Andiamo : No Problemo

Florence is an elegant city. Art, culture, handbags and shoes rule. There is an abundance of all. And after a day of seeing great things, shopping for splendid goods and having shoes fitted, we needed food! My nieces were wooed by the gelatarias and Alice was always looking for the next slice of pizza. She quickly worked out that following the fat pigeons would always lead her to a trattoria where she could con one of her loving relatives into buying her another slice. The food is fresh, cheap and abundant. But it’s what tourists think of as Italian food and I was aching to try real Florentine cuisine. So yesterday evening, we head out to ‘Aquacotta’ on the recommendation of our hotel’s hostess.

The menu was about slow food. I decided upon the wild boar, Susan had the Tuscan white bean soup, and Rob the roast pigeon. Alan tried a Florentine steak with a Barolo jus. The food was so good. Bursting with flavour and perfectly seasoned. We even had dessert!

Today, we braved the rain and went to visit the leather factories. Susan is fifty on Saturday and she has a bucket list of must haves. A Florentine jacket is right up there! We found the perfect rich chocolate jacket that felt so soft and it accentuates all of Susan’s bits in a very Italian way. After such a strenuous purchase, Alice was starving. “Find a restaurant” I tell her “and we’ll buy you a nice pizza!”

She looks for her pigeons to follow and there are none. “Well of course you cannot find a pigeon” I tell her “Rob ate them all last night!” She was not amused.

Pigeon or not, we did find a great place for lunch. And when the order came, we were a little stunned at the size of the girl’s meals. We all thought there was no way the girls would ever finish them. Funny thing about good food, it’s so much easier to eat.

Tonight we try “Palletino”. Alice is shoo-ing pigeons away as we speak! Bon gusto.