Fabulous Firenze

The Arno





















My old school...Lorenzo de Medici




Sally and I had another magical weekend in my home away from home Florence. There were many purposes for the visit and it was definitely worth the trip. The first reason I wanted to get back down to Florence was that my friend Amy is living there for 4 months completing her cooking school internship. She is working at a restaurant called Nove, that I used to frequent when I lived in the city. Back then it was called Beccofino.
Sally and I were able to arrive in Florence at about 745pm, because we took the Eurostar train. It was amazing and only took a total of 3 hours on the train, besides a little time changing in Milan. Once we arrived we took a wild taxi ride to our hotel that I was so excited about seeing. I've been wanting to stay in this Residenza that I discovered awhile back on the NY Times travel guide for Florence. It is connected to the Antinori family somehow, which I knew was a good sign. The residence we stayed in was called Antica Dimora Firenze. They are basically apartments around the city that have been created into private bed and breakfasts. Our room was filled with italian touches and we felt like we were staying in our own italian apartment. Every morning breakfast was served right outside our room in what looked like someone's family room. Very nice change from some of the places I've stayed traveling around. After our crazy taxi driver (who almost killed a lady walking across the street) and a little confusion about the hotel address we found our room, dropped off our bags and headed out to meet Amy, her sister Tammy (that was visiting from SD), and her friend Sprague that is on an italian holiday. We met at a neighborhood trattoria called Dante and then stopped into Harry's Bar for a drink. It was quiet, but we hung out with Leo the bartender (who was maybe 80), that's been there since 1953. He showed us his special book with signatures from Katherine Hepburn and many other famous Americans.

The next day Sally and I had a relaxing morning and then headed out to enjoy the sunshine and more temperate climate. We spent the day wandering around, enjoying all of the Florence sights. I showed her the Mercato Centrale and then we made some important purchases at San Lorenzo market. Our main event was visiting the jewelry shop (Mantelli) on the Ponte Vecchio where we bought these special bracelets we heard about from many people. Don't worry D I bought one for you too! After exhausting ourselves from walking around the city we grabbed lunch at one of my favorite sandwich places called Antica Noe. The turkey and brie sandwich never tasted so good. After lunch we headed up to the Piazzale Michaelangelo, where you can enjoy one of the best views of Florence. Sorry Cara, Kelly, Brooke and Bailey there was no dancing man in white pants to take pictures of this time! I did tell Sally about him... :) After our walk, we went to Santa Croce to meet Amy and Tammy. We visited the church to see Michaelangelo and Dante's tomb. I had seen them previously, but figured another visit wouldn't hurt. That night we went to one of the best restaurants in Florence called Il Santo Bevitore. Amy gets excellent service at restaurants, since she works at one herself. It's great because not only does she know the good places to eat, she is also a great food critique! To celebrate our last night, we were going to stop in Antinori for a glass of wine and to visit Daniele, but unfortunately it was closed. Instead we went to one of Amy's favorite wine bars across from the Pitti Palace. The two guys that own the bar and business, Edoardo and Manuele, were really nice and fun... obviously, since we ended up staying there until about 2:30am. The wine bar is called Pitti Gola e Cantina and if you are ever in Florence you should definitely stop in. They entertained us with great wine and we spent the night trying to persuade them to take us on a wine tour in Chianti. The funniest part of the night, was when a guy that was obviously very drunk and on drugs stumbled into the bar. He couldn't even talk and seemed very confused. It is really small and crowded at the time and everyone inside was just silent waiting to see what he was going to do. It was kind of like leading a fish out of water. Luckily, the guys helped direct him back outside after he almost tried to take Sally's seat at the bar.

The next day, we started a little bit slow since the amount of wine the night before. We had a nice lunch and made some last minute purchases before taking the train back to Lugano. It was a bittersweet Sunday!