Bread and Pasta Heaven

I visited the University of Gastronomic Sciences today. It's the school that father of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, founded. He gathered sponsors and bought a castle that was in ruins and fixed it up and built a school. 

Then . .  .

And now. 

Then.  . .

And now. 

Then. . .

Now. 

The canteen. They have chefs from around the world visit and cook here for students, staff, and faculty. Alice Waters is coming in September or January I heard both. Maybe she comes twice a year. 

I had the salmon tar tar over a horseradish sauce with a poached egg on top sprinkled with tarragon, Mary B., add this to you tarragon ideas list. 

With a green salad

And a roll.  Yes it was wheat. No problems. I have been eating wheat for almost a week now. This roll was hot out of the oven. I am in bread heaven. 

Does this look familiar my fellow Florence classmates?  Yep, sensory taste testing. They have 24 cubicles. 

I ate dinner at the hotel restaurant on the campus. 

On my table. 

Handmade pasta with the local Bra (the larger city nearby) sausage. It was heavenly as my first course. 

My secundi was local trout. 

Breakfast was another opportunity to eat gluten. They make a lot of their bread without yeast. Cover your eyes Molly, there is ham on the plate and it'is raw. I have eaten a lot of raw meat here. Everything has been a taste sensation. 

Day two breakfast. I boldly tried a croissant. It's not France. 

The snail is the icon logo for Slow Food. 

I nibbled on dolce, but could not enjoy it so went back for more raw ham and yeast-free local bread. 

And then there is a wine bank. 

The bank was closed when I finally had time to visit. Bankers hours. Here is a photo. The castle estate is on the bottom half. It's a beautiful and special place.