Fun Facts & Tidbits
The ABC's
So what's uniquely Florentine? There were some tough ones (like the letter Z) and then there were some letters that offered up plenty of choices. Here's what we came up with...
A Arno River, Accademia
B Bargello, Bronze Doors, Bonfire of the Vanities C Cooking class, Climbing the Cupola D David, Duomo E Earrings F Fortress City G Gelato, Gypsies, Giotto's Campanile H Humorous (street signs) I Intellectual |
J Jewelry
L Loggia della Signoria M Monastery N Nocciolo O Oltrarno, Orsanmichele Church P Ponte Vecchio Q Quattro Leoni R Renaissance, Piazza della Repubblica S Santo Spirito T (Homemade) Tagliatelle U Uffizi V Views, Vespas, Vasari Corridor W Walkable *Interesting fact: the Italian alphabet does not include letters such as J, K, W, X and Y.
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Eats & Treats
Whereas Venice was focused on the seafood, the word on the street was that Florence was all about beef. The other culinary star of Florence is gelato which by all claims originated from here. I love both so I was looking forward to sampling what Florence had to offer.
Beef
Chianina beef comes from the hills of Tuscany and the meat from these grass-fed cows produce this fine meat.
Bistecca alla Fiorentina is the classic T-bone or Porterhouse steak, cooked for handful of minutes on each side. Simply prepared with a sprinkle of salt, the cut of meat is so thick, given the time the meat stays on the grill, you better be OK with rare. Another derivation of the classic is the sliced steak which we enjoyed on our group dinner night served in a classic manner with arugula. No sauce, just the meat. The steak was tender and delicious, so simple yet so good.
Bistecca alla Fiorentina is the classic T-bone or Porterhouse steak, cooked for handful of minutes on each side. Simply prepared with a sprinkle of salt, the cut of meat is so thick, given the time the meat stays on the grill, you better be OK with rare. Another derivation of the classic is the sliced steak which we enjoyed on our group dinner night served in a classic manner with arugula. No sauce, just the meat. The steak was tender and delicious, so simple yet so good.
Gelato
I love ice cream. Fancy and complex. Plain and simple. Any flavor. Any size. Cup or cone. Not only is Florence the birthplace of the Renaissance, it also happens to be the birthplace of the fabulous treat, gelato, ice cream's Italian cousin. Eating quality food product was a priority so the only gelato to treat yourself to was the authentic stuff aka 'artigianale'. We were told to be wary of the day-glow colored version because it was likely made from a mix rather than being fresh.
Since they invented gelato, Florentines figure that they must know a thing or two about the good stuff. I decided to pay attention to all the gelato shops that crossed my path on one particular day and you can see some of the evidence below. Knowing full well that I have barely scratched the surface, the one shop that was my favorite: Perche No!'s nocciolo (hazelnut) and bacio (chocolate hazelnut). Yummy!
Since they invented gelato, Florentines figure that they must know a thing or two about the good stuff. I decided to pay attention to all the gelato shops that crossed my path on one particular day and you can see some of the evidence below. Knowing full well that I have barely scratched the surface, the one shop that was my favorite: Perche No!'s nocciolo (hazelnut) and bacio (chocolate hazelnut). Yummy!
Favorite Meal
A highlight of our visit to Florence was our cooking class at In Tavola. As part of the tour, our backstreets excursion brought us to this Oltrarno spot where Anne, Charlie, Katy, Warren and I made up our awesome cooking team. We had fun with our chef Fabrizio who joked and teased us as we mixed, cracked, whipped, folded, chopped, diced, cored, scored, minced, sautéed, boiled, cranked and assembled our food.
After all that hard work, we sat down in their wine cellar to enjoy our meal: bruschetta (pronounced ‘brew-skeh-tah’); freshly made tagliatelle with tomato, capers, garlic, parsley and white wine; sautéed turkey with mushrooms and the finale, tiramisu. The tiramisu was dangerously easy to make. It might be appearing on a dinner table near you very soon.
I have to admit it: our meal was really tasty and I wasn’t shy about helping myself to seconds (and then thirds!) of the pasta. Not only did we pick up a few cooking tips and learned some new recipes, we had such a fun afternoon. It was delicious and definitely my favorite Florence meal. Buon appetito!
Traveler's Advice
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Amuse-Bouche
I came across these funny 'Do Not Enter' signs throughout our Backstreets of Florence morning tour. Which one is your favorite?