulated her on her wonderful meal, telling “ritorniamo prossima Sabato” (“we will return next Saturday”) and the Saturday after that, and the one after that…

HOOAH...it's the "BOMB"!

CombatCritic Gives Vini e Vecchi Sapori 9 BOMBS OUT OF 10 (“bombs” are good)



Title: One Of The Best Restaurant Values In Florence ... Or Anywhere!

Key Words: Vini e Vecchi Sapori, vini, vecchi, sapori, restaurant, osteria, trattoria, dine, dining, quaint, pasta, food, menu, eat, lunch, dinner, Florence, Firenze, Italy, review, travel, value

Important Changes To Amici Degli Uffizi Membership (Effective June 15, 2015)

W

We were in Florence for a month in 2012 and purchased Amici Degli Uffizi memberships which included free entry to most of the major museums, including the Uffizi and Galleria dell'Accademia, the two "must see" museums in town, among many others. Membership was around €55 at the time and it was a great bargain. Not only did you have access to the best museums in Firenze, but you also skipped the long lines at the Uffizi without a reservation.

Unfortunately, the latest rumors are true and the Amici Degli Uffizi membership IS ONLY GOOD FOR ENTRANCE TO THE UFFIZI effective June 15, 2015. You can visit their website for more details:

http://www.amicidegliuffizi.it/diventa_socio.php?pg=8&ln=en

However, there is the FirenzeCard which gets you into the vast majority of museums (Uffizi, L'Accademia, Palazzo Vecchio, etc) as well as city public transportation (Ataf, Linea, and tram) and Firenze Free Wifi offered by the City of Florence. The card is valid for 72 hours from first use and costs €72. If you plan on visiting many of the participating museums and leaving the historical center by public transport, it could be worth the rather steep price. The Uffizi and L'Accademia are two of the more expensive museums, both charging €8 for a full-price ticket, so you might want to do some calculations to see if the ticket is a good fit for your budget before you buy. You should also know that the vast majority of Florence sightseeing can be done in the historical center and public transportation is not necessary for most people. I have spent quite a bit of time in Florence and have only taken public transportation once, a bus to and from Piazzale Michelangelo which sits atop a hill across the river from the center of town.

Many of the museums in Florence also offer free entry once each month. For example, L'Accademia (€8 at the box office; full price ticket online is €23) has "Sunday at the Museum" where you gain FREE entry to the museum on the first Sunday of each month. The Uffizi Gallery also offersfree entry on the first Sunday of every month as do several others. So if you happen to be in Florence on the first Sunday of the month, you are in luck ... Buon Viaggio!

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Title: Important Changes To Amici Degli Uffizi Membership (Effective June 15, 2015)

Key Words: Amici Degli Uffizi, amici, degli, Uffizi, gallery, Uffizi Gallery, membership, member, free, entry, museum, Michelangelo, DaVinci, da, vinci, travel, value, CombatCritic,