Il Desco – Culture on a plate

Lucca in recent years has become a very active city. There always seems to be something going on from markets and music in the piazzas to art exhibitions. The comics fair used to mark the end of the tourist season and the town would go into semi hibernation only coming to life again in December for Christmas shopping. In the past couple of years this has changed with  Il Desco a festival to celebrate our local produce and what fantastic produce we have. 

These food festivals are one of the joys of Italian life. There is the added bonus that there is need to cook dinner after attending one. It doesn’t take much persuasion to temp me to try anything that is proffered.  This year Il desco has really got its act together and as well as having stalls where one can buy and taste there are lost of seminars and workshops. I even solved the problem of my husband's Christmas present, as I was able to buy the great Italian chef Gualtiero Marchesi’s cook book and as he was present even get it signed. I couldn’t believe this charming man was eighty.

What I really like about this year's fair is that it has been divided into products. So over the four weekends that it runs a different local delicacy is celebrated. Today it was beans and soup and next week will be farro. Enough of the talk here are a few pictures of today’s show to tickle your taste buds.

So next year if you feel like a break in November don’t dismiss Lucca!