Cappuccino e Cornetto (found out in Italy that's what they call croissants, so that's what imma call it from now on). Had to go earlier than normal and they were busy, so I didn't have to explain my absence yesterday. Another deportation bullet dodged. Whew!
Frank's cousin Maria Christina arranged for her friend Laura to give us a personal tour of the city. Laura is a tour guide by profession, so she is very knowledgeable about Florence. She also speaks wonderful English. Frank's aunt Maria Pia and his uncle Mauro also joined us for the tour, and added excellent commentary with their own facts about the places we went, as well as personal anecdotes about family members who had worked in certain places, or where Frank's parents and aunt visited when they came here.
Laura's son is a member of the Florence rowing team, and that gives her exclusive access to the rowing club, which has a small Cafe with seating on the riverbank. We had coffee there with a view of the Ponte Vecchio, and watched the boats on the water. We got there a little before noon, so everyone was nice enough to indulge me and let me have a second cappuccino. I know there are rules, and I've followed them, but the foam in cappuccino makes me so happy, so I was grateful for the second one, even though I know everyone would have preferred I get espresso.
From there we bid ciao to our amazing tour guide, but not before she gave us a few more incredible facts off the top of her head about the Piazza della Repubblica. I swear this woman is a walking encyclopedia of Florence. How fortunate we were to have spent time with her!
We started walking with Maria and Mauro from there to the central market, where we were meeting their son Mauritzio. Near the Duomo, Maria pulled me aside and took me near a specific store. It took a bit to figure out what she was saying, but between Frankie and I we discovered she wanted to send a gift back with us for Frank's sister, and wanted our opinion on the gift she was thinking about sending. We both agreed that Jo would love the gift, so Maria and I went to purchase it.
We arrived at the central market (Mercato Centrale) and Mauritzio had printed out information for us in English telling us the history of the place (so thoughtful!). It's part of a larger market that dates back to the mid 1800s when Florence was the capital of Italy.
Outside the building in the surrounding streets and square, merchants sell goods such as leather, tapestries, and of course souvenirs.
Inside is food. Lots and lots of food.
On the ground floor it's mostly merchants selling unprepared food like raw meats, vegetables, fruit, etc. On the first floor (we've learned here that what we consider the second floor is the first, and what we consider the first floor is the ground floor), there are about one hundred thousand restaurants. It's like the biggest mall food court you've ever seen, on steroids. Any kind of food you can imagine or want can be found here. Only unlike the food court in the mall, the food here is actually good. Like, really really good.
Frankie had pasta (shocking, I know) with mushrooms, I had a kebab of chicken, beef, and sausage with a side of roasted potatoes. Both were delicious. Mauritzio had the same as me, and Mauro and Maria had lampredotto, which is cow stomach (tripe- like in menudo but prepared differently). They were very sure I wouldn't try it, and even more sure I wouldn't like it, but I did both. It was delicious! I explained to them that I have been eating tripe my whole life, and I love it. Lol
Also unlike mall food courts, we had a delicious bottle of red wine. Maurizio bought us all Gelato for dessert. Man I love Gelato! If you've never been here, you've never had Gelato. Even if you've had something called Gelato, you haven't. It's very different. It's so creamy, and it hardly melts. Like honestly, of course it melts, but you can really take the time to savor it more because it melts slower than ice cream does. And the flavors are so piquant, and real. Pistachio tastes just like a frozen, creamy pistachio. Pomegranate (one of my favorites) tastes exactly like a pomegranate. I'm pretty sure it's witchcraft.
During lunch, Maria told me she'd like to get me something to remember the trip by. We discussed a few things, and she asked about a pandora charm (she had a pandora bracelet and we had talked about them being popular here and back home). I explained I don't have a pandora bracelet, so she decided that's what she'd get me. As soon as we were done with lunch, she insisted we go straight to the pandora store nearby. She bought me a beautiful bracelet that I love. I asked them if they had any charms like any of the ones Maria has on her pandora bracelet and they had one that was identical (it's round with hearts all over it), so I bought that one for my bracelet.
As we were leaving, Maria told the lady who helped us that I was her "Bambina dell'America", so now, my Italian aunt and her Bambina dell'America have bracelets with matching charms to commemorate our first meeting.
Maria and Mauro bid us farewell, and we headed home to rest a bit. For Aperitivo, we tried this place that is very popular here. It's a sandwich shop called All'Antico Vinaio, and it's all the rage (with tourists mostly). We've heard about it for a couple of years, and it's right near our flat. The lines are insane, but they weren't bad at that time, so we gave it a shot.
It was.. Ok.
Frankie got la Manolo (prosciutto, two different kinds of cream spread with mushrooms (truffle and Porcini), eggplant, and mozzarella). I had the Numero 5 (porchetta, parmesan spread, and a creamy spread with potatoes). They were definitely good, and cheap for a huge sandwich, but honestly too busy. The best thing (in my opinion) about Italian cuisine is its very simple. Just good flavors that complement each other and only a few ingredients. Nothing extravagant. This was a bit too much. Too many flavors in one dish, so you couldn't really fully enjoy any of them. Don't misunderstand me, they were some of the best sandwiches we've ever had, but I liked the porchetta sandwich from Roberta and Roberto the day before better. It relied on the quality of it's ingredients, whereas this relied on the hype.
If you still feel the need to try it, we have been informed by the family that they're getting a location in Times Square, and I see on their website they're also opening in LA, so wait and get it there because I guarantee compared to other food in LA, they will stand out! When you come here, save yourself an hour wait in line and get something else. Life is too short to wait that long for good food in a place where good food is literally every 5 feet or so.
We decided to order the sandwiches to go and eat them at our flat, so we could try the vernaccia Alessandro had given us the day before. It was so good, and a perfect complement to our food. I highly recommend you give this one a try when you're in the area.
We had no plans for dinner, so we kind of just wandered around and stumbled onto a place that had mushroom risotto on special, and Frankie loves risotto and has yet to have any, so we decided to dine there. From their reviews online, Frankie learned that one of their specialties is trippa alla fiorentina, which is prepared very differently from the Lampredotto I tried earlier, so I decided to stick with the theme and give it a whirl. It's served in a tomato sauce, and it is so so so delicious. It's almost creamy it's so tender, and I really loved it. Frankie's risotto was equally delicious - the perfect mix of salty and creamy.
We ended up chatting for an hour with the owner, us in Spanish and broken Italian - he in broken English and Italian. It was a great time!
Interestingly, after another day of walking, I think my knees have given up. They are mildly sore now instead of screaming. I don't think they've gotten better, I just think they've been screaming so much for so long they've gone hoarse. Either way, they're not bugging me anymore, so imma call it a win. It's possible they'll just up and die on me at some point, but until then I'm just going to go with it...
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