early morning, Piazza Santa Croce

Do's and Don'ts

DO buy some of your produce from the fresh markets like San Ambrogio and Mercato Centrale, if not for the quality of the fruits and vegetables harvested from Italian farms then for the fun and cultural experience.

DO take a small Italian dictionary or phrasebook with you. If you are having trouble with a menu look up your questions in it first or if you’d like to say something in Italian teach yourself how to say it. Making an effort will separate you from the tourists who expect everyone to speak English and consider it an inconvenience when locals and staff don’t.

DO enjoy the long, slow, Italian style meal with family or friends. Pick a time when no one has to be anywhere anytime soon and order one thing at a time, try different wines with different courses, and really take the time to enjoy your food and your company.

DO explore the Oltrarno. The Oltrarno has far less tourists and none of the giant umbrella-led groups in single file, better restaurants, cheaper options, an amazing assortment of shops with hand-made goods, some beautiful churches like Santo Spirito and San Miniato, Piazzele Michelangelo for a beautiful view, and the Pitti Palace and the Boboli and Bardini gardens. Are you convinced yet?

DON’T travel every weekend. I know you’re in Europe for such a short amount of time and you want to see as much of it as you can but don’t forget about exploring the place you live.

DON’T eat out for every meal. Grocery shop in the local markets (see DO #1) or grocery stores to save some money each week and whip yourself up an easy meal at home or make a night of it with your friends and all cook together, have a glass of wine, and take part in a cheaper version of DO # 3

DON’T eat the gelato that is close to the main sights (Ponte Vecchio, Duomo etc) and is piled high in its containers and covered with old fruit and hardened chocolate drizzles. It may be convenient but you have not tasted true gelato until you find a tiny place where Italians, not tourists, buy their gelato. Try: Gelato di Filo before the steps to Michelangelo, Gelato di Neri on via di Neri close to FUA, or la Carraia on the other side of the Arno right across the Ponte la Carraia.

DON’T spend all your free time on your computer. I know you have TV shows to catch up on and you want to skype with your family, friends, and significant other but Hello? You’re in Florence, Italy. You can catch up when you get home. Get outside, now.

Piazza del Duomo

People around the world are familiar with the image of the facade of the Duomo but unless you have spent some time in Florence you might not know that the Duomo becomes a social gathering when the sun begins to sink into the sky and all the tourists who have had crowded around it earlier are off to some fancy tour-book-recommended dinner.

As the last light of the day leaves the sky, the lights within the Piazza glow orange against the cobalt sky. People gather on the steps to meet friends, share a bottle of wine, or even a small picnic. Friends walk side by side, motorcycle helmets in hand to a nearby restaurant, and strangers gather under white umbrellas to enjoy a drink with a view of the most spectacular and revolutionary church in all of Italy. 

Checking off my Bucket List!

1. Went to the Uffizi, check! I don't know if I'm a huge fan of Renaissance art but seeing Botticelli's Venus and Primavera was really amazing.

4. Went to Fiesole, check! My parents and I spent a lovely afternoon and evening walking around Fiesole, seeing the ancient Etruscan and Roman ruins and had an amazing dinner looking over the hills that tumble down to Florence's center.

8. Went to Palazzo Vecchio and saw the Medici rooms, check! Sadly Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted human skull left in May, but the Medici rooms were magnificent and really gave you a taste of the power the Medici family held over Florence for centuries.

9. Got the cheesecake from Tre Panche....twice. check! I went once with my friends and a second time with my parents, Tre Panche is really a must-go for incredible Italian food in a cozy, welcoming, authentic environment.

12. Went to the Galileo Museum, check! For some reason, although I clearly know the difference between the two inventors, when I went I was thinking of it as the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum so I was disappointing to not find any flying machines, but it was still really interesting.

My Old Friend in the Fountain

This is my favorite fountain in Florence. 

My first encounter with the fountain was on my first night in Florence way back in January, the shuttle that took us from the airport to our new apartments crashed into the fountain, luckily it was unharmed.

From then on it became a marker of the street to my best friend in Florence's apartment, the way to my favorite restaurant (4 Leoni), the halfway mark on the walk to school or to home, and just a friendly face when I was flustered from elbowing my way through tour groups, had too much on my plate for schoolwork, or was overwhelmed trying to plan some complicated weekend of travel.

So here's to you, my old whiskered man in the fountain, thanks for being there.

Pecorino, a Traditional Tuscan Cheese

One week after I was struck down by the stomach flu, I am finally seeming to make a full recovery. That being said, this past week has hardly given me the opportunity to write the article I intended about different aperitivo places around the city since my stomach refused to handle anything besides bananas, vegetable broth, and crackers, bleh. Despite my stomach pains, I found myself craving the things I knew they would not help my situation, particularly cheese. Unable to eat it, I could at least write about it. Coming from a foodie family that drives 45 minutes to do our grocery shopping at a traditional, fresh food, Italian market, I was familiar with Pecorino cheese before I arrived in Florence. I loved it sliced in my salads, grated into omelets with vegetables, on open-faced sandwiches with avocado and tomato, and just by itself maybe with a cracker or two. There really was no way to go wrong with pecorino since it comes in all different textures from almost spreadable to very hard and crumbly and varies in flavor from surprisingly mild to very sharp.  What I did not know is what a staple it is here in Tuscany. On almost every menu you can find “mixed pecorino cheese”, usually accompanied by honey (an amazing discovery!), and the only other time you see another cheese available is mozzarella in a salad, ricotta stuffed into your pasta, or parmesan sprinkled over. Every cheese has a role but pecorino is the only one that stands on its own. So since it’s such an important cheese to Tuscan cuisine I wanted to know more.

Looking into the history of pecorino cheese I found that it is a sheep’s milk cheese and gets its name from the Italian word pecore, which means, sheep. Pecorino began first in Rome which was then surrounded by countryside full of grazing sheep and their monopoly on salt after winning the Punic Wars, made the cost of making cheese in Rome low. Pecorino production remained native to Rome until 1884 when high taxes on salt caused law officials to ban the salting of cheeses in Rome. Thus, Pecorino production moved to the island of Sardinia.

            

After World War II, many Italians abandoned their homes, farms, and factories, moving away from the ravaged Tuscan land and others, notably Sardinians, moved to Tuscany to pick up the pieces. The Sardinians brought along their sheep and their cheese making methods and that is how pecorino cheese landed in Tuscany!

Happy San Giovanni Day!

San Giovanni, the Patron Saint of Florence, is celebrated on June 24th and it is a Florence-wide holiday which means no work, no school, no stress.

In celebration, Florence holds its annual Calcio in Costume, an ancient game held in the Piazza Santa Croce which had been transformed into a sand pit where a traditional yet violent game that is part soccer, part rugby, and part boxing is played in medieval attire. The four participating teams are from different parts of Florence: white is the team from Santo Spirito, green is the team from San Giovanne, red is the team from Santa Maria Novella, and blue is the team from Santa Croce.

At night the city celebrates in an hour-long display of fireworks set off from Piazzele Michelangelo. The city is almost entirely shut down to vehicles and the streets flood with people crowding to get the best view, wine in hand.

Happy Holidays!