«We are excited to reopen and ready to excite. We want to share with our guests moments that can remain indelible memories. There are many innovations that we will launch during the season ». These are the words of Emanuele Manfroi, General Manager of Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, an ancient monastery from the 1500s. One of the sectors most affected by the pandemic was the tourism sector. But now there is a desire to leave again, to have new experiences, to rediscover the cultural and landscape beauties of our land.
A recent Confcommercio survey in collaboration with SWG certifies that 80 percent of Italians will remain in the Peninsula to find new stimuli after the long period of crisis. Bathing destinations will be privileged but also territories with a more complex offer, such as Tuscany. There is therefore the desire to visit places of art, but also to find a contact with nature, an oasis of peace where you can rest.
Villa San Michele, the luxury boutique hotel in Doccia, on the hills of Fiesole, inaugurates the reopening and the summer season with new proposals for experiencing experiential paths discovering ancient local traditions that have always distinguished Tuscany. The art of Making is the program that intends to enhance the art of knowing how to do in a dialogue between tradition and innovation. A tour to discover the Florentine artisan excellences and the creativity of great masters who with dedication and passion hand down know-how and creative spirit. We started our special journey starting from Piazza Pitti and went to find Antonio Gatto in his Atelier, where he makes handmade hair. “As a child I hid under the sacred garments that my aunts embroidered, watching their fingers dance on the fabrics I learned how to baste”, Antonio remembers. A passion for fashion that of Antonio, of Calabrian origin, who led him to Florence where he studied tailoring technique, history of costume and the art of weaving. But it finds its fulfillment in the creation of hats, inspired by legendary designers such as Pietro Franceschini and Gigi. He loves to manipulate the material in the silence of his artisan workshop, where he spends his days. Poet of the hat, his creatures tell pieces of history, like the piece made with a sack of flour from the 1800s. Here you can breathe emotions, memories of distant times.
We move to via Maggio a few steps from Piazza Pitti and the Basilica of Santo Spirito, from Cristiano Pierazzuoli, a goldsmith, who learned the art of jewelry by observing his mother and uncle in his Renaissance workshop. He was trained by learning traditional craft techniques, and then continuing on his own personal path, of contemporary expression in which to create unique pieces on request, personal and unreproducible. «I don’t make a preparatory drawing, I let myself be carried away by the metal itself. I like the physical relationship that is established with the jewel », explains Cristiano. Jewel sculptor, his works always have a reference to the history of the place, but reinterpreting it with creative flair. He is also one of the few goldsmiths who makes jewels for the Vatican. We continue in via dei Serragli at the Atelier degli Artigianelli, inside the Pio X degli Artigianelli Institute, where they welcome us Paola Lucchesi and Beatrice Cuniberti, restorers and experts in conservation of works of art on paper. Here they organize training courses and workshops to train future paper professionals and spread culture. They show us the method of conservative recovery of a work and how the paper is made according to ancient production processes: the preparation of the dough, the work in the vat with the appropriate frames, the laying, pressing, drying and final sizing . Paola also explains the techniques of Paper Art that allow you to create unique sheets and small artistic artifacts. There is love and a lot of dedication in their work that they are committed to passing on to future generations.
After these stages to discover the artisan shops we move to Villa San Michele to inaugurate the project Art in the Villa, which will see until October 15, exhibited in the loggia and in some rooms of the ancient Renaissance monastery, works by national and international artists. To inaugurate this path linked to art there are the works of the famous photographer of architecture and interiors Massimo Listri, a tribute to places of Italian culture.
But this year the offer of Villa San Michele is also enriched with new gastronomic proposals thanks to the creative ability of the executive chef Alessandro Cozzolino, in his third season in Fiesole, who intends to pay homage to the territory, its stories and traditions.
«My research is aimed at the biodynamics of the territory that I have observed and studied in its splendid and varied manifestations, collaborating closely with local producers and artisans whose creations make our tables unique», says Alessandro. His cuisine is based on emotions, in fact he has put at the center the enhancement of the Tuscan territory combined with his childhood memories and international experiences. «Each restaurant inside the villa has its own identity, with a wide offer to satisfy all palates. For lunch there is the Villa San Michele restaurant, which offers refined traditional cuisine with classic recipes from the Tuscan tradition. In the evening, at the La Loggia restaurant, we propose a different study, based on my inspirations, on the territory and on my past experiences», Alessandro continues.
The prestigious location of the La Loggia restaurant, in the loggia under its magical arches with an exciting view over the city of Florence and the emblematic Brunelleschi’s Dome, offers two tasting menus: Tuscan temptations, a path deeply inspired by local art and taste; And Alchemy Floral, the first vegetarian menu in the area, inspired by Tuscan flowers and scents.
«Among my main dishes there is Pinocchio… .Sparnocchio composed of Chianina IGP veal tongue and the native shrimp of the Pisan coast of Livorno, creamy of sheep’s milk, fried pizza dough cuddles, borage flowers and green sauce. Often when we think of Pinocchio lies immediately come to mind, in reality the message I intend to express with this dish is to love ourselves and what surrounds us. Since the pandemic we have learned to love each other a little more », Alessandro confides.
And for those who choose the tasting menu there is the opportunity to conclude the evening with a suggestive after dinner in the grotto of the friars: a space that in the fifteenth century was used as a pantry by the monks that Villa San Michele is unveiling to its guests for the first time this year. Among the novelties there is also the new Pizzeria in the Italian Gardens under the portico with an open oven. Twelve tables overlooking Florence for a dinner with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. The card includes two set menus: pizza round preceded by Tuscan appetizers and the menu The Tuscan meat in which the Florentine steak will be the master. There will be a rich selection of Tuscan craft beers. Villa San Michele is a place to live, a home, where hospitality is a distinctive element. There is enthusiasm among the people who make up the staff, the desire to share ideas and create strong relationships with guests. «The staff often interacts with customers, telling their life, to create a unique bond. This is something that rarely happens in hotels. We want to establish a personal interaction. The idea is to create strong relationships with the people of the country where you go on vacation ”, concludes Emanuele.
(article by Marilena Pitino)

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