300 gr of flour
1 kg of potatoes
Salt
1 egg

Potatoes dumplings

Preparation:

Wash the potatoes without peeling them, put them in a pot with salted water and let they boil. Still warm, peel them, mash and put them on a well floured work surface.

Add a pinch of salt and flour and knead until all dough is compact but still soft. Now add 1 egg and continue to knead until the dough becomes compact and without lumps.

Then, divide the dough into many strands of the thickness of 2-3 cm and begin to cut your dumplings placing them on a floured surface.
Finally, crush each dumpling on a fork, pressing a bit, to obtain the classical striped form.

Let your dumplings rest  for 15 minutes, then cook them in a pot with enough salted water and drain them when they rise to the surface.
Prepare the seasoning that you like and serve.

500 gr of sea mullets
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
Cooking salt
2-3 sprigs of parsley
Table salt
Black pepper

Mullets baked in foil

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 200 ° C.

Carefully wash the mullets, remove the entrails and scale.

Put into each belly one drop of olive oil, a slice of garlic and a few grains of cooking salt. Wash the parsley, select the leaves and chop finely.

Cut two sheets of aluminum foil of 20×20 cm. Arrange on each aluminium foil a drop of oil and brush, then lay out the fish and another drop of olive oil, togheter with a handful of chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and grated black pepper.
Close the wrappers using another aluminium foil to overlap, sealing the edges, but without compressing the content, so it doesn’t attack.

Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then open the wrappers and serve.

2 kg of mussels
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 /2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Pepper
Parsley

Impepata di cozze

Preparation:

Clean and debeard (1) the mussels. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan with the garlic and add the mussels (2-3).

Cover the pan with a lid (4) and cook the mussels over high heat for a few minutes until they open. Towards the end of cooking, add plenty of black pepper (5) and if you prefer the chopped parsley. Shake the pot with the lid tightly closed to mix togheter the pepper and the sauce of mussels. Take your impepata from the pan and serve hot!

500 gr of clams
Chopped parsley
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Pepper
160 gr of spaghetti
Salt

Spaghetti with clams

Preparation:

Wash the clams under running water and put them in a large saucepan. Cook on a high heat, waiting until they open (usually takes 5-7 minutes). Stir occasionally. When they are ready, shell them, leaving some whole for decorating at the end and filter the cooking liquid.

Wash the parsley and chop finely together with the peeled garlic clove. Fry lightly the oil and the mince being careful that the garlic does not burn. Add the clams and mix thoroughly. Add 2 tablespoons of cooking liquid, and let it flavor for a few minutes, add grated pepper, turn off the heat and cover.

Boil pasta in abundant salted water and just before drain it, add half ladle of cooking water into the pan of sauce, then turn on the fire. Pan-fry the strained pasta to high heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve immediately with a drop of olive oil as a condiment and garnish with parsley leaves.

400 gr of spaghetti pasta
500 gr of tomato pulp
150 gr of black olives
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of capers
4 desalted anchovy fillets
Extra virgin olive oil
Oregano
Parsley
Chilli pepper
Salt

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

Preparation:

Fry lightly garlic and chilli. Add tomato pulp, olives cut into small pieces, crushed anchovy fillets and capers (washed and desalted) and salt.

Cook for 25 minutes and before switching off add oregano and chopped parsley.

Boil the spaghetti and flavour with the prepared sauce.

Flour
400 gr of mozzarella
16 slices of sandwich bread or pancarrè
A pinch of salt
100 ml of milk
Extra virgin olive oil
Pepper

Preparation:

Take the slices of bread or pancarrè cutting the dark edges (1). Cut the mozzarella into slices not too thin (up to 1 cm) and place them on 8 slices of bread (2), preventing they escape from the edges, then cover with the other remaining 8 slices (3), and press.

Cut diagonally (4) the sandwich of bread and mozzarella, obtaining from each of these two triangles (5). Put the flour on a plate and beat the 3 eggs into a bowl with milk, salt and ground pepper (6).

Pass the triangles in the flour (7), paying particular attention to cover well also the side edges, and then generously in the egg mixture (8-9). Repeat the process until the ingredients finish.

Heat oil in a pan (or turn a fryer), and when it is hot, dip the sandwiches (10), making them brown evenly on both sides (11). When they are ready, put them to drain on paper towels (12) and then serve them still warm, salted on surface.

For shortcrust pastry:

200 gr of flour
120 gr of butter
70 gr of sugar
1 egg yolk
A pinch of salt
Lemon peel

For stuffing:

500 gr of ricotta cheese
150 gr of sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
Lemon peel
6 sheets of gelatin

Ricotta cheese Tortino

Pastry preparation:

Sift the flour and form a fountain in the middle. Pour the egg yolk, sugar, salt and lemon peel then put the cold butter in flakes. Starting from the center quickly knead until you obtain a smooth paste and let it rest in refrigerator for two hours.

Turn on the oven. On floured pastry board, roll out the dough into two disks of 26 cm in diameter.

Cook in oven on buttered plate (or use the greaseproof paper) at 190 ° for 10-12 minutes.

Divide one of the disks still hot into 12 equal parts and let it cool.

Ricotta custer preparation:

Mix the ricotta cheese with caster sugar, vanilla sugar, juice and lemon peel.

Heat the white wine and dissolve the gelatine sheets previously soaked in cold water.

Whip the cream and add gelatine and cream into the mixture of ricotta cheese.

Put the whole disk of dough into a mold, by covering the board with greaseproof paper, and pour the ricotta cream.

300 gr of wheat flour
150 gr of butter
100 gr of sugar
1 small glass of grappa
1 pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of honey
70 gr of shelled almonds
A pinch of salt

Fregoloti cake

Preparation:

Whip the butter with sugar and add the egg yolk, honey, salt and grappa, always stirring.

Then add the flour previously sifted, bicarbonate and the ground almonds.

Place the dough at flakes in a buttered cake pan and bake in preheated oven at 150 degrees for about 45-50 minutes.

To prevent this sweet crumbles, it is recommended to cut while it’s still lukewarm.

The Pisa Cathedral

Its internal Latin cross structure is divided into five aisles through imposing granite columns. Its Main Altar and its wonderful painted dome can be reached passing through a triumphal arch. Inside this church you can also admire its polychrome marbles’ geometric decorations and its XVII century ceiling.

The Main Altar and its wonderful painted dome

The XVII century ceiling

Other important features you can see here are: the beautiful XIV century Gothic pulpit by Giovanni Pisano and the apse’s mosaic. Other important works present in this church are: the painting titled “La Madonna delle Grazie” by Del Sarto and Antonio Sogliano and a “San Giovanni Battista ” made by Cimabue.

In front of the Cathedral’s façade there is the Baptistery with its rich floor made up by red and black stones while beside this church there is the famous leaning tower of Pisa.

The Baptistery in front of the Cathedral

The Tower of Pisa beside the Cathedral

The Tower near the Cathedral

The first subsidence occurred in 1185 and in 1990 this tower was closed for restoration because its inclination reached the alarming level of 4,5 metres. In 2001 it became visitable again after 11 years of continuos security measures that aimed at reducing the inclination in order to make it complitely safe.

The Tower of Pisa

The opening hours change according to seasons; every group of visitors have to be made up at the most by 40 people accompanied by a guide. You can reach the terrace through an helicoidal staircase made up by 293 steps.

The Pisa Tower's helicoidal staircase

Tickets can be purchased at the ticket office closed to the Cathedral.