In 2019, TuttoToscana returned to the James Beard Foundation with “Memories of a Tuscan Garden,” one of the most intimate and personal editions ever developed by Florence University of the Arts and The American University of Florence. The project transformed memories, family recipes, gardens, scents, and childhood recollections into a multisensory culinary and cultural narrative that connected Tuscan identity with education, storytelling, and international experiential learning.
As part of the continuing collaboration between FUA-AUF and the James Beard Foundation, TuttoToscana had evolved into far more than a study away program. It became a multidisciplinary educational platform where students worked directly on real international productions through culinary arts, hospitality management, visual communication, publishing, creative writing, photography, event planning, and storytelling. Students and faculty collaborated across departments to create immersive cultural experiences that presented Tuscany abroad through food, wine, design, memory, and contemporary interpretation.
The 2019 edition revolved around the publication of The Girl Who Counted Ants, the memoir written by FUA-AUF President and Founder Gabriella Ganugi. The menu itself was directly inspired by the family recipes and memories described in the book, particularly the sensory world of a Tuscan family garden filled with sage, vegetables, fruit trees, perfumes, and childhood imagination.
The dinner transformed these recollections into a refined culinary experience where recipes rooted in domestic Tuscan traditions became contemporary gastronomic expressions. Seasonal vegetables, herbs, market produce, rustic preparations, and familiar family dishes were elevated while maintaining their emotional authenticity and connection to memory. Dishes such as leek tart, eggplant parmigiana, artisanal pasta with yellowfin tuna and wild fennel, spinach gnocchi with nutmeg butter, guinea fowl in salmì, and Grandma Duck’s Apple Pie reflected a menu deeply connected to the idea of home, family, and generational storytelling.
Wine pairings curated with producers such as Allegrini Estates, Poggio al Tesoro, and San Polo reinforced the project’s connection to Tuscan territory and craftsmanship, while specialty food producers contributed ingredients that emphasized quality, sustainability, and regional identity.
The 2019 TuttoToscana edition also expanded beyond gastronomy into visual arts and publishing through the presentation of The Girl Who Counted Ants / La Bambina che Contava le Formiche, an illustrated children’s book accompanied by an art exhibition featuring original digital watercolor illustrations by Florentine artist Andrea Mancini.
The exhibition, hosted in New York as part of the TuttoToscana program, transformed the book’s narrative into a visual and emotional experience inspired by the same “Tuscan Garden” theme explored in the dinner. Mancini’s illustrations followed the story of “La Gabri,” a young girl whose imagination, perseverance, and dreams emerge while spending time alone in her family garden counting ants. The visual language evolved from delicate blue watercolor tones into brighter and more vibrant imagery symbolizing growth, creativity, and determination.
The publication and exhibition themselves became interdisciplinary educational projects involving students from Visual Communication, Art and Places, Publishing, and Design courses. Students collaborated on exhibition catalogs, visual identity systems, communication materials, and curatorial development under faculty supervision.
In parallel with the James Beard Foundation dinner, TuttoToscana 2019 also included a dedicated Alumni Dinner event in New York designed to reconnect former FUA-AUF students through food, memory, and shared educational experiences. The event was organized and executed by current Apicius hospitality students, reinforcing the continuity between generations of students participating in the TuttoToscana platform.
A particularly significant aspect of the 2019 edition was its philanthropic dimension: proceeds and donations generated through the TuttoToscana events supported scholarship initiatives for future FUA-AUF students, directly linking cultural production and hospitality education with opportunities for future generations.
Through “Memories of a Tuscan Garden,” TuttoToscana demonstrated how gastronomy can become autobiography, education can become cultural storytelling, and a family garden can evolve into an international platform capable of connecting memory, art, hospitality, and experiential learning across continents.