Before heading to Italy I did a little research on places to eat in Florence. TripAdvisor is a good tool since you can get up to date reviews and opinions from actual diners. I was looking for small restaurants where the locals eat. I found Trattoria la Casalinga and Ciro & Sons.
Casalinga translates to Housewife. They were described as having inexpensive local Florentine cuisine and were located next to Santo Spirito. It was noted that diners sat family style at the same tables as the place was usually packed. A tradition dish served in Florence is “ribollita” which is a hearty vegetable and bread soup. I was anxious to give it a try and Casalinga did not disappoint. We arrived as soon as they opened and were the first to be seated at a table in the back room. Soon afterwards a single diner was seated next to us. We were at one of the many tables for four in the restaurant and it was odd that they’d think to seat him there, but a party of five came in and they decided to slide the small table next to us across the aisle to make a table for six. They put the lone diner elsewhere. Within the next 30 minutes the place was full. The party of five was composed of construction workers, and it seemed most of the tables were indeed locals. I started with a mix of crostini and Cinzia has an artichoke salad. For the main course I had the ribollita and Cinzia went with the tortellini with rabbit ragu. Everything was delicious. The guys across from us all ordered tortellini with panna as a starter and then a plate of some mystery meat with a side dish of white beans. Olive oil was poured over everything – ribollita, beans, meat, etc. Very satisfying.
They're on the web at http://www.trattorialacasalinga.it
They're on the web at http://www.trattorialacasalinga.it
Ciro & Sons was another highly touted TripAdvisor place to go for a good pizza. They offer the standard outdoor seating (wooden platform on the street surrounded by fake greenery). I ordered the popular pizza Margherita and Cinzia ordered hers with fresh cherry tomatoes and mozzarella da bufala. They claimed they had the only true Neapolitan pizza in town. Theirs, in fact, did taste like the pizzas we enjoyed in Naples – light and almost creamy dough. Another winner. A video was running on a monitor they had outside with a loop of their dinner menu. It showed gigantic steaks and artistic desserts. They’ve got a great website…it’ll make your mouth water.
They're on the web at http://www.ciroandsons.com
They're on the web at http://www.ciroandsons.com