SICA Europe Culinary Tour – Day – 8

Day 8  :  Sept 18

Holy City of Padua

Map courtesy Goggle maps

Bags were packed and put in the bus as we proceeded for tour of Padua, the holy city of St Anthony .

View From Antony Hotel , Padua

Padua is the oldest city in north Italy.A few words about Padua square which is the largest in Europe. It is surrounded by a small canal on one side and some beautiful buildings on the edge of square with a nice water fountain in the center. This is the place where people congregate for important events like New year eve celebrations. I understand that it is a 90000 sq meters area ! and Mr Vasco Gubbi was no wonder lavishing his praise over this area. We walked across the city to reach our lunch venue.

Fresh Produce at Padua Square

The walk was a nice one though passing through some shops selling iconic Italian brands. Italy being the style and design capital of the world attracted the chefs too and many a chefs were seen picking up bags , scarves among other things for their loved ones back home. Meanwhile some of the chefs made a quick dash to the holy church.

Walk around Padua

Shops

Street art

Stroll in Padua

Padua Sqaure

 

The lunch was at Pedrocchi, the restaurant operational since 1831. The place was buzzing with celebrations and it was a light lunch of sandwiches and assorted eats. The usual Prosecco was in attendance of course to wet the throats.

Tiramisu Coffee flavoured Italian Dessert

We then embarked on a tour of the foundry and factory of Fonderio Finco and this was guided by Vasco Gubbi.  Here we saw the raw pig iron converted in to some sturdy cast iron skillets.

Iron Ore and Cast Iron Skillets

The seasoning of the pans with olive oil and reprocessing it in the oven resulted in  non stick easy maintainable cast iron pans. Fonderio Finco has perfected this process and hence able to offer lifetime warranty.

Cast iron pans after a olive oil coat being cured in oven

After the tour of the foundry we moved in to Al Tezzon Hotel. The evening dinner and overnight stay was at this hotel. The chefs were back in chef jackets to cook along with Chef Gianluca Tomasi and to interact with Food Anthropologist Sergio Grasso.

Chef Gianluca Tomasi and  Food Anthropologist Sergio Grasso.

It was an interesting session with both of them. We dabbled in a bit of history about the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages – good reconnect with history and cooking. This was followed by dinner that was cooked using the cast iron skillets. Live cooking stations that featured cast iron products were part of the dinner. Tuna, Chicken, Barley risotto were some of the highlights of the dinner.

Cast Iron cooking equipment from Fonderia Finco

Dinner at Al Tezzon

A few words need to be said about Al Tezzon hotel. The rooms were very comfortable and relaxing.  The bathrooms were a large -unusual for a European hotel. The bed was in a mezzanine floor and super comfortable.The party hall in the hotel that was the venue for the dinner was also excellent in terms of ambiance and service of the associates.

Al Tezzon Hotel