Three 20-year-old American students trying to prepare a dish of spaghetti set the kitchen on fire in their apartment yesterday afternoon, located in the historical center of Florence, in via Pellicceria. “We put the pasta in a pot on the burner, and did not add water, we thought that was the way it was cooked,” they explained later to the rescuers.

The smoke that escaped from the window of the apartment alarmed the neighbors and the police were called for help. Taken outside by firefighters, the students were unharmed; the fire caused by the burning pot was put out and there was little damage to the apartment.

To read more in Italian, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site.