Florence and Tuscany, Italy

Florence – Santa Maria Novella Church, Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, and Dinner at Il Tartufo and Il Lampredotto (In Mercato Centrale)

May 14, 2018 mmm-yoso Florence and Tuscany, Italy, Italian Restaurants, Italy, Sandwiches, Travel

After recovering from a busy morning, we decided to head on out to do some exploring and last minute shopping.

This church stands just a short walk away from the busiest parts of the city; but it seemed quite relaxed, except for all the hawkers. Construction of the began in 1279 and was completed around 1357. The upper part of the façade was completed around 1470 by Alberti. We were actually going to another destination (more on that later), but decided to stop in here. After all, it was covered by the Firenze Card.

The interior, much like Basilica de Santa Croce is large and open. The Cruxifix here is by Giotto and dates back to the 13th Century.

Another rather famous work in the church is the Holy Trinity by Masaccio whose work was lauded, but died at the young age of 26. (Some say he was poisoned by a jealous rival)

During the 16th century, under orders from Cosimo de' Medici, Vasari painted over the frescoes in the church while creating his own work.

Brunelleschi, who designed the dome of the Duomo is also mentioned as designing the layout of the church as well as creating this wooden crucifix in the Gondi Chapel.

We also went to check out the Cloisters.

And then the Spanish Chapel, which had wonderful frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto depicting the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.

After leaving the church, we went around the corner and down the street to a shop that was once run by the Domincan Monks of Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy (Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella). It is one of the oldest pharmacies in the world having been established sometime in the 13th century.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but is quite huge….and busy. The Missus, who loves shopping was overwhelmed with what to get from the huge lists of products.

Walking around I noticed what looked like to be the old entrance from the Cloisters.

As much as the Missus likes to shop, She is easily overwhelmed. Indeed, when in places like cosmetic shops in Japan, the Missus will often send me photos of the make-up items She needs and I'll go find them by matching the photos and designs on the boxes and containers. After about twenty minutes in here, the Missus was fried.

I had noticed a little Tea Room off to the side of all the crowds.

I suggested getting a nice cup of tea before heading off. Which sounded like a good idea to the Missus.

I had a nice cup of Earl Grey. The Missus, fascinated by the offerings ordered a medicinal liquor, whoa, really sweet…..yikes!

But it was a nice break in the action.

Walking back through the store, I found something that I thought the Missus should purchase. "Acqua di Santa Maria Novella" is said to be the remedy for hysteria and the accompanying indigestion. The Missus wasn't amused.

There was one more place I wanted to visit in Florence. So we decided to head off before dinner, to find a pig. A pig? I always have some oddball items I want to see when travelling and Atlas Obscura has only fed into that desire. Earlier in the day I got to check out Galileo's middle finger, now I was after a bronze pig named Il Porcellino. It took some effort to find Mr Piggy since it's in the area of a large outdoor market. Some nice folks in a nearby restaurant helped us out when I pointed to their little brass pig in the window and asked directions.

So, the drill goes that you place a coin in the mouth of the boar and let it drop. Should it go to though the grates you are destined to have good luck. You then rub the snout, which has been polished smooth from all the folks rubbing it. This ensures you'll return to Florence someday. The coin thing is not as easy as you think. The poor Japanese fellow in front of me tried three times and it never went in. I got it on the first try!

Take that, Mr Piggy!

We decided to do something fun for dinner on this evening and headed off in the direction of Basilica de San Lorenzo.

These duo, playing in front of Monumento a Giovanni delle Bande Nere were really good so we stopped and listened to a couple of songs.

I'd read that the second floor of the Mercato Centrale housed a food court food stands that were pretty good an a lot of fun. It was fairly busy when we arrived, but I had a plan in mind.

The first stand we headed to was……

In case you don't know; tartufo means "truffle".

We ordered the Tagliolino al Tartufo Nero. I was told that these Tartufo Nero were the last of the season (it was the end of March)……it sounded like fun, so why not.

So while the Missus waited for our pasta, I went to the wine shop in the corner of the food stands. Man, the folks here were so nice….I believe the name of the shop is Enoteca Chianti Classico and it was the best glass we had in Florence, the temp was perfect, nice acid….unfortunately it was from Alsace!

Man, that was a pile of truffle on the pasta. The fragrance of the truffle was amazing, though the flavor was quite mild. There was a bit too much sauce for our taste, but the pasta was cooked perfectly. Not bad for 20 Euros. Yes, fresh pasta with truffle in a food court from a food stand.

While we were eating, we saw this huge young man….swear to god he looked like a sumo wrestler. Turns out he was Korean. He cracked us up when he looked at what folks were eating a loudly exclaimed "Paaaa-AAAstaaAAA"! He said this with such sincere joy that you couldn't help but laugh. Oh, and he did get his two plates of pasta!

Next up? After returning our wine glasses we headed to this stand near the other end of the collection of food stands.

Where I saw this sign…….

Really. Florence's ultimate street food made from the abomasum, the "fourth stomach" of the cow with truffle?

Don't mind if I do.

The fragrance of the truffle cut through some of the funky smell of the lampredotto, but didn't interfere with the gamy-offal flavor. I thought the bread was pretty good; light and yeasty. The guy also put some of the mildly spicy salsa verde on this was well. The texture was a bit tougher than versions I had in other dishes during our visit, but this wasn't bad.

The Missus also wanted the Trippa alla Fiorentina as well.

Which arrived just as the Missus got back with our next glass of wine. A nice, light Chianti. She told me the guy working the wine counter was so nice as She asked about the various wine. When She picked one out he told Her, "good, very good, you on vacation, there's no time for bad wine!" You gotta love it.

This tripe was a bit tougher than other versions, but had no off flavors, and was quite tasty overall and for 5 Euros…..

While the Missus went for dessert, I dropped off our wine glass, something I guess others don't do? I got a very nice smile and a thank you from all three folks behind the counter of the wine bar.

I then headed straight for the central bar and got the Missus an espresso and me……well, I thought a Negroni would be a nice way to end the evening.

By now, the place was getting quite busy.

So it was time to stop taking up seats and head on back to the apartment. We really had a fun time at Mercato Centrale.

Mercato Centrale Firenze
Piazza del Mercato Centrale 4
Florence, Italy
Upstairs Hours Vary from 10am – Midnight

We got back to the apartment, had the last glass of wine and went off into dreamland.

Our wonderful host, Matteo was nice enough to arrange for a taxi to the rental car stand for us. He told us, it was the best way to get there. We had gotten up fairly early and packed, our cab wasn't due until 955. Since the Baptistrey opened at 830 and was essentially right down the street we decided to head on over.

Plus, the Missus wanted to see what was behind those bronze doors.

The most striking site was the mosaic on the ceiling.

Which of the Last Judgement.

As we waited for our taxi, we watched daily life in Florence go by……

Lots of tourists yes; but daily life goes on for all the residents.

You know, we ran out of time and didn't even make it into the Duomo. So maybe Il Porcellini is right. I'm going to have to return.

Well, we were off to get our rental car…..

Next up. It's off to Parma. But first, a stop for lunch!

Thanks for stopping by!

Florence – Climbing Campanile (Giotto’s Tower), the Duomo Museum, Dante “Stuff”, Galileo Gives Me the “Finger”, and Paninis From SandwiChic

May 12, 2018 mmm-yoso Florence and Tuscany, Italy, Italy, Sandwiches, Travel

Oh boy….another morning in Florence and just like the previous morning the Missus was ready to go. Since tickets for climbing to the Dome of the Duomo were sold out, the Missus decided we should do the Bell Tower of the Duomo; the Campanile. We got there right when they opened at 830am.

I'd read that this climb was easier than climbing to the Dome, by something like 49 steps…..so I was relieved a bit. Until I actually had to do it. The Missus told me it was going to be a "piece of cake"….only 414 steps!

Boy am I getting old….. up the winding steps…..you arrive at a platform thinking, "this isn't too bad". Until you find out there are even more steps to the next platform. Rinse….repeat…..

There are actually three platforms….I hadn't read about that, so everytime we stopped, I thought we'd made it.

If I was going up to the thirty-first floor….I'd take the elevator. But not here…..

Though I have to say, the views were amazing.

Having the dome in view makes for a more dramatic shot in my opinion.

I even pointed out the street we were staying on, Via Dei Servi, to the Missus.

Of course….we now had to go back down. Getting there early was actually a good move. The higher you go; the more cramped the stairwell is.

I felt great as we exited Giotto's Tower….it was great to be alive. I did want to take a short break though.

The Missus loved the doors of the Baptistery that faced the Duomo, called the "Gates of Paradise". That door of the Baptistry was the work of Lorenzo Ghiberti, who initially won a contest, defeating Brunelleschi (more on him later), for the right to build first the North Door, then the East Door. In all, Ghiberti spent 48 years of his life on those two doors. The original panels are on display in the Duomo Museum, which is why the Missus wanted to visit.

In fact, most of the original sculptures from the Duomo, Baptistery, and Bell Tower are on display in this museum.

One of the more enjoyable areas in the museum is the Gallery of Brunelleschi's Dome. Remember him? In the end, he got a pretty good gig himself…..designing and building the Dome of the Duomo. We really enjoyed the short video presentation, it was so informative.

Other interesting sculptures. Mary Magdalene by Donatello.

This haunting and realistic work was completed by Donatello when he was over sixty years old.

This version of Pieta by Michelangelo, also known as "The Deposition".

It is said that Michelangelo, now in his seventies, originally created this work for his own tomb. There are many different theories about why Michelangelo tried to destroy this work. Much of it was later repaired, but notice that Jesus is still missing a leg.

Once done we headed down toward Piazza della Signoria. We were doing a bit of shopping for gifts. On one of the side streets we came across a small church.

On one of the walls we noticed a painting of Dante Alighieri. This is Santa Margherita de' Cerchi also known as the Church of Dante and Beatrice. The church dates back to 1032. Supposedly, it is in this church where Dante first saw and fell in love with Beatrice who would become his muse. They were both nine at the time. This church is also said to have been the location of Dante's marriage (nope not to Beatrice) to Gemma Donati. Beatrice would marry a banker named Simone di Bardi and die in 1290 at the age of 24.

Literally steps away is Casa di Dante (the Dante House Museum). Since we had the Firenze Card we thought we'd just go ahead and visit.

It was not Dante's "home" per se; as many of the buildings of this time have been torn down. If you're a Dante fan, you'll love this tiny three floor museum of all things Dante.

Florence is full of places to see; large and small. We literally walked a few steps from Casa di Dante and saw folks going in and out of this doorway. We walked in a saw a little chapel with some very nice frescoes. This is the home of the Congregation of the Buonomini di San Martino, formed in 1441 to help those who have fallen into hard times.

How could I not give a couple of Euros?

There seem to be fascinating places like this around every corner……

Down every street……..

A story to be told…..

We finally got to Piazza della Signoria.

Where the Missus spent some time trying things on at the location of Ireri Boutique on Via de Gondi. By now, I had decided on one last stop before lunch.

The Galileo Science Museum (Museo Galileo – Institute and Museum of the History of Science). Not for all the amazing collection of telescopes, scientific instruments…..history….

I wanted to see Galileo's middle finger.

Galileo and the church often clashed, on April 12th, 1633 he was convicted of heresy and was placed on house arrest until his death in 1642. Finally, in 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that Galileo was right. In some odd way, I find the placement of Galileo's middle finger somewhat…..ironic?

Or perhaps it was just because I was getting hungry?

The Missus had been wanting to try a panini in Florence and I had a place in mind. We walked back to where our apartment was and headed four blocks to Sandwichic. The place was packed, though things moved fast. I ordered our paninis on the classic Tuscan schiacciata. We headed back to the apartment and enjoyed ourselves.

The Missus got prosciutto with pecrino, porcini, and truffle cream.

I got the prosciutto cotto, a really nice ham, with pecorino and crema de peperoni (no, not pepperoni), a red pepper sauce.

The sauce was a bit too sweet, but the Missus loved the prosciutto cotto.

The schiacciata was wonderful, fairly light, yeasty, great texture, nicely toasted around the edges, but still soft inside. With a couple of glasses of wine….it was quite nice.

SandwiChic
Via San Gallo 3/r
Florence, Italy

And then it was nap time!

Florence – Snack Time. Grom Gelato and Eataly

April 25, 2018 mmm-yoso Desserts, Florence and Tuscany, Italy, Italy, Markets & Grocers

It's been a long day. Just a quick post for this evening……

Having a nice meal puts you such great state of mind. Everything just looks better…..

Besides the fact this was Florence……

At this time of the night, Piazza della Signoria was quite relaxed at this time of the evening. A far cry from the day time crowds. Though folks (like me) were still out taking photos.

Though the shadows made some of the statues in Loggia dei Lanzi look kind of creepy at night.

As we approached Piazza del Duomo, the Missus decided She wanted some gelato. So we stopped by the nearby Grom Gelato Shop.

I realize Grom is a chain with locations in LA, NYC, and if I recall even Japan.

But the Missus said this was pretty darn good.

I'll take Her word for it.

Grom Gelato
Via del Campanile 2
Florence, Italy

The views of the Duomo and Baptistry probably made it taste even better.

Speaking of chains; the Missus wanted to check out the Florence location of Eataly. We visited the Copenhagen location last year and the Missus really enjoyed Herself.

On the way there we saw these street musicians.

They were really good. But what made things great was the little Pinocchio on a string that danced along to the music….it had better rhythm than me!

We ended up getting a pretty decent bottle of red wine and a nice snack to share.

Eataly
Via dei Martelli 22/r
Florence, Italy

It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

Florence – Basilica de Santa Croce, Piazzale Michelangelo, and Dinner at Il Magazzino (“The Warehouse”)

April 23, 2018 mmm-yoso Florence and Tuscany, Italy, Italian Restaurants, Italy, Memorable Meals, Travel

After a morning of visiting Uffizi Gallery, the Bargello Museum, not too mention a wonderful lunch at Sergio Gozzi, we had a nice nap. Upon wakening, the Missus was ready to go. Her destination, the view from Piazzale Michelangelo. We decided to not even look at the map and just headed off in the direction of the Arno River. We walked past a hospital, down some side streets, then crossed busy Via Verdi and ended up in front of this wonderful looking church.

At which time I took out the map. This was Piazza Santa Croce.

And the church? It was the Basilica di Santa Croce. Since it was covered by the Firenze Card, we decided to visit, and we were really glad we did.

The largest Franciscan Church in the world, it houses and impressive crucifix, of which there's a story. In 1966 Florence suffered a devastating flood, the Arno overflowed and in the Santa Croce area, the high water mark reached 22 feet! The Crucifix, built by Giovanni Cimabue in 1287 was damaged. you can read more about that here. We'd see that crucifix later on.

Another interesting set of stories is of who is….and isn't buried in the church.

There are many notable people buried here; Galileo, Rossini, Ghiberti, and Michelangelo. The photo I took of his tomb is to the right. In 1564 Michelangelo died in Rome. Pope Pius IV gave instructions that the great artist, architect, and poet was to be buried in Rome. Lionardo Buanarroti, Michelangelo's nephew, under the guise of taking care of his uncle's estate and belongings, coordinated getting Michelangelo's body smuggled out of Rome by merchants. There are more stories here. As for who isn't buried in Santa Croce, but have what I guess we can call "monuments" is Dante, who was exiled to Ravenna. When Florence demanded his remains, Ravenna refused. And so, he has a place waiting here I guess. We'd see Dante's tomb later on during the trip.

In the sacristy, you'll find the original crucifix that has been restored as much as possible.

It was approaching 5pm so we decided to head on out.

As we approached the Arno River, we could see our destination.

That's the Torre San Niccolo, once a gate to the city walls. Piazzale Michelangelo is visible on the hill above.

We crossed the river on Ponte alle Grazie and headed up the hill.

From the stairway, you can actually see parts of the old city wall.

Needless to say, the view from Piazzale Michelangelo is wonderful.

And lots of folks walk, cab, and drive it up here. Many, to take in the view, and then have some nice refreshment.

After walking down, we decided to stay on the south side of the river. I had a restaurant in mind which was located in the Oltrarno neighborhood.

A few blocks off of busy Via de Guicciardini is a quaint little square.

Sadly, our destination wasn't open yet. Nor were the doors unlocked so I could ask for reservations. On the other side of the Piazza della Passera was a café, by the name of Caffè degli Artigiani. This was one of those places…..that I wish we had here; serving everything from espresso, to beer, to wine, to cocktails, to Spritz. Feeling a bit hungry? Well, for one euro, you can fill up your plate with Apertivo, basically snacks. I'm not sure if it's all you can eat, but we saw one guy come in a fill up his plate three times!

I'd been waiting to finally get my hands on a Negroni, which was created in Florence. I've done a couple of posts on meals I've had with a Negroni or two.

This was not bad……but most of the fun was just sitting and watching all the folks come in; grab a spritz, stand at the bar or hang around the square and come back to drop off the glass when done.

Caffè degli Artigiani
Via dello Sprone 16/r
Firenze, Italy

By this time, the restaurant, named "Il Magazzino", aka "the Warehouse" was open.

Sadly, we were told they had "no tables….all reserved". The Missus asked about the outside tables and the really nice guy said, "oh no…too cold". I was a bit bummed, but that's the way it goes. As we thanked him…..he looked at us and said, "ok, you want outside….is ok…..is ok." That's how we got our dinner at Osteria Tripperia Il Magazzino.

We started with a very beefy, really nice beef tongue carpaccio.

The cheese added just the right amount of milky-saltiness to the tongue. The greens were very bitter, which I kind of enjoyed, but the Missus did not.

The Missus's favorite dish of the evening? The Ravioli di Lampredotto con Cipolla di Tropea.

I gotta say; this was super delici-yoso! The tomato sauce was just tangy enough, it tasted like sunshine! The sauce was thick and the flavor condensed which helped to balance out the strong flavor of our friend, the "fourth stomach" of the cow, which was almost buttery when minced. There was a small amount of red onion "Cipolla di Tropea" which added a bit of texture to the ravioli. The Missus is still talking about this dish.

Of course I had to try the Trippa alla Fiorentina here.

The tripe was oh so tender, and I really like the tomato sauce here. This was really good.

The Missus, still fascinated by Lampredotto ordered the Lampredotto Salcicca e Fagioli.

A nice, slightly smoky, almost Spanish style sausage, with those oh-so tasty local beans, and mildly offal-ly – beefy lampredotto.

A couple of glasses of wine; the very warm and amiable service.

Being able to watch the happenings on the local square.

The big, jolly guy working here wasn't so jolly when a guy sitting on one of the benches threw some litter on the ground. He saw it….went to the guy and made him pick it up and throw it in the trash can. We loved it!

This was our favorite meal in Florence. It was just the kind of place we like.

Osteria Tripperia Il Magazzino
Piazza della Passera
Firenze, Italy

As we took our leave, Caffè degli Artigiani was still doing good business.

I'd eaten quite a bit on this day; but one look at my phone and I knew why.

Meanwhile, the Missus was on the look-out for some Gelato!

Thanks for reading!

Florence – Uffizi Gallery, Bargello Museum, and Lunch at Trattoria Sergio Gozzi

April 19, 2018 mmm-yoso Florence and Tuscany, Italy, Italian Restaurants, Italy, Travel

How'd you like to walk out your front door, look down the street and see this first thing in the morning?

Well, that's the view as we exited the front door of our apartment in the morning.

Today's mission? Getting to Uffizi Gallery right when they opened at 0815. After a couple of shots of espresso….our apartment was well equipped, we still had some time on our hands, we admired the Duomo and the Baptistery for a bit.

The Missus especially enjoyed the bronze doors of the Baptistery.

So we decided that we'd have to visit the Duomo Museum to see the originals (these are reproductions) at the Duomo museum the next day. More on that in a future post.

We headed in the direction of Uffizi down Via Orsanmichele, taking some time to admire the statues imbedded in the exterior of Orsanmichele Church.

We made our way to Piazza della Signoria, usually bustling, was quite sedate at a few minutes before 8 in the morning.

This is pretty much the heart of Florence. With Palazzo Vecchio towering over the square, Michelangelo's David stood in front of the doors of this palace until 1873. A replica now stands in its place.

There's an interesting plaque in the square. Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican Friar whose prophecies and preaching helped to overthrow the Medici family rule (until 1530) and became the defacto leader of the ruling party of Florence. In 1497 Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Savonarola. On Palm Sunday in 1498, Savonarola and his followers were arrested and tortured. On May 23rd, 1498 Savonarola and two other Friars were executed by hanging on the spot where the plaque is located. Man, what a story!

To the right of the Palazzo is the Loggia dei Lanzi which is filled with statues like Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa, which looks kind of scary and creepy.

And right past that is Uffizi Gallery.

We got into line, under the stares of statues of great figures of the Renaissance.

So, one of the main goals of having the Firenze Card was to be able to get in the reserved line. And being early….there were still folks here before us as we arrived at 8am, we got in with the first group of folks.

There are of course, those works that we all know……Botticelli's iconic Birth of Venus

Or Spring (Primavera).

With so much symbolism.

Or Michelangelo's only known completed painting, Holy Family (Doni Tondo)

Look at the subjects…..they actually look like renderings of statues…….

There are also great views of the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio from various windows.

I loved the Seven Virtues.

Of which, a young Boticelli painted "Fortitude", at the left.

There quite a bit to keep you occupied for hours, like Perseus Freeing Andromeda by Piero di Cosimo, completed somewhere between 1510 and 1513. You see Perseus twice in this work, first flying from with winged sandals. He spies Andromeda, who is to be sacrificed to a sea monster. He swoops down and after dispatching the monster and rescuing the maiden, he wins her hand.

And St Jerome in the Desert by Giovanni Bellini. Bellini panted several versions of this theme, one resides in the National Gallery in Washington DC.

There's an interesting story about this version of Laocoon and His Sons.

You could easily spend the whole day here; though we think about 2 to 2 1/2 hours is more than reasonable.

We left the gallery and headed out across the Arno River on the Ponte Vecchio.

Once upon a time, many segmental arch bridge were covered and lined with shops like Ponte Vecchio; which means "Old Bridge". The bridge was the only way to cross the river in Florence until 1218.

Once upon a time, butcher shops lined the bridge. These days it jewelry and leather goods.

The Missus ended up buying a nice pair of leather gloves.

We walked across the bridge and ended up having a couple of double espressos across from Pitti Palace. Where the Missus planned for our next stop; the Bagello.

Did you know that the Bargello has something in common with my hometown? It turns out that parts of Honolulu Hale, specifically the courtyard, staircase, and ceiling were modelled after the Bargello?

The Bargello is known for its collection of sculpture and statues.

Like Giambologna's "Flying Mercury".

And then there was the one piece that caught my attention. I ended up sending "CC" a text with a photo of the sculpture below and a message that went something along the lines of "and you thought SNF made the Point Move famous. Heck no….it's been around since forever!"

To which CC responded with a comment about the, ahem, attire……no Angel Flights here!

As you can tell, I was getting a bit punchy, perhaps my own version of Florence (Stendahl) Syndrome, it was time for a break.

It was time for lunch.

There's was a place I wanted to try, a place only open for lunch, from noon to 3pm, Monday thru Saturday….three hours! A place that's been in business since 1915. It was just after twelve when we arrived at the rather discreet location across the street from San Lorenzo Church.

I don't think the place takes reservations and the dining area was almost full when we arrived. Luckily we found a table.

The menu is a single page, but it was pretty easy picking out what we were having.

The Missus wanted to try Ribollita (6€ – $7.25US)

Thick, but not too thick, very hearty; this version had beans (delici-yoso) which added a wonderful earthy touch, to the almost potage texture of the soup. The greens added a mild bitter-sweetness. This was wonderful.

Based on our previous meal, I wanted to try the Trippa alla Fiorentina (9,5 € – $11.65).

The surprisingly tender tripe was elevated with a slightly tangy tomato sauce; the flavor of celery seemed present. This was so good…..I've never had tripe so tender and delicious.

Folks in Florence love their meat….so I had to try the Bollito Misto (boiled beef and beef tongue – 10,5€)

This one was kind of odd…though you couldn't accuse the place of false advertising…it was indeed boiled meat……..no seasoning……

Overall lunch was a winner….with a couple of glasses of wine, who could ask for more?

We really enjoyed the service in Florence. Folks were relaxed, but very nice. Trattoria Sergio Gozzi was no different.

Trattoria Sergio Gozzi
Piazza San Lorenzo 8r
Florence, Italy

The Missus couldn't believe a place could survive for over a century open just 3 hours a day. But after eating here we knew why!

It was time for a nap…….

Thanks for stopping by!

Florence – Michelangelo’s David and Dinner at Enzo e Piero

April 17, 2018 mmm-yoso Florence and Tuscany, Italy, Italian Restaurants, Italy, Travel

In contrast to relaxed and laid back Bologna, Florence was a beehive of activity. From the tine we arrived at the train station there were crowds of people. And yet, there was the experience of walking from the train station and turning the corner to see the Duomo.

I have heard that there is no greater representation of the Renaissance than the Duomo. Walking down busy streets and turning the corner to suddenly have it right in front of you certainly has quite an affect.

One cannot deny the influence of the Medici Family on the Renaissance and on Florence itself.

And yes, the crowds were large, but that just made people and pooch watching that much more interesting.

We had a nice apartment on Via del Servi (more on that later), which was large, comfortable, and quiet at night. Our host Matteo was amazing as well. Our next mission was to get a Firenze Card

For me, once settled, I believed we needed to get a Firenze Card. There were places we wanted to see, and the 71 Euro price would allow us to beat some of the lines and I was sure the Missus would have us headed to more than enough locales to make up for the price of the pass. The closest location open was in Piazza della Signora.

So we headed on over.

After trying to figure things out and with the help of various folks at different admission windows I found the line. About thirty minutes later I had our passes in hand.

We headed right to Accademia which was fairly close and I knew we'd be able to cover in a short amount of time because everyone comes to see…..

The masterpiece that is Michelangelo's David in full glory. I must say, there are those great works of art that do not impress very much in person. David did.

This Renaissance symbol of the victory of divine good over evil stands seventeen feet tall. The detail, especially of the hands is amazing.

David hold the classic pose known as Contrapposto ("counterpoise").

And yes, it was a bit busy; but not super crowded as entrance volume is well controlled. Great for us as we had a short 15 minute wait in the "reserved" line with the Firenze Card. Not so great if you were in the line stretching down the block at the hour of 430 pm.

The rest of the Gallery was pretty empty.

We explored a bit; taking time to check out four unfinished works by Michelangelo dubbed "The Prisoners" each seems to be trying to be….to quote the "unofficial" Accademia website – "to free the spirit from matter".

These four works were initially intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II.

We spent about an hour in total wandering around.

The close location of our apartment allowed us some downtime before heading off to dinner.

I had made only three restaurant reservations before leaving on our trip, including one for the first night in Florence. I was curious about the traditional food of Florence and after reading a bunch of food blogs and such, especially this wonderful post on Curious Appetite (check them out), I thought we'd check out Enzo e Piero.

We had reservations for 7pm, which is probably "tourist time" for eating in Florence, but the folks working were so friendly and gracious. and we were indeed the first customers for this evening.

Though by the time our first bottle of Vino Rosso made it to the table; the place was half full.

We both started with soup courses.

The Missus with a very thick Ribollita. A traditional Tuscan "soup", in this case very thick like a potage.

I'd read that most versions had beans, but this did not. The "soup" was really super thick, bread is used to thicken the soup, and this seemed to have a tad too much of it for our taste. the flavors of the greens and other vegetables were muted.

I got the Tortellini en Brodo. Yes, it's mainly known as a classic dish from Emilia-Romagna; but it was chilly outside and I thought this would be nice.

While the broth was a bit light in the flavor department; man that hand made pasta was amazing. I'd really never had anything like this before. The texture, light yet substantial, just the perfect amount of springiness.

If the Tortellini wasn't enough of a pleasant surprise the Lampredotto in Zimino was just plain great.

For the unitiated, lampredotto, made from the abomasum, aka, the "fourth stomach" of the cow and named after lampreys due to the resemblance of the "tripe" to the color and shape of the eel like creature. I didn't expect much and man, was I surpised at the amazing flavor and texture. The texture is almost buttery, there's a mild "offal" flavor that's deeply beefy-savory, the light tomato sauce did a great job of not masking any flavors; just adding a touch of tanginess. You can tell; this was love at first bite. From this point on, it was going to be "all tripe, all the time" for us.

The artisanal beans; Fagioli Zolfini del Vardarno, heirloom Tuscan beans from Valdarno had a deep beany flavor, if a bit under cooked for our tastes.

Last up for the Missus was the Taglierini al Tartufo Fresco. The Missus asked me what "tartufo" was and I told Her "truffles"…..so you know She was going to order this.

The pasta was so springy. Another thing I learned on this trip, I'd been putting too little salt in my pasta water. We found the pasta, didn't need too much olive oil, garlic, onions…… These "fresh" (fresco) black truffles were very fragrant, but quite mild in flavor.

Amazingly, all the dishes, and most everything we had on this trip just wasn't very salty. It was a fantastic experience for us.

Enzo e Piero has been around since 1931, we wanted to start our trip eating more traditional fare, and this was a good start.

Trattoria Enzo e Piero
Via Faenza 105 rosso
Florence, Italy

Did you notice the "rosso" after the number? Well, Florence addresses have two different sets of numbers. The "rosso", red is for businesses, you'll often see a number ending in 'r'; this means red. Residences are in black or blue. While it can be a bit confusing; it's got nothing on the Japanese address system, which I've mentioned in a couple of posts before.

For dessert, well, we were in Florence, so the Missus grabbed some Gelato from one of what seems like thousands of Gelato shops in Florence.