Italy Live in Soho

San Gimignano is a medieval town in Tuscany that is famed for it’s Etruscan ruins and historical sites. Nearby, there is an old labyrinth (like that in Crete) and even a sword in a rock (like excalibur). This town is not only mystical but quite mysterious too.

Moretti Beer chose this town to host the Italian part of their summer shindig. Every summer, Moretti puts on a fun Italian themed event where take over a garden square in Soho and ply the locals with Italian beer and Italian food. This summer, they erected a big screen projecting some chefs cooking in the piazza of San Gimignano. Meanwhile in London, lots of hungry people are sat waiting for their lunch that is being cooked live in Italy.

We weren’t actually waiting for the food to just beam out of the screen onto our plates as there was a kitchen hidden behind the screen cooking us the equivalent in London. It would have been much more fun to be sitting in that square in Tuscany than Golden Square in Soho but maybe next year.

What they served up was a pasta carbonara with guanciale (wild boar pancetta) wiht Pecorino.

This was followed by an award winning Saffron and pine nut ice cream from that town. Sergio Dondoli, the boss of award winning  Gelateria Dondoli was on hand to dish out his award winning gelato and to wow the crowds with his larger than life personality. This man needs his own TV show.

By one of the Moretti bars, the Pizza Pilgrim boys were slinging their wood fire oven pizzas. All this food was delivered with copius amounts of beer served by some very stylish ladies.

What a fun to spend a hot summers day. Wonder how they will top this next year? By the way, if you missed this, you can still join in the fun as Moretti is running a competition to win a trip to San Gimignano on their Facebook page.

Eat Cook Explore was a guest of Moretti at Italy Live.