Florence 2024

Firenze, you beauty!

Hey Google, where is the best food in Europe? Italy. And I know a lot of you will think, Rome. But wait, I can do you one better. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to every foodie’s heaven - Florence. And although the Fontana del Porcellino may disagree because my coin didn’t sink, I am coming back here. And, I am going to eat more food and drink more wine.

Four days in Florence is just not enough. But, that’s how long I had. We got to Florence at noon and within an hour, we had walked to the hotel, checked in and were already on our way to Antico Forno - one of the two famous sandwich places that should be on every food list. We ordered one of the classics - La Tricolore. Made with three simple but high quality ingredients, this was one of the best things I had in Europe, period. The crunchy fluffy focaccia bread with fresh pistachio cream and tender, juicy capricciosa is still making me drool 🤤 This was followed by a classic ham sandwich at I' Girone De' Ghiotti. Truth be told, it was hard to enjoy this one but it still held onto the name and the queue was well worth it, again!

A normal person would take a break from eating but I suggest going past the bounds of normal when you are in Florence and heading over to the tiramisu at Pompi, like I did. Pompi was the best tiramisu I’d had in my life until I tried Two Sizes in Rome later. It was the perfect balance of roasted pistachio, soft espresso soaked biscuits and sweet whipped cream.

All this food in quick succession had got my belly full but also left me thirsty. "Knock knock, uno bianco per favore". Getting wine from one of the buchette del vino (wine window) is a Florentine experience that you must indulge in. For me, this was the perfect lead up to a sunset.

Over the next three days, the same theme followed. Twice, I walked over to Vivalo for their world famous affogatos! Never thought I'd say this but the traditional affogato was better than the pricier pistachio affogato but either would have been enough to change my life. It will be difficult to enjoy another affogato ever again 😭 There is just something about the combination of authentic Italian gelato and Italian espresso. Couldn't have started my morning better!

After a walk in the leather market and trying my luck at a steak restaurant, I got a pesto ricotta pasta in Mercato Centrale, cooked fresh to order! With basic and simple ingredients, the busy chef in this boutique shop had blown my mind. I am not a fan of pasta but Florence (and Rome) has definitely given me a fresh perspective. Almost like a spell has been cast on me.

Same goes for pizza but it is hard not to enjoy a spicy salami pizza with burrata at Gusta Pizza. Queues often last up to an hour for a seat at the woodfired pizzeria but dare I tell you - it is worth it! Thin soft crunchy base, fluffing up on the sides with delicious toppings and a variety of authentic flavors.

Of course, I needed to refuel while walking from pizza to pasta and pasta to tiramisu 😉 I feasted on gigantic deep fried gooey cannolis from Gino's. Both the sicilian (ricotta) and the pistachio cannoli are well worth the 3.5€.

And last, but not the least, a medium rare steak with truffle sauce and fresh truffle! Now, this wasn't Bistecca Alla Fiorentina but I don't know if I have ever had a steak so tender and juicy and truffle so fresh and creamy. With a glass of house red and some DOP olive oil and bread, this was likely one of the best lunch experiences I've had in a long time. I entered the place randomly walking along the streets of the city and walked out with a big grin 😁

Tuscany

Originally, I planned on staying in Tuscany for a few nights. But, it did not appear wise to drink and drive, alone. And I was definitely going to drink. I was in the world’s best red wine producing region after all.

So, I picked the next best option - a wine tour. Tours are hit or miss. This one, was a major HIT.

Our guide and his ancestors, who originated from the US, had served in the Italian special forces for many generations and he had been collecting wine for over 4 decades. But that is not all, he was well traveled and definitely one of the better public speakers I have come across. He spared no detail about Florence as we drove through the traffic. The 50 min journey into the wine region was filled with references to Florence’s art history, how it became one of the most important art cities of the world, pop quiz about cypress trees - a sign of wealth and identifying some iconic landmarks like the Gucci headquarters and Antinori estate.

If you read my Rhone Valley blog and thought that the French had rules for granting a wine “highest quality” status, it does not come close to DOCG. For a wine to be a "Chianti classico" - powerful, intense, tannic red wines - it must be made using a minimum 80% sangiovese grape - smoother, softer, rounder - and maximum 20% indigenous grape variety or international grape variety. All grapes must be produced in the area of the estate. Tuscany is a non-watering area and pesticides and chemicals are also disallowed. In simpler terms, vineyards are completely at the mercy of mother nature and there are no safety nets. And, naturally, every year’s harvest yields a significantly different product in the bottle.

Similar to IGP and AOC in France, wine in Tuscany can belong to one of 3 different levels based on aging: Annata - 9 months; Riserva - min 18 months; Gran Selezione - 30 months. IGT is the most basic tier and a lot more freestyle. I say basic but some of the best tuscan wines belong in this category. Super Tuscan wines.

In Tuscany, the government has imposed strict rules on how the land is divided - 62% of forest, 12% vineyards, 9% olive groves! This is done in order to ensure that the land continues to be of a quality that allows for high quality wine and olive oil production.

If you thought that wine production was regulated, don’t even get me started on olive oil. Italy is famous for its extra virgin olive oil as much as it is for its Sangiovese. And yes, olive oil is more regulated and harder to produce than wine. In Italy, olive oil is not a dressing, it is a way of life. And a wise man once told me - Don't get into olive oil 😁

Prior to the tour, I was aware that wine production in Tuscany is prestigious and there are rules. But, the insight into its purity and artistic nature was great before I set foot in the first winery. This allowed me to carry a lot of respect, curiosity and appreciation as I walked through decades and sometimes centuries old wine estates.

Which leads me to the first one - Fattoria Le Filigare. Le Filigare is, quite literally, situated in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. It is bordered by the Siena on one side and Florence on the other. They have to pay two different taxes for that reason. At Le Filigare, we learnt about the end to end process of wine making. For whites, press; ferment; stabilize; age in barrel; age in bottle. And for reds, de-stem and select the best grapes and then follow the same process as whites. This was followed up with a tasting of their best wines, including Lorenzo, named after the current generational owner - Lorenzo. We entered Filigare with empty bellies and a group of 25 strangers. Upon leaving, we were tipsy and definitely not strangers anymore! I met a couple from Quebec, Canada. Another one from London, UK 🥴And another one from Los Angeles.

For our second and final tasting of the day, we stopped at Fattoria di Montague. What started as a hunting lodge for deer and wild boar, has turned into a wedding estate and a furnace for clay pottery among many other things. Most importantly, a winery! Here, once again, we got an indulging tour of the estate, sparing no details about the history and the present activities. Following which, we had a fantastic lunch with different types of meats and cheeses alongside the wines. During lunch, I was sat next to two lovely couples from Victoria, Australia! We became quickly acquainted and spent the next hour bonding and sharing travel tips.

On the way back to Florence, we played some classic pop songs on the bus and tried to sober down as it was only 1pm!

Sunsets and Piazzales

When in Italy, you must walk along all the Piazzas to admire the churches, the statues, the talented buskers or just a sandwich and wine. If you don’t visit Piazzale Michelangelo, you are missing out!

There is only one other way to drink wine that comes close to a wine tour in Tuscany. Catching the sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo.

And that is exactly what I did 🙂On my first evening in Florence, a friend and I grabbed a bottle of wine each and hiked up the hill to watch the sunset over this beautiful city. After staying up there for close to 4 hours, just as we were about to leave, we followed our ears to some live music and dancing, right there, at the top! We decided to stay and it was one of the best nights of my trip. That’s not it. The vibe up there was so lit that I decided to go again on my last night in Florence. Although there was no live music this time, I was glad to meet some cool folks. Two girls, roommates from Hawaii, were in Florence only for one night. We shared drinks and talked for hours. I cannot wait to come back to Florence to spend many more peaceful evenings at Piazzale Michelangelo.

The Uffizi

Florence, for me, was meant to be a relaxing break conveniently planned during the middle of my trip. To that extent, I hadn’t booked any activities or planned any itineraries. But, as the weather turned on me, I decided to spend time indoors and book a spontaneous guided tour of the Uffizi Galleries. This decision turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Growing up, I did not learn a lot about art and history. Not European history anyway. For this reason, I never appreciated something beyond its face value. However, this all changed after my tour of the Uffizi. Florence is the art capital of Italy and one of the most (if not the most) important and prestigious cities in the world, when it comes to art. And, the best part is that you don’t need to be a genius to understand why that is. Regardless of your exposure to art and history, there are certain aspects of the story of Florence that are unbelievably fascinating.

Take for instance, how Uffizi even came to become a gallery. The Medici family was at the core of the art revolution in Italy. Before the Medici family gained power and popularity, artists were exiled. In certain cases, they were made to burn their own art. But, between the 15th and 17th centuries, when the Medici’s reigned, this changed. They regularly hosted artists and commissioned art for their palace and their family tomb — the Medici Chapel — a masterpiece by Michelangelo. (The famous) David was the symbol that marked this. Uffizi means “offices”. During the Medici reign, these rooms were used to consolidate administrative control. Many years after the Medici reign was over, their art collections were given to the city of Florence under the famous Patto di famiglia negotiated by Anna Maria Luisa, the last Medici heiress. And much later, Uffizi was formally recognised as a museum!

Part of Uffizi is also part of the Vasari Corridor - a passageway that connects two Medici palaces via the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno. The corridor's full length is approximately one kilometer and it was originally built as a secret pathway for the Medici family.

Ofcourse, it is less about the Uffizi and more about what is in it. And what is in it, is genius. I can finally understand why the greats are spoken of with so much awe and respect. Take for instance Michaelangelo. Before Michaelangelo, paintings were plain. Humans were two dimensional. Michelangelo crafted perfect humans, mostly in the form of sculptures, not paintings - the David for example. How? Legend has it that Michaelangelo used to sneak into the church late at night and dissected corpses to learn anatomy. He understood how each muscle connected to the bone, how a chest had a rib cage underneath, how biceps looked. And, he brought this into his art.

Leonardo was not only a painter. He was a mathematician. A botanist. An architect. An engineer. He wanted to learn it all. And he did. We all know that he left a lot of unfinished paintings. And there are valid reasons why. Everytime he painted something, he would spend days trying to understand how the color of the sky changed. He made his own pigments to represent the textures, the shadows and the colors. For his many talents, he was often called upon by royalty, from more than just Italian royalty. And when he did, he would attend, because he was curious. That is more beautiful to me than any of his artwork.

Together with Raffaello, Boticelli and many others, the Renaissance artists completely changed art. While Medieval art was no less beautiful, they were two dimensional. Renaissance art brough human emotions and feelings, maternal love, dimensions and depth and a whole new dimension (the third dimension). Today, we marvel at technological advancements like 5G and AI. But, I think it is important to take a second to appreciate how a handful of individuals possessed the creativity and scientific aptitude to change how we see art, forever. And, they did so, 500 years ago.

What I saw and learnt at the Uffizi is not limited to what I have shared here. In fact, it would come in handy again in Rome and the Vatican. Turns out, the Medici family ruled from Rome and brought their childhood friends - Michelangelo and Raffaello - with them! It’s like I followed their paper trail 😉