A Feast for the Eyes: Uffizi Gallery Launches Cook-Along Series

Florence’s Uffizi Galleries has announced a new video series called ‘Da Mangiare’ (To Eat), where every week a well-known personality from the world of food will interpret a painting from the collections through their own recipe.

Beginning on 17 January, and airing on the gallery’s Facebook page, the series will feature one great chef and one important food-focused work of art every Sunday. Through the chef’s skill, the history and context of each masterpiece will be brought to life

Choosing ingredients depicted in the painting itself, such as fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, the chef (or wine expert) can guide viewers through the process of preparing the dish as they cook along with the video.

_{Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, Bacco}

The aim of the series is to illustrate and deepen the intimate bond that has always linked the art of painting to that of gastronomy, especially through the still life genre.

In the series viewers will get the chance to watch chef Fabio Picchi, of Cibrèo in Florence, interpret Boy with Fish by the eighteenth century painter Giacomo Ceruti; Dario Cecchini, butcher and restaurateur from Panzano in Chianti, already known for bringing the verses of Dante's Divine Comedy into the kitchen, "will serve" his version of the Pantry with Barrel, Game, Meat and Pottery by Jacopo Chimenti, also known as Empoli.

Chef Valeria Piccini, of Da Caino will also work with one of Empoli’s still lifes, while Marco Stabile, another starred chef of L'ora d'Aria in Florence, will present Giorgio De Chirico's Peppers and Grapes. Other episodes will follow and will feature great chefs interpreting works by Caravaggio, Felice Casorati, Giovanna Garzoni and others.

_{Jacopo Chimenti, known as Empoli, Pantry with Barrel, Game, Meat and Pottery}

"In recent decades, the link between art and gastronomy has become a real science and subject of a serious historical investigation,” says the director of the Uffizi Galleries Eike Schmidt.

“Our intent, in these videos, is to create a link even closer with the works of the museum, inserting them in a current and vital context. Painted and cooked food thus meet on a level of truth that stimulates the observer's attention and brings to the fore the deep and unexpected meanings hidden in the scenes and still lifes created by painters”.

_{Giorgio De Chirico, Still Life} 

_{Giacomo Ceruti, known as il Pitocchetto, Boy With Fish}

^{Chef Fabio Picchi}

_{Dario Cecchini}