Today we met Maria Pia and Mauro to pick Miriam up from school and have lunch. We walked over to an area of Firenze that is not at all touristy, and into a small but crowded restaurant called Alla Vecchia Bettola (to the old tavern). This is definitely a local’s place - we were seated at a table for 7, but there were only 5 of us, and not long after, a couple of gentlemen were seated at the end. I don't know why we don't do that in the states. If a place is busy, and I've got room at my table, why not let someone else sit there?
Anyhow, we ordered appetizers, and Maria Pia made sure that instead of the crostini with liver pate that is the custom here, I got my own order with tomato bruschetta so I didn't have to eat liver . After that we had a meat plate with salami, finocchio, prosciutto, and sopressata. Delicious!
For the main course Maria and Frankie had the vegetable risotto. Miriam had the house pasta, which was a sort of creamy tomato sauce and was very, very good. Mauro had peposo dell'impruneta, which is a tuscan version of beef burgundy. I ordered the roasted chicken, and when it arrived it was white meat chicken (most likely breast) with the skin on and stuffed with ham, dark meat chicken, and eggs. Holy cow was it delicious.
For dessert we all ordered something different, Frankie and I opting for cantucci and Vin Santo, because we won't be able to get it much longer, since Vin Santo is either something Florentine's don't want to export and share with the rest of the world (neither would I), or American companies just don't want to import it. Either way, when we CAN find it, it's minimum $30/bottle, and here the most we've seen it sell in stores for is $8/bottle.
Anyway, after lunch we headed over to Cattedrale dell’Immagine, which is a deconsecrated church that was turned into a museum that is known for immersive experiences. Their current exhibit is Salvador Dali, and Miriam's other grandparents bought us tickets to see it (this family... they're just wonderful to us). This was a really cool exhibit.
In the foyer there was a bunch of details of his life and the history of his work. At the end of that, there's an exhibition of his illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy. Apparently back in 1950, when it was the 700th anniversary of his birth, Italy commissioned Dali for these as commemoration. However, there was a bit of a controversy about it because he isn't Italian and many here felt this honor should go to an Italian artist, so they were never displayed until now.
Knowing a little about Dali and his ego, that must have really bugged him. I'm surprised it isn't more well known. Anyhow, they're very cool. Some of them, true to form, are pretty odd, but if you can't be weird with your depictions about a story like that, I'm not sure when you can be.
Once we'd seen the stuff in the foyer, we proceeded through a curtained doorway and up some stairs into what used to be the sanctuary of the church. All around us were projections of art. Some were copies of the same piece, some of which were zoomed in and panned across the piece so you could see every detail. Some pieces were displayed with pieces from other artists that served as his inspiration. There was music accompanying it, and chairs set up so you could sit and watch. In the middle of the room was a platform, with another curtained door. When we entered that, we were in a room of mirrors, with a copy of the main projection from the larger room projecting on the back wall but mirrored on all the others along with our own reflection, so it sort of felt like you were a part of the painting yourself. Very cool effect. Between that room and the larger room, we sat and watched the show for about 30 minutes until we were sure we had seen everything. Very cool museum and exhibit.
We bid farewell to our hosts, but not before Maria Pia handed me a bag with more gifts. This time for our niece, our daughter, and Frankie's mom. Also in the bag were additional gifts for us . For Frankie, there was a CD of a live Andrea Bocelli performance. For me, there was a keychain Maria had bought when she was in Ireland. Oh, how they do spoil us here!
We wandered around for a bit, mostly heading in the direction of our flat, and found ourselves at the market that il Porcellino is in. It was absolutely Frankie's turn for a gift, so we looked around and settled on a gorgeous leather folio/briefcase combo that is very unique - I've not seen anything like it, and I think he'll get a lot of use out of it.
For dinner we decided to go to il FrancescaBaldovino one last time. We were seated toward the front this time, and when Zac saw us, he came up and moved us to our regular table by the kitchen . We were going to share a cheese platter for our appetizer, but Zac said no, and recommended we try the pumpkin flan instead. Then he must have felt bad, or we must have looked hungry, because we were brought both. The cheeses were good, and the flan looked familiar. I realized it was because Margi h had made us something similar for lunch a couple of weeks ago. This version was a little different, but just as delicious as the one Margi made. Zac was very proud of himself for the recommendation.
For the main course, I needed to have that pumpkin risotto one more time, and Frankie ordered the Gnudi antica ricetta al burro & Salvia, which turned out to be balls of ricotta cheese with chopped sage mixed in and served in a butter sauce. Freaking delicious.
We were both too full for dessert, so we just had coffee and digestivo (grappa for him and sambuca for me). By now we were the only patrons left in the place, and Zac sat down to talk with us for a bit when he learned that we were leaving Thursday. We had a really nice visit with him, he gave us some pointers on where to go /stay when we come back next time, and before we left he gifted us with a bottle of wine , and said that if we want to send our friends there, tell them to ask for him and he'll take good care of them.
So, if you're in town, go to il Francescano (remember, there are 4 in a row, but only one door has a sign above it with that name, (and above that sign is another sign with a different restaurant name, so really it's very simple), and that's the one that the kitchen is in), ask for Zac, and tell him Frankie and Krista sent you. You won't be disappointed!
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