In This Issue
Villa Rental
Summer Tomatoes
Louisville News - At the Italian Table
2016 Tuscany Tour Dates!
La Selva Contrada won August Palio!! 

Anyone who's visited us in Italy or taken a tour of Siena knows the importance the Contrada to Siena and the Selva to Gina!  

La Selva won the Palio run on 17 August (rain delay, normally held on the 16th). Palio

 

Much celebrating is going on and we will be sure to participate in some of the activities during our culinary tour this September! Dinners, festas - celebrating the horse and the jockey.

 

Click here to watch the race.
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Trip Advisor reviews

 

 

2015 Food & Wine Tours


Tuscany:  

Sept 26 -Oct 3    

 

Naples, Campania, Amalfi
Sept 16 - 22, 2015
  

Join us for a full immersion to the regions of Tuscany and Campania - great food, wine, history and culture!   

 

Vacation Villas
& Farmhouses

Casa Marta
Great accommodations for either a night or a week. When planning your stay in Italy, begin your 'country living' on a Saturday and depart the area the following Saturday for the best selection of villas and houses! 
Call for more information.
Contact Mary: 972.342.8308 
  
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Ecco La Cucina Cookbook

gina's cookbook  

 

Gina's revised and updated cookbook is available. It has more than 20 new recipes! This collection of traditional Tuscan cooking, features dishes of the Siena area and some of her favorites. 

CLICK HERE TO ORDER 

Looking for a Villa?
There are some really beautiful villas available next year in Tuscany!
Villa Cetinale and La Cerbaia have some available dates. This is a beautiful property with 2 houses. The Villa sleeps 20 and is spectacular with marble floors, stairways and updated luxurious furnishings. The smaller house in back of the Villa is La Cerbaia that sleeps 10-12. Cerbaia is the house that we stayed in during our most recent culinary tour. Its fabulous and as one of our guests said "Its unbelieveable! I feel like I'm in a movie!" (Thanks, Dave!)
Contact Mary for pricing and availability! (972) 342-8308
Ciao amici,
We hope you all have had a wonderful summer and ready to change gears a bit for the fall. Its still summer though and we decided to focus on tomatoes that are still coming from the gardens!

We are heading over to Italy for our September and October culinary weeks! Gina will be in Italy  for 3 weeks - Sept 14 to October 3 gathering more ingredients and wonderful Italian delights. At the Italian Table in Louisville will closed for that time. But re-opens upon her return. First class scheduled for Oct 5th with a dinners scheduled that week.

Look for us next month from our homeland!
 
Buon Appetito!
Gina and Mary
Summer Tomatoes 
There is nothing better than a ripe, deep red summer tomato, fresh from your garden or the local farmers market.  They were late to market here in Louisville KY, where I moved from Italy last year, but when they finally arrived they were a joy.

As good as they are, however, they can't match the sweetness of the little tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil of Sicily and Napoli.  Anyone who has visited me for a cooking class in Italy has tasted them; small grape tomatoes bursting with juicy sweetness, when they're heated through for a simple fresh tomato basil sauce or warmed in the oven to top goat cheese-stuffed zucchini blossoms, they are virtually vegetable candy!

Much is made of San Marzano tomatoes from the Campania region and for good reason.  Grown in the volcanic soil on the slopes and in the valley of Mt Vesuvius, one of Italy's many active volcanoes, they are meaty and sweet with a particular flavor not found in any other tomato. Several brands are found on the market  but it's best to get the ones from Italy that have a DOP stamp, designating them as officially inspected by the consortium of San Marzano DOP and a guarantee of origin and quality....
Louisville News
We opened on July 31st and have had a roaring success! We're still trying to get on top of the tsunami of people interested in getting a reservation At the Italian Table. The dinners have been a lot of fun, with fresh seafood served on Fridays. We've been making fresh pasta and roasted porchetta (pork belly wrapped around shoulder with lots of fresh rosemary and sage from the garden!) and some great ice cream with fresh peaches and raspberries.

We have a communal table that seats 10  people, 12 if you're friends and family! But you don't need to find 10 people in order to dine with us, often it's easier to get in if you have a smaller group of 2-6 so please call and ask. You can come on your own or with your spouse or a small group of friends: we put the numbers together to put 10 people at the communal table and it has been super well received, with new friendships made and lots of laughter and great dinner conversation!

Hands-on cooking classes are scheduled for every Tuesday evening and are very popular so call in advance.   From 6:30-9:30, we cook three courses of seasonal Italian cuisine and eat what we've made. This fall and winter we'll be doing a series of classes on everything on the Italian table from antipasti and soups to meat dishes and desserts and will keep you posted with the schedule.
 
Because of the wave of interest and bookings extending into November, Gina has implemented a couple of policies that should make the reservations run more smoothly.

Please make reservations only by telephone: 502-883-0211. Leave a message and the phone calls will be returned in the order they were received.
Payment via credit card is taken at the time the reservation is made. If you regretfully need to cancel your reservation, a refund will be issued if cancelled seven days prior to the date. If you cancel inside seven days, your payment will only be refunded if we can resell your seats.
We will be putting names on a wait list for particular dates for both classes and dinners and will call if space opens up.

Thanks to everyone who visited us or came to have dinner with us! We look forward to seeing you all at the Italian Table soon!

Please visit us on Facebook and watch for news and happenings!

See you At the Italian Table!
2016 Tuscany  Culinary Tours
The dates are set for next year's culinary tours!  Our small group intimate food and wine tours are a excellent way to experience the real Italy. It is a wonderful balance of wine, food, culture and history.
On a winery tour

Click here to see a sample Tuscany itinerary.
We've are going on a truffle hunt in Tuscany! There are a few spots available for the Sept 26-Oct 3 tour. 

May 28 - June 4, 2016
June 4 - 11, 2016
September 24- Oct 1, 2016
October 1-8, 2016  

For availability and more information on click here or call Mary 972.342.8308.