Today, MaremmaBlog has the pleasure of chatting with Tommaso, one of the founders of Passione Toscana, a project that originated with four friends who share the same love for Tuscany. Passione Toscana tastes, selects and ships worldwide the best, high-quality products from different areas of the region.

Tuscany’s food and wine are among the most famous in the world. Can you share a curious fact about the region’s gastronomy that not many people know abroad?

As many already know, Tuscany is geographically one of the richest regions in Italy, the territory is in fact composed of mountains, hills, plains and the coast overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. These different places create diverse microclimates that influence the traditions and products of each “area”. So, in addition to the Tuscan Products of Excellence that everybody already knows – such as Brunello Di Montalcino, Vin Santo from Chianti Classico, Cantucci – we managed to uncover some exceptional products that are unknown even to some Tuscans. Examples include the Bottarga from Orbetello, the chestnuts from Monte Amiata, the wines from Capraia, the olive oil from Seggiano, the Lardo di Colonnata and many other products that you will find on our website.

How do you select the producers that you work with?

The selection of producers and products is a long and rigorous process, I will try to summarize it in 4 steps:

1. We collaborate with some of the best Chefs and Sommeliers in Tuscany who advise us the best Producers.
2. Once we have contacted the producers, we personally to visit their company to get to know their ideas and methodologies, and of course their products.
3. We select the best products from each manufacturer and get them to be tasted by other chefs and sommeliers with whom we work, to get other opinions.
4. Only at the end of the process and with all the positive opinions of the experts, we insert the products.

There is one very interesting and delicious section of your website called “Nonnas Do It Better!”. Tell us about it.

The “Nonnas Do It Better” page was created to inspire our customers with tasty and easy Tuscan recipes that include our products. Who better than a grandmother can convey these concepts! For the future, we are also looking for a real grandma to be featured in videos, but it’s hard to find one that also speaks English…

Behind Passione Toscana there is a young team. What brought you together and made you want to create this project?

It’s true, we are a young and dynamic team! Surely, the passion for Good Food and Good Wine has united us, and often these rhyme with Tuscany and its superb products. Our mission is to promote the best, high-quality products that are 100% made in Tuscany. By doing so, in addition to promoting the best products of our land, we also help local small-medium enterprises to become international and to make their products known outside of Tuscany.

Thank you, Tommaso!

For more information, visit www.passionetoscana.com