Soup season in Tuscany doesn’t end once spring begins, but it does mean the soups start to take a different tone.
Garmugia, for example, a specialty of the city of Lucca, bridges the seasons by marrying a hearty backbone of pancetta, meat stock, and ground beef or veal with freshly picked artichokes, peas, fava beans and asparagus — the first tender vegetables of spring. Like the season itself, garmugia bursts with contrasts, at once tender and bold, simultaneously lushly green yet robust and meaty.
