Contrary to our previous travel days, we did not travel under the rain. We had full sun and warmth instead. The roughly two and a half-hour trip with a 20-minute connexion in Pisa Centrale was uneventful and easy. We even had time to stop for one last coffee along the Mediterranean in Monterosso before catching our train.
We arrived 30 minutes ahead of our check-in time. The apartment being a little over 15 minutes away from the station, we had to make a detour. As long as we’re making a detour, it might as well be a stop for the best Gelato in the city at 📍Gelateria Edoardo straight on the Piazza Duomo. This all-organic gelato place breaks the mold of good food not being in heavily visited areas. They’re right on the place of one of the most visited site in the city. Still, the line was relatively short, the gelato good, so it had everything we wanted.
After check-in and the obligatory stop at a market for the essentials (read sparking water), we went for coffee at our favourite coffee bar in the city (📍Ditta Artigianale caffè) before making our way to 📍Piazza Santo Spirito for some people watching and our default aperitivo drink: the Hugo Spritz.
Dinner was at 📍Mangiafoco Osteria Tartuferia, a restaurant we’ve been to before where you can get everything with truffles. That includes the traditional Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the large T-Bone steak made from the loin of a young steer. It’s easy to think that adding truffles to everything is a gimmick to increase price and for some dishes it is. We had a cheese and vegetables plate that included 36-month Parmesan and it overpowered the truffle’s taste. The crostino with burrata and truffle on the other hand was the best thing to do. The fat from the cheese and the unsalted bread (a staple of Firenze’s bread) texture mix left plenty of space for the flavour of the black truffles. In what we did not expect the first time around, adding it on top of a juicy steak adds earthy tones to the meat’s flavour that doesn’t change the dish fundamentally but makes it a unique experience that stands on its own. In the end, the subterranean fungi adds to the flavours of the meal if used wisely but also adds to the bill. It was our most expensive meal yet.
Being in Florence is a little bit like meeting up with an old dear friend: it’s familiar and nice and we enjoy the comfort of familiarity. The city is stunning and artsy and full of good food. So we keep coming back.
Places
Edoardo il Gelato Biologico - Gelateria Piazza Duomo · Piazza del Duomo, 45/R, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
★★★★★ · Ice cream shop
maps.app.goo.gl
Mangiafoco Osteria Tartuferia · Borgo Santi Apostoli, 24/26/28 R, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
★★★★☆ · Restaurant
maps.app.goo.gl
