Tuscany Celebrates the Newly Pressed Olive Oil

November is the month of the Italian new olive oil. Come to Hotel Villa Marta in Lucca for the best tastings and cooking schools.

Lucca (PRWEB) November 2, 2008 -- It isn't just for salad: olive oil - really good extra virgin olive oil - can also be enjoyed on a "fettunta", a slice of homemade unsalted bread; it also goes very well with a beef steak, panzanella salad with fresh tomatoes, and gives a delicious flavour to bean minestrone, tomato soup and boiled cannellini beans served "al fiasco". The oil from the Lucca area is admired by experts for its perfect, light fruity flavour, its softness and its colour - golden with greenish tints. It has been known worldwide since the nineteenth century and even appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as "Lucca oil"!

Want to find out more? If you wish to taste the new vintage and also learn how to cook with it, come to Tuscany, and more precisely to Lucca, at the Villa Marta country resort.

Here you can join in the tastings and cooking lessons held in the "Botton d'Oro" restaurant of the Albergo Villa Marta, under the guidance of young chef Chiara Dal Porto and her cousin Alessia Martinelli, who manages the hotel together with her husband Andrea. The tastings and cooking lessons will take place over five weekends, starting from the middle of November.

November sees also the exhibition "L'Olio ed i Tesori di Lucca" (The Oil and Treasures of Lucca), promoting the historical, artistic and cultural treasures of Lucca and promoting the extra virgin olive oil and other typical products from the Lucca area; the exhibition includes a market-fair, exhibitions, tastings and guided tours, as well as musical and cultural events lasting until 6 January.

Tastings of the new olive oil at Hotel Villa Marta in Lucca, Tuscany
Weekends of 14/15 - 21/22 - 28/29 November & 5/6 - 12/13 December.
The package includes: 2 nights in a Classic double room; buffet breakfast; oil-tasting with the typical Lucca "Bruschetta"; candlelight dinner on Saturday evening with tastings of oil and wine from the Lucca hills (drinks included); free bicycle hire; free gifts of some local products; 10 minutes free internet connection; information material for visits to oil mills and olive-growing farms. Price per person: 158.00 euros

Learn to cook with the new olive oil
The package includes: 2 nights in a double Classic room; buffet breakfast; free bicycle hire; free 10 minutes internet connection; cooking lessons; lunch with complete menu from starter to dessert with recipes supplied and drinks included. Price per person: 260.00 euros.

The Lucca cuisine is tasty and healthy. It is mainly country-style cooking, but the result is delicious, high quality dishes using authentic products from the hills and mountains. The main basis for the sauces and flavourings is the excellent local cold-pressed olive oil, which adds flavour to the vegetable soups, the exceptional Tuscan meat, and the fish from the Tuscan sea.

The Oil and Treasures of Lucca from 3 November 2008 to 6 January 2009
This consists of a wide range of events including festivals and visits to oil mills and farms devoted to local produce, from the new wine and new oil to bread, cigars, chocolate and chestnuts, which will take place in Lucca and the surrounding towns, the Valle del Serchio and Garfagnana.
Art exhibitions, cultural events and concerts are also on the programme to suit lovers of opera, music, art and photography, but also for fans, both young and old, of the world of comics, antiques, "presepi viventi" (live enactments of the Nativity), Christmas markets, and the New Year concert at the Giglio theatre, in collaboration with the Puccini Festival. The festivities conclude with the Befana (festival on 6 January).

A romantic hotel for two
The Villa Marta country resort is a beautiful villa in the outskirts of Lucca surrounded by a large Renaissance garden. The pleasant, relaxing atmosphere charms guests straightaway, as does the warm welcome extended by Andrea and Alessia Martinelli, who manage the hotel. Magnolias, camellias, pine trees, azaleas and box grow in the garden, which also has a swimming pool. There are only 15 rooms, all beautifully maintained. Deluxe room number 103 is particularly special, with an original patterned floor and a frescoed ceiling. Inside the hotel grounds there is also a small and intimate neoclassical chapel for celebrating romantic weddings.

Albergo Villa Marta - Via del Ponte Guasperini 873 - Loc. San Lorenzo a Vaccoli - 55100 Lucca
Tel 0583/370101 - Fax 0583/379999
E-mail info @ albergovillamarta.it - www.albergovillamarta.it

Press Office Marina Tavolato, Travel Marketing, Rome
Telephone 06/822940 - Mobile 333/1299646 - E-mail martav@rmnet.it
www.travelmarketing.it

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