Florence – Food, Wine & Art

What I think about most when I remember my week spent in Florence is the food, the wine and the art. I think about being so full from home-made pasta, washed down with jugs of Chianti and of becoming overwhelmed by the history that lined the street and of the Uffizi, a place where the building is as much a part of the exhibition as is the pieces of art.

Florence was interesting from the perspective that it didn’t have an internal rail system, this slowed us down. We walked to explore, took our time, and when we were tired there was always somewhere serving cold beer and snacks before dinner. As Australians I think we eat much too early for the Italians, a 7.30 reservation would make us one of the first patrons of the evening. Often the waiters would speak to us first in Italian – I would always slightly pause, thinking to myself, ‘I can work out what they said’. I couldn’t. I would have to ask them to repeat in English! Florence, home of the famous Florentine T-bone, a challenge my husband and I where all but too eager to indulge in. 1.2KG of meat, to share of course. Shouldn’t have eaten all that fresh bread they put on the table! This was easily the best steak I have ever eaten.

I’ve mentioned before in my Venice post about the gelato shop Venchi. Florence opened us up to such a range of dairy-free sorbets at one stage I thought they must have switched the signs and given me the real stuff! Hazelnut, pistachio and the famous rich chocolate, somehow our afternoon walks always seemed to lead us there!

There are some amazing vantage points in Florence to get a good view of the terracotta roof tops. We journeyed all the way out and up to Piazzale Michelangelo before completing the climb to the Bacilica of San Miniato al Monte – amazing views of Florence but we could only step into the church for a moment as there was a wedding on!

Only a short journey away we found ourselves sitting on the famous green grass eating slushies (it was a very hot day) looking up at the leaning tower in Pisa. Pretty touristy but no way I would miss that.

I would have loved to spend more time in the surrounding areas, in the little Tuscan towns, visiting vineyards and sampling the produce. There is a lot of history still there to explore. It’s good to know I still have a reason to go back!