Inside The Taste, Italy’s Premiere Culinary Festival.

Many know Florence as the birth place of Gucci and the new location of the Gucci Garden but Florence is more than an iconic fashion city it is also a famous culinary city.

Florence sits inside Italy’s Tuscan region known for its Chianti wine and for having some of the best cuisine in the country, highly renowned for its simplicity and flavor. Tuscany is famous for its local produce and meat and its pecorino sheep’s cheese and truffles.

The Fashion Plate — “The Taste” pasta dish consisting of fresh pasta, caviar and truffles. (photo: Pitti Taste)

Tuscan cuisine inspires restaurant dishes around the country, and the world, which is why every year Italian restaurateurs, chef’s, butchers and gastronomists travel inland to The Taste, Italy’s largest culinary food festival.

The trade show style event takes you on a journey through four pavilions tasting products from about 380 companies, selected for their niche and quality.

In addition to the tasting tour a selection of brands showcase food & kitchen design objects, clothing, technical equipment and innovative ideas for the kitchen.

(photo: Pitti Taste)

The trade fair also hosts food lifestyle discussions tackling topics associated with the contemporary table. Helmed by expert chef’s and gastronomic historians, workshop discussions range from “the evolution of dining for the millennial generation” to fun skill-based lectures like ‘hands in dough with style”.

This year the most popular lecture (each workshop reached maximum capacity) is based on the world’s most common food question, ‘how to build a supreme sandwich?’.

Outside of the Pavilion restaurants in Florence also host events. Chefs work in collaboration with exhibitors from The Taste to create specially designed one-night-only menus. Because of the nature of the event, guests are often times treated to a rare meeting with the chef who is typically sequestered in the kitchen.

Restaurants in Florence offer culinary professionals and turists specially designed menus titled “Fuori di Taste” (translating to ‘outside of The Taste’). (photo: Pitti Taste)

This year The Taste will close with a special event with the “Spazio Fumoir” (Fumoir means “smoke room”) featuring armchair beers – smoked chocolate – grappa selected by Fumoir and a surprise dinner with a special souvenir dessert, bread chocolate wine by celebrity chef Paolo Secci.