Firenze — The Life, 11/4-11/13

So, Florence. I stayed here the longest — mostly, thank you Jan and Rob, because I had a lovely place to stay and could relax a bit. Their apartment is a little out from the center — in an area called Campo di Marte — literally field of Mars (war God). It’s where AC Fiorentina (Florence’s soccer team) has its stadium and they’re literally down the street from it. Campo di Marte also has its own train station for regional trains though I never used it.

NOT right in Jan’s ‘hood but a 10 min walk away, next to the bisctecca restaurant

It’s a lovely neighborhood and I spent parts of different days going to local shops (and even a supermarket) and restaurants — definitely not a lot of tourists unless perhaps when there’s a big game! (There weren’t any while I was there but a restaurant owner I was chatting with says it becomes pretty crazy when there are games. The stadium seats 38K people. That said, I think most tourists would be Italian.) I don’t know how much the local shop owners speak English as I spoke in (my poor) Italian. I was never approached with full-on English unless I was in touristy areas, such as along the Arno, at Ponte Vecchio (I bought gloves), or in a famous piazza having an aperitivo — oh except the young waiter with an American gf who just spent a month in the US — it was a fresh pasta place a little out of the centro. (That said, they seem to be becoming famous; when I was there for lunch they had a huge group of international documentarians arrive and take over 2/3 the restaurant!)

L’Altro Covo only makes and sells fresh pasta — the day’s choices. The restaurant had only one occupied table when I walked in for early lunch — but was full when I left. And oddly the one table was a tour guide with an American woman who was of course from Chicago

I ordered a tagliatelle with ragù — the boar ragù is famous in Tuscany. It was good though a tad salty. And they gave me the schiacciata of course

This says it’s the best documentaries of the year with round tables and master classes. I definitely heard all sorts of languages (Italian, English, French, etc) from the lunchers who were part of this

Because of a mixture of things — lots of road construction (I read they’re building more tourist-friendly trams but that means they’re ripping up a lot of roads — many buses listed “linea deviazione” on their screens); the fact that l am staying on the other side of another train station with requisite train tracks; AND am on the other side of a soccer stadium, all (driving) roads do NOT lead (directly) to Jan and Rob’s. I found it’s almost as fast to walk to the historic center as to take public transportation. Usually walking to the center ranges from 45-60 mins while the bus(es) take minimum 30 to 45 mins and that’s if they actually show up as scheduled. (Taxis, on the other hand, take 12-15 minutes!) I walked a variety of routes to see different areas and several involved going up/down stairs to clear the train tracks, which can get tiresome but is fine of you’re not carrying much!

Though it seemed like I did a lot of walking, my total steps were in general less than what it was in bigger (and huge pedestrian centro) Torino or Rome. Or with Luca in AMS but he walks a lot and is also about 45 mins from the center. The weird thing is I realized how small Firenze is. It’s smaller than Torino — about 367K in the city and under 1M in the overall metropolitan area. Whereas in other places I always felt like I was still in a city area, in Florence it felt more residential until I got about 30 minutes (2/3) into my walk. (Oddly AMS is not much bigger but somehow it felt busier anywhere we went whereas Florence often felt empty except in the tourist infested historical areas. Oh, AMS is about 750K in the city though only 1.1M in metropolitan area — the city part IS substantially larger.) I mentioned how empty it felt to my two cab drivers (another story concerning my issues with Florentine buses) and one said it basically dies down substantially after mid-October when most tourists leave and the other— who was, I think, Roman and talked a mile a minute so maybe I caught 1/3– talked about how small Florence is overall (I think he also expressed some anti-immigrant sentiment but I’m hoping I misunderstood).

I love those trees and the hills in the background

Anyway this post is more on the life, so of course it’s mostly about food!

Florence is famous for a variety of foods, from expensive (its unusually thick beef steaks) to inexpensive (its food truck sandwiches, traditionally for the laborers) and much in-between. Their bread is usually unsalted (supposedly historically as a way to avoid taxes on salt in medieval times) and for some reason they have their own flatbread that I find indistinguishable from the usual focaccia, called schiacciata (there are websites on this but I guess I’m no expert on flatbreads!). To compensate or complement the unsalted bread, their sauces and meats / charcuterie are oftentimes rich (and for me sometimes too salty). And of course gelato is generally considered best in Firenze.

Actually I had gelato a few times — pretty yummy and I don’t even love ice cream

So what did I eat!?

First, my bistecca alla fiorentina. They’re very expensive, very lean, cooked rare and with the fat not marbled as Americans like it but running along the sides. It’s usually grilled and then cut into thin strips and eaten (and shared) that way. I wanted to try it but it’s always going to be a 2-lb gargantuan thing (with bone). I looked up good bistecca places in Jan’s neighborhood, made a reservation via WhatsApp on a Saturday night (the guy was nice about my poor written Italian) … and got the last little table near the door but I think they basically just take one reservation per table per night. If others eat more quickly or are very early or late, they may fit in a second unscheduled seating but they don’t plan for it. Very relaxed.

Bistecca alla fiorentina at a local neighborhood enoteca. I asked if I should eat the fat — and of course I did because it’s so lean otherwise

Anyway I made an early reservation and was the only one there at 7:15 so I could talk to the proprietor/head waiter/bar tender (it was a tiny place) about my dilemma and if I could reheat/re-eat half the steak in the next days!? Of course I could and did, but it pretty much knocked out the idea of an antipasto or primo … I just got a side of plain beans. It was an Enoteca so had good wines but I got the house wine (vino di Montepulciano — a quarter flask that I think cost 3 euros – same as my bottled water) and waited!! I think the salami/cheese tray is a very popular thing in Tuscany but I always feel like I can make my own pretty easily. And I knew it would be tough to eat what I ordered anyway! Btw it was good but I don’t feel the need to order it again especially if I’m solo!

Random tripe truck which I did not buy from — but note how outside the center things are much more relaxed

Hard to see the meat but this is a lampredotto sandwich — I got it pretty plain (not spicy)

Next is the porchetta and lampredotto sandwiches. In particular the lampredotto, which is from the cow’s fourth stomach; it’s a kind of tripe (trippa) but for some reason very Florentine. Apparently it was a poor man’s imitation of the lamprey eels that rich people were eating at the time – the stomach meat is stewed for a loooong time and then the (round bread) roll is dipped in the juice (like a Chicago Italian beef!) and can have a spicy or just green sauce added. I got this at the mercato centrale which is supposedly still frequented by locals (I did hear a lot of Italian) but since it’s in the centro and relatively cheap, the mall is full of budget and food minded tourists. They had a huge room equipped for cooking classes. Nice.

Mercato centrale though apparently I didn’t take a photo of the good court floor

Perhaps the Campari spritz helped me like the porchetta sandwich better

I preferred the porchetta but of course I love pork. And I don’t generally love offal. But it was worth trying. I got the porchetta sandwich from a tiny place that was almost a stand in the centro and got a Campari spritz to go along (which basically cost as much as the sandwich?!). Took me forever to eat but it was delicious. And the drink was good too!

This was a pork truck at a flea market in the Oltrarno (other side of the Arno) ‘hood — looked delish but I think I had to get somewhere!? Note the roasted pig head! I bought something there for Jan and Rob which was fun

I shopped at both local panificio (bread) and verdura (veggies) shops near Jan’s, as well as a very nice enoteca and tea/chocolate shop down the street. But one day I was walking and decided to check out a local Esselunga grocery store. I love checking out grocery stores. I spent way too long browsing and of course overbought (but the beauty is that I could leave leftovers in Jan’s apartment if unopened!) … they have everything!! And I was really craving cooked Italian veggies so I got packages of artichoke hearts, zucchini/carrots/peppers, olives and arugula. And bresaola. Made for some yummy salads to go with the 3 euro bottle of wine (you bring the bottle), poured from a cask and corked at the enoteca down the street (I also got, I hope, good advice on gift wines for Jan and Rob there).

Midday snack at Jan’s (patio) from the neighborhood stores. And that’s mozzarella di bufala though it looks like an egg

And an evening snack at Jan’s, more from the Esselunga grocery store

And for some reason though there’s a pasticceria (pastry shop) on the corner that sells regular bread and sandwiches, as well as sweets, and a bar with pastries and sandwiches (and coffee of course) half a block away, there’s a panificio a full block away that always has a line out the door and even a deli number ticket dispenser outside, which I never see in Italy. I was intrigued. I looked them up (panificio buffa). They’re apparently famous for their schiacciata— both sweet and savory, though (unsalted!?) savory seems more common and popular. They also had little pizzas and other baked goods. Anyway I had to try and since I was leaving that day, I bought a selection to have as lunch on the train (or it turned out, in the train station).