Hands On Fresh Pasta

It is a special day in Siena today!! 🏇🏇🏇

TODAY the historic Palio di Siena horse race returns with ba****ck riders battling it out in the mediaeval heart of the Tuscan city.
The Palio dates back to the 17th century and is traditionally held on two dates - 2nd July and 16th August - with the colourful spectacle attracting tens of thousands of spectators.
The event sees riders and horses race three laps around the central Piazza del Campo, in a fiercely-contested competition between 10 of the city's 17 rival contrade or neighbourhoods.
The race is preceded by a spectacular pageant to the sound of the March of the Palio, the Corteo Storico, which includes (among many others) Alfieri, flag wavers, in medieval costumes. Just before the pageant, a squad of carabinieri on horseback, wielding swords, demonstrate a mounted charge around the track. They take one lap at a walk, in formation, and a second at a gallop that foreshadows the excitement of the race to come, before exiting down one of the streets that leads out of Piazza del Campo.
The race itself runs for three laps of the Piazza del Campo, the perimeter of which is covered with several inches of dirt (imported and laid for the occasion at great expense to the city) and the corners of which are protected with padded crash barriers for the occasion. The jockeys ride the horses ba****ck from the starting line, an area between two ropes.
On the dangerous, steeply canted track, the riders are allowed to use their whips (in Italian, nerbi, stretched, dried bulls' hide) not only for their own horse, but also for disturbing other horses and riders. The Palio is won by the horse who represents his contrada, and not by the jockeys. The winner is the first horse to cross the finish line— and a horse can win without its rider!
The winner is awarded a banner of painted silk, or palio, which is hand-painted by a different artist for each race.
There is standing room for around 28,000 people (first-come, first-served basis) and thousands of reserved seats, which are usually booked far in advance.
The easiest way to see the race is to check out the cordoned-off section at the piazza’s center, which the locals call ‘il palco dei cani’, meaning, ‘the dogs’ stand’.
The contrade competing today are: Selva, Chiocciola, Oca, Nicchio, Lupa, Istrice, Torre, Aquila, Onda & Giraffa.
Over the centuries the race has been cancelled only a handful of times: notably in 1855 due to a deadly outbreak of cholera, during world war two, and as a result of the covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

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Hands on Fresh Pasta is listed in the Pasta category under “Food and Drink”.

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These look amazing! Hazelnuts, chocolate… so good!

Baci di Alassio, which means kisses from Alassio, are soft hazelnut cookies from the Italian coast. Two of them are sandwiched together with a rich chocolate cream in the middle. They are sweet but not too sweet, and lovely with coffee. The recipe is in the comments.

The most recent review posted on Trip Advisor! So grateful… thank you Allura!! 💞

More pasta fun! This time this wonderful couple braved the heavy rain we had yesterday and came to learn the art of fresh pasta! Tasting: Fettuccine with creamy Mushroom Sauce. Delish!

Making fresh pasta from scratch is so satisfying. It does make people happy! Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful couple who truly enjoyed making fresh pasta. The sauce of their choice was my very popular Rosé sauce with sun-dried tomatoes & walnuts. Yum!

Are you dreaming of Italy and Tuscany? The fine folks from Bear River, the owners of Pleasant Street Living , are organizing an incredible Food & Wine Tour in Tuscany in September! Only a few spots left! It is a small group of 14 people.

More details can be found here:

Tuscany Tour 2026 Tuscany Exploring Medieval Hilltop Towns and Val d'Orcia Click Here For your Detailed Itinerary Where you'll go Your experiences will be centrally located near the stunning Unesco World Heritage landscape of Val D'Orcia. This is quiet Tuscany, a region renowned for the quintessential Italian scene....

Making fresh pasta from scratch is so rewarding in many ways! Love when people who have attended Hands On Fresh Pasta experiences in the past return for more pasta knowledge!

This time I welcomed back this lovely lady who came with her son! Both truly enjoyed their pasta making experience!

They learned how to make classic egg pasta dough, rolling out and cutting techniques as well as how to add flavour and colour to the pasta dough. At the end they were rewarded with the delicious Chocolate Fettuccine in the Gorgonzola, Pear & Walnut sauce on the patio!

Sundays are for making pasta!! Today this wonderful group of 4 learned how to make fresh pasta and delicious Pesto while celebrating friendship, love and life! The weather was perfect so the pasta tasting took place on the patio under the beautiful old apple tree. We all had a terrific time!