With so few days left here in Florence we created a small calendar on the back of a piece of paper with notes in each box so we don’t forget anything. Today is Thursday the 27th and the box says “Shopping and Arno Dinner @ 8:30pm”. The restaurant is our last GroupOn here in Florence at a restaurant on the Arno River. This means most of my day is free until dinner time.
We headed out of the apartment just after noon in search of lunch. There are still some sections of the city that we haven’t fully explored. Most of these are the residential sections surrounding the city center. We walked through this part a few days ago and spotted a few lunchtime eateries, so we thought we’d head back that way. With Cinzia’s internal GPS always turned on all I have to do is follow.
Florence is known as the “City of Art”. All these art students need to find a way to express themselves, so you’ll see “art”, in one form or another, all over town. On a busy street corner plastered on what looked like an abandon window we saw this image. Is it a modern Bacchus after a night of drinking, still clutching a bunch of grapes?
Florence is known as the “City of Art”. All these art students need to find a way to express themselves, so you’ll see “art”, in one form or another, all over town. On a busy street corner plastered on what looked like an abandon window we saw this image. Is it a modern Bacchus after a night of drinking, still clutching a bunch of grapes?
A little further down the street was a pet shop. Cinzia’s brother has a pug and she spotted this little sign. It says: “I am on guard here! Enter at your own risk!”
We passed a few sandwich shops and had a peek inside. Nothing seemed to grab our attention. But here are a few photos.
We finally hit on a place that looked good. We probably have both passed Natalino’s several times during or stay but never investigated further. They had no tables, just a bench along one wall and a few stools along the other. It served sandwiches and wine and the proprietor ran the whole operation by herself. We read through the menu on the window, knew what we wanted to order, and walked inside. The sandwich bread we had been eating in Florence and thought was focaccia was really called schiacciatine. It was thin with a textured surface, usually cut into squares that fit perfectly in the Panini press. I ordered the Finocchiona. This is a typical Tuscan salami made with ground pork, flavored with fennel seeds, and soaked in red wine. It’s very aromatic, made more so by the heat of the panini press. Cinzia ordered the Lardo e Tortufo. It’s exactly what you think it is, lard and truffles. But it’s much more. Lardo isn’t just the cured pork fatback alone. It’s seasoned with herbs, usually juniper and rosemary, and other spices, usually salt, pepper, and star anise. Wafer thin strips are cut and laid onto the schiacciatine, and then topped with generous spoonfuls of black truffle spread. When this is put into the hot panini press the lardo melts and the aroma of the lardo and truffles fill your nose with each crispy bite. Both were delicious. (In fact, we returned today, Saturday, and ordered the same things.)
With our bellies full we headed back onto the streets in search of paper for Cinzia. Florence is also known for its handmade papers, and Cinzia wanted several sheets to make scrapbook pages and greeting cards. Along the way we passed numerous postcard and souvenir stores and saw these items featuring David. We thought of sending one to Cinzia’s brother of the same name, but thought better of it.
At the main paper store Cinzia found 5 hand-painted sheets she liked and we got them for €35 instead of the usual €8 per sheet. We picked up another hand-painted sheet for €10 from another store, and 7 sheets of printed paper from a third store for only €11,20. (This morning we picked up another 6 sheets for €13,20.) She has a tube which will keep the paper safe for its trip back home. Those that can’t fit into the tube will have to take their chances. The scrapbook pages from this trip should look amazing.
As the day went on we headed towards a bar we frequented several times prior. It’s situated in a small piazza, only has a few tables, and is nice and quiet. The bartender knows us by now and served up our usual drinks: an Aperol Spritz for Cinzia and a Diet Coke with lemon for me. The shop next to the bar sells all sorts of items from around the world and we’ve spoken with the owner several times before. He only speaks Italian but we’ve learned that he’s originally from Peru (in fact he was in the parade Cinzia blogged about earlier). He comes out of his shop whenever we’re there, stands in front of us with a big smile on his face, and after Cinzia answers one of his questions in Italian his usual response is “Fantastico”. His name is Luis, but we refer to him as Mr. Fantastico. As this would probably be our last visit to the bar, we took photos and exchanged e-mails. He was one of the cast of people we’ll remember fondly from our time in Florence.
As the day went on we headed towards a bar we frequented several times prior. It’s situated in a small piazza, only has a few tables, and is nice and quiet. The bartender knows us by now and served up our usual drinks: an Aperol Spritz for Cinzia and a Diet Coke with lemon for me. The shop next to the bar sells all sorts of items from around the world and we’ve spoken with the owner several times before. He only speaks Italian but we’ve learned that he’s originally from Peru (in fact he was in the parade Cinzia blogged about earlier). He comes out of his shop whenever we’re there, stands in front of us with a big smile on his face, and after Cinzia answers one of his questions in Italian his usual response is “Fantastico”. His name is Luis, but we refer to him as Mr. Fantastico. As this would probably be our last visit to the bar, we took photos and exchanged e-mails. He was one of the cast of people we’ll remember fondly from our time in Florence.
After we rested back in the apartment we headed out for our dinner at Alfredo sull’Arno. The €39 GroupOn got us prosecco, wine, antipasto, primi, and a secundo, a discount from the usual €105 price. It was the last day that the GroupOn was valid, so there were several other couples there on this Thursday evening. We started with an antipasto of assorted cured meats, cheeses, and bruschetta which was good. There were a few choices for the next two courses: Cinzia had the Crespelle alla Fiorentina, crepes stuffed with ricotta and spinach and baked in a light cream sauce, and I went with some type of twirly pasta in a meat sauce. Both were very good. When we saw osso bucco as an option we both ordered that. It wasn’t as tender as we make at home, or as large, but it was good and the bone was nice and big with lots of marrow.
After dinner we strolled along the Arno and stopped for gelato at La Carraia, their flagship store at the foot of the Ponte alla Carraia. I went with a cup of Amarenata & Bacio and Cinzia had their Pistacchio & Cioccolato. Walking back across the Arno at night we were able to capture these images of the Ponte Vecchio. In the morning we're off to San Gimignano.