Teeny Tiny's Travel Tuesdays: Eating in Florence

One thing Teeny Tiny really likes about Florence is eating. I suppose that statement is kind of obvious: one thing everyone really likes about Italy in general is eating. Teeny Tiny, however, particularly likes eating in Florence because his favorite places and things to eat just keep getting better and better.

For lunchtime in Rome, he liked to grab a slice of potato pizza by the gram and walk around while eating, just to keep up the pace. In Florence, however, he preferred his lunches more peacefully seated, but cheap. Luckily, he had no problem stopping in a supermarket just outside the piazza in front of San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapel for some snacks.



He ate his strawberries and cheese, apples and bananas, with some pineapple juice on the steps of the Medici's church before stepping inside to explore. He also discovered these fabulous olive oil and rosemary cracker-chips and had to be stopped from shipping some cases back home.



Dinner in Florence usually meant finding some family-run Trattoria off of a side street and doing his best to avoid the touristy places. The Yellow Bar, next to the N4U Guest House, seemed a bit suspect at first, but Teeny Tiny took a chance and discovered a place that seemed to cater to students more than tourists, with great pizza and homemade pasta.



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Teeny Tiny's favorite restaurant in Florence, to which he went twice on this trip, is the Trattoria Nella.



Nella is located on the Via della Terme, just one block past the new market toward the river.



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It used to be run by the most forgetful man in Italy. Sergio Fattorini never had a problem getting delicious food served to his customers in a speedy manner, but leaving after the fabulous meal was another story. You asked for the conto, and the forgetful man nodded and rushed about to do some stuff, promptly forgetting your request. After you caught his eye a few more times, he remembered to go get the check; he then stuffed it in his pocket and tended to the other customers in the small dining room. Eventually, he stuck his hand in his pocket, remembered you, and took care of your payment with apologetic grace. It never mattered, because three-hour dinners in Florence are common, and his food was just so darn good.



Sadly, the forgetful man no longer runs Nella, but his twin sons have continued the tradition of making the dining experience interesting. Let's just say that sometimes Italian twins have ridiculous arguments right in the dining room during the busiest dining times. Seated at the table clearly reserved for regulars, friends, and relatives, Teeny Tiny got a great insight into the psychology of the place as he watched the brothers put together bread baskets, prepare the panna cotta for service, and ladle tomatoes, garlic, and basil onto crispy slices of bread.



One night, Teeny Tiny tried the special panzanella, a traditional tomato and bread salad. Another time he went with the delicious gnocchi del pomodoro.



Nothing tops off a Florentine dinner like a long walk around the city, followed by tasty tasty gelato. Luckily, Florence is full of great gelaterias, including Teeny Tiny's favorite on Via del Corso, the Festival del Gelato.



People tend to get snooty about gelaterias, preferring the kind that sells the homemade gelato to the ones supplied by the mass-market type of gelato-makers. They have good reason to do so, because homemade (or gelateria-made) gelato is the happiest thing one can ever eat after dinner, but the other kind isn't so bad either. Teeny Tiny was pretty sure that the Festival made its own gelato, but in the end it did not matter, because the gelateria serves about 8700 flavors in around 600 sizes.

Nothing made him happier than ordering a tasty combination and then sitting on the steps of the Duomo to enjoy it with a healthy dose of people-watching.