Il Gemellaggio Toscano, a seafood dinner with {mostly Italian} friends

I have to admit I am a late adapter to Instagram, for years rolling my eyes about the concept of snapping photos with a cell phone - and therefore not realizing how exciting a community I would "meet" until finally joining last year.

After a year of connecting virtually with a like minded group of people from around the globe, this dinner was an exciting first ~ organized by the amazing Katja Meier, who I had met last year via Instagram when we realized we both had a connection to a tiny agriturismo in Maremma:  Il Baciarino, the host of this memorable dinner ...

We discovered Il Baciarino, a small agriturismo in the hills of Vetulonia, exactly two years ago, when we fell in love with the the Maremma region, this special place and its people. Two years ago we arrived as strangers and left as friends, so this spring we are back ~ sharing meals, trading recipes and catching up on life in the old and the new world with our friends and Baciarino's proprietors Clelia and Andrea.

With Vetulonia the first stop on our Italian road trip this month, Clelia and Katja pulled all the local strings, drumming up not one, but actually two dinners with {mostly Italian} friends ~ the first hosted at Il Baciarino and based on the European concept of "gemellaggio", a twinning of sorts, connecting two regions of Tuscany, all while connecting friends old, new and virtual along the way.

the menu.

~  "tartare di frank" { tartare di palamita tonno }

~ carpaccio di triglie e rugarelli

~ polpo condito

~ ombrina spadellata con tomatine

~ fritelle di mare

~ torta rustica di mele

Our gracious host Andrea { Cucina di Andrea } is not only a very talented chef, he also offers cooking classes and private dinners, all prepared in his fantastic open air kitchen and served under the olive tree on the endless view terrace.

{ Update: see part two of the Toscana gemellaggio here }