As a child, Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s mum entertained her with stories of her travels through Italy – she was particularly entranced by her mother’s descriptions of tall cypress trees, delicate Florentine leather gloves and pici (thick spaghetti). So while studying Italian at university in Melbourne, she took the opportunity to further her studies in Florence and eventually landed a job in southern Tuscany.
“I lived in a huge Tuscan villa on a large property,” says the cook and food writer. “We grew a lot of our own produce and anything we couldn’t grow was sourced locally from the market or farms. Ricotta, still warm from being made; local pasta from a wheat farm; and fish bought directly from the fishermen’s daily catch.”
