Pasta, Pizza, is that all there is in Florence,Italy? Try this but try not to make a meal of these…PASTRIES! One of my favorite places is Gillies, where they make an art of it, along with the service….
Too bad this post doesn’t have a lick and taste me app for this image.
Stuck for lunch? Starving artist? Hungry student ( and not just for knowledge) ? Well on “cheap street” mentioned in my last post, lies a few of the meanest sandwich production places in Florence,Italy.
People line up to order then sit on the sidewalk stuffing them down, and that is a gastronomical challenge. They are good, fresh due to the volume made, but one in a day and your done till tomorrow… roughly 5 euros each, along with a 2 euro cup of vino.
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There’s a street in Florence,Italy that I call cheap street. The reason being there’s a section of it where you can devour “flintstone” like sandwiches with a cheap glass of wine for just a few euros. In the afternoons you see scores of students and younger people lined up in several stands to order and then sit on the curb (or what passes for one) to chomp them down. They are good, no kidding, but if you make this a daily habit you won’t see 40.
The lines were long this day but in the middle of the feasting madness we saw a sit down place with the same name and no lines..aha! I ordered, but it was too late when I noticed the carnivorous canine feeding taking place around me and for good reason..WE GOT MEAT!
grrrrr..ruff ruff….
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“Real looking food with Visual Flavor”
Ribollita ( twice cooked ) is a flagship soup from Tuscany, Italy made with kale, cannelloni beans,potato, and garden vegetables, served with crusty bread and drizzled with a lemony rosemary olive oil. Its consistency is a thick stew and goes well with a dry white wine… good on winter days or when you’re clogged with all the cheeses you’re eating.
Although it I tasted slightly vinegary, I did like it and would recommend it.
The first thing I did on arrival in Florence,Italy is head to the Mercado for pizza ! How can you resist along with all the many other wonderful things to eat… but after two weeks in Paris, Pizza was on the top of my list.
Fresh ingredients, wood fired, hand made dough….get in line…
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Yea right!
Here’s an idea….wear blindfolds and seal your nostrils because everywhere you go, just the window displays will add pounds to your expanding waistline. 
But who really cares because in Florence, they have a cure…
walking, and there’s no end to that. All you have to do is look straight ahead and above all don’t duck into some of the cafes there or else, the secret taste buds you have in your eyes will be contacting your tongue and send vibrations down to your stomach that will quickly expand and cause you to do a multi marathon’s worth of walking.
Wait that brings more temptation…forget about it, just enjoy as I will soon.
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I have a favorite lunch place in Florence,Italy. For just a few Euros you can get a great sandwich or pasta dish and a beer and enjoy the action of two sisters as they do a dance of serving and cooking for the local crowd. Trippa, a Florentine specialty is on order, and being one with the abitanti I placed my order….( I drank the beer before it came)
It was well made and tasty with a slight crackle and smooth interior although I had never tasted this before… After lunch I headed out to photograph some food at the local Mercato, another high spot in Firenze when I saw the prime ingredient….
OMG! I now look at cows differently than before and no longer have the stomach for this tasty treat!
But don’t let me stop you, I don’t like tongue either… and I will be back there for more of the other wonderful things they make.
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Ok so you just got home from Florence, Italy. You put away your ” I visited Florence ” tee shirt, decided to go on a diet, and now preparing your Friday night with the neighbors to show all your shots of “that’s me in front of the .…”
You’re now wondering what shall it be…pizza? Nah everyone knows that…pasta? Nah, every corner place at home serves it…How can I show that now I am an Italian? Slick my hair back, wave my hands while talking, …wait!!
There’s a better way..SPRITZ…
For me, beside Limoncello, the best happy hour or any hour for that matter drink over there…
Here are the official ingredients needed….( and I got it from,beside much experience, the best cafe in town..)
I’ll soon be be back in Florence for the summer working on my book. Follow me and share my experience…help the cause and receive a gift of thanks.. click here
Prosciutto has to be the national meat of Italy…at least to me. Who hasn’t had a thin slice over a cold wedge of cantaloupe, not to mention with tomato and mozzarella? Hopefully not you but if so what are you waiting for!
So what is Prosciutto? It’s an air dried,cured salted ham, talking anywhere from 9-24 months to cure. Various regions in Italy produce it and each does it a little differently, according to taste. Less slat, sweeter ham. There are two types of processing, Crudo or Cotto which means dried or cooked. Crudo is the preferred and Italian Prosciutto especially the one from Parma is strictly regulated…and savored.
This man sells many pork items, but Prosciutto is his specialty and his place sits on a corner aisle at the Mercato in Florence, where he is happy to let you taste but not happy to have his picture taken. When I see him again on my trip this summer, perhaps I’ll get him to smile for the book !
More on my book project in Florence,Italy
If it weren’t for the jitters, you could spend 24 hours a day having a caffe and hardly never having the same one twice. The art of making a cup takes on more than just a great flavor. Each barrister has their own fluid style and rhythm done with each cup they create as they pour it into their signature cup.
In Italy, as in most of Europe, a cup is priced ( apart from the type of coffee ) by where you drink it. Top price is sitting outside at a table on a great day, another sitting inside, and the best and cheapest is standing at the bar, where the coffee making show goes on. There you can chat with the barman, lean with the locals and feel like the peeps.
If you go often enough to the same place, they get to know you and once in while slide something tasty your way accompanied with ” Prego.” Can’t wait to go back there!
More on my book project in Florence,Italy
miami food photography 