With Ash Wednesday behind us, Catholics all over the world get ready for Lent, the 40 days period where the faithful are supposed to do penance for their sins by abstaining from all sorts of pleasurable activities. While nowadays is nowhere near as strict as it was once in the day, Tuscans have never been big fans of this time of mandatory suffering. While, in theory, the idea to cleanse yourself after the Carnival overdose of partying and food, spending so much time mortifying the flesh wasn't high on their to-do list. That's why they found clever ways to keep having some fun while respecting part of the dictates of the Catholic Church. In Florence, in particular, they were quite big on these shortcuts. From the early 19th century a particular type of cookies became very popular during Lent. They paid lip service to the "no animal fats" prohibition but managed somehow to be really great. Their story is quite interesting which is why this week What's Up Tuscany will bring you back to Florence to tell you the tale of how nuns came out with the Quaresimali, Tuscany's favourite Lent cookies. On top of consuming vast quantities of these great biscotti shaped like letters that smell of cocoa and orange, Fiorentini tried to make this time of the year less painful by organising neighbourhood festivals every Sunday. These celebrations were very popular and were used for all sorts of purpose, making them really unique. Their nicknames and traditions are really something else, a slice of life of a city that has unfortunately disappeared from the face of the Earth. Now, if you're curious to taste the Quaresimali, chances are you won't be able to buy them. They are in fact only popular near Florence and are not easy to get anywhere else. Luckily for you, they're exceedingly simple to bake. If you listen to the full episode, you'll get both the recipe and the instructions to have the perfect cookies to cheer up your Lent. This episode is a bit different, as we went for something more conversational, less scripted. This is an experiment so if you don't like it, let us know by getting in touch on our social media accounts. We try posting as much as we can on Twitter: if you're there, come say hello. We'd love to know you better. Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larno.it Twitter: @arno_it / @WhatsupTuscany LINKS TO SOURCES (ITALIAN ONLY) https://www.firenzetoday.it/cucina/biscotti-quaresimali.html https://www.nonsolopiccante.it/2012/04/07/biscotti-quaresimali-di-firenze/ https://www.turismo.it/gusto/articolo/art/quaresimali-fiorentini-labc-dei-biscotti-id-7909/ https://www.quinewsfirenze.it/firenze-quaresimali-biscotti-storia-peccato-gola.htm https://www.florencecity.it/le-fiere-quaresimali/ https://www.blmagazine.it/quaresima-chiama-quaresimali/ BACKGROUND MUSIC Pipe Choir - Bom Bom Breakthrough (Instrumental) Pipe Choir - Mapping the Stars (Instrumental) Pipe Choir - Almost Time (Instrumental) Incompetech - Leopard Print Elevator Wayne John Bradley - Blues Rock Original Instrumental All released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-bom-bom-breakthrough-creative-commons-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-mapping-the-stars-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-almost-time-instrumental-creative-commons https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500077 https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/blues-rock-original-instrumentalcreative-commons http://www.pipechoir.com/