Sweet works of art

Sweet works of art
Toscana
Magazine: October 2007

Cakes like sculptures and edible works of art, in the great gourmet festival with exhibitions, visits and pastry tasting.

Nougat and confectionary honey and jams, biscuits and lots of chocolate, traditional cakes and soft sponges: these are the stars of “DolcementePrato”, the most mouth-watering event of the year at Prato from 5 - 7 October. Forty or more of Italy’s best pastry chefs will join together in the Tuscan capital to unleash their creative talents and tempt the visitors with spectacular on the spot creations. Longstanding dessert traditions will join forces to tempt with cutting edge research and experimentation. In fact, alongside the exhibition section and the “goodie market”, dedicated to the production of hand crafted sweets, the fair will give a lot of space to live demonstrations of intricate laboratory techniques: putting their signatures to the event will be the true master chefs from the Italian Academy of Pastry chefs, the Cast Alimenti and the Consortium of pastry chefs from Prato. All this is a really amazing setting! In fact the event is hosted by the Centre for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci of Prato that, for 72 hours, will be transformed into an intriguing workshop of fragrances and colour.

Master artisans at the museum
Also, truly unique works of art with exciting tastes, forms and elaborate designs will be baked. It is the fi rst time that the museum will host a gastronomic event of such importance: there is enough to attract a multitude of foodies, but also to interest art experts tempted by unusual performances and others that are simply curious. Apart from the exhibition, DolcementePrato invites visitors to sampling and nibbling of every type: dessert wine tasting on terraces guided by an expert sommelier; tastings and tips for the perfect tea, the most widely sipped beverage in the world.

Chocolate Valley
Also a photographic exhibition on the pleasures of the palate and ‘sweet workshops’ for all ages with healthy advice, mindful of the pleasures of the senses. The museum includes an exhibition of antique tools and utensils like copper moulds, steel and “banda stagnata”, tin and cardboard boxes, original prints or recipes that the Study Centre International Patisserie has collected dating from 1980. Finally, to celebrate the link between food and culture the Centro d’Arte Pecci will hold a ‘literary lounge’ with a calendar of events and meetings with writers, journalists, poets united in the discovery of the delightful aspects of this “sweet, sweet world”. It could only have been Prato the place chosen to host this gastronomic convention with both traditional and avant-garde performances The ancient village close to Florence, better known as “Chocolate Valley” due to the high concentration of famous chocolate makers, can boast an ancient traditional confectionary production witnessed by the presence of 66 patisserie enclosed in its third century walls and in the province.

Food of the gods
The province has always been really supportive of innovation in all sectors, especially the confectionary industry, thanks to an excellent class of pastry chefs continuously in search of new forms of expression in taste and favour. So, to sample the sweetest local specialities simply take a stroll around the city and plunge into the reign of pastry cognoscenti.Not to be missed is ‘Nuovo Mondo’, a location that the Gambero Rosso has defi ned as the best patisserie in the city. Owned by the chef Paolo Sacchetti, it is the ideal place for tasting not only some local traditional desserts such as the famous sweets from Prato, but also many other temptations from the laboratory that range from freshly baked chocolate cream to the delicious patisserie mignon, with a huge range of mini portions. And for those that cannot resist what is called “food of the gods” simply drop in to see Luca Mannori, the chocolate maker famous for the Setteveli cake, one of the best arrangements of chocolate that can be tasted in the area.