FLORENCE, ITALY – Soon in Florence the Grani&Pani forum, a series of discussions centring on issues ranging from the origins of wheat to modern bread-making techniques and examining agricultural practices, milling techniques, nutritional and health-related issues and historic and cultural aspects.
The forum will be held at the Accademia dei Georgofili on September 25-26, 2015, one of Italy’s foremost national institutions, which for more than 250 years has been contributing to the progress of the sciences and their application in agriculture in a broad sense, to protection of the environment and agricultural lands and to development of the rural world.
The Grani&Pani forum is just one of the series of initiatives Work’nFlorence, staged in the city’s historic neighborhoods with the aim of presenting Florentine excellences to the world on occasion of Expo 2015, promoted by the Chamber of Commerce of Florence and produced by PromoFirenze.
The meetings will be divided into 4 sessions – grain, flour, bread in Tuscany and in Italy – each of which will host a panel of sector experts – growers, agronomists, millers and bread-makers from all over Italy – who will be comparing notes and presenting their experiences while recounting ancient and modern practices, often tied to family and regional identities and traditions; stories that narrate cultures, the environment and, most importantly, territories; stories that shed light on the quality of the grains, flours and breads that are the staples of our diet.
The rhythm of the theme sessions will be marked out by tasting sessions at which chefs and producers will offer their interpretations of ingredients such as grains, flour and bread and match them with grain-based beverages such as artisan wheat beers and organic vodka from Tuscan grains as well as a selection of Tuscan and Italian wines from organic and biodynamic farming.
Flanking the forum, until 30 October (from Monday to Friday, 3:00-6:00 pm, free admission), the Accademia dei Georgofili will accompany visitors through its halls on a historic-documentary itinerary with the exhibition entitled ‘Delle Specie diverse di frumento e di pane siccome della panizzazione’ (‘On Different Species of Wheat, on Bread and on Bread-Making’) enhanced by a information-teaching presentation covering three theme areas: Wheat, with a selection of samples of ancient varieties cultivated in Tuscany and in other regions of Italy: Flour, exhibiting different types of flour alongside models of mills and historic illustrations; Bread, illustrating the different ways bread is made in Tuscany and other parts of Italy. Concluding the itinerary, a collection of proverbs and folk sayings relating to the exhibition theme.
On Friday and Saturday, 25-26 September, guided tours will be organized at Orsanmichele, the church and museum that was originally the granary of the Florentine Republic and the first ‘commodities market’ in history. A highly symbolic venue expressing the strong link which has always existed between the city’s mercantile vocation and the sacral significance of grain and bread, in perfect harmony with the core theme of the Universal Exposition: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.