Great Florentine cooking blossomed, appropriately, in the same cultural garden as did Giotto, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. Recipes glorified the simple goodness of the ingredients. Sauces were light if present at all. Even in the Medici palaces, herbs and oils displaced butter and cream. Celebration of pure, simple goodness is an easy task for Florentines, who live in the Eden-like bounty of Tuscany.
Game is abundant, and seafood always near.
These cows produce little milk, and Tuscany therefore uses more olive oil than butter, and has no distinctive cheese-making tradition. Olive oil from this region is among Italy's best. Chianti is a regional wine and is the perfect mate for nearly all her foods. Tomatoes, potatoes, and white beans, all originally imported from the Americas have become seamlessly integrated into the cuisine. The Tuscan cook loves to roast meats over an open fire, to cook a great pot of soup, and to coax the best out of her raw ingredients.