On Tuesday we ate at a little hole in the wall place on a side alley. No one was in there except 2 other couples, one set with a baby. It seemed like they were also tourists as they didn't speak Italian, or English. The place looked like someone's house with a kitchen opened up to see one lone man working all the stations simultaniously. Our server was a man in his 60's, missing is front teeth and barely spoke English. We ordered the "Ribolitta" - a peasant soup made out of stale bread, kale, cabbage and carrots. Their version was topped off with house made chili oil. YUMM! I guess back in the day, you didn't let any food go to waste, (to think of what American's waste everyday is unsettling) so the peasants would keep adding bread to the soup and "reboil = ribolitta" so the flavors would intensify. We also shared a housemade pasta with tomato sauce, garlic and Pecorino Romano. Delish! I would have ordered dessert there, but a young woman came in with 3 very loud unruly children. It was perfect though because, I had my first Florentine Gelato experience.
Gelato here is unlike any in Italy. The consistency, the flavor choice and the SIZE. I actually stopped a Japanese tourist to shoot a photo of his gelato cone. It was about a foot tall with at least a pound of gelato on top. I couldn't get over it - I had to have one for myself. Besides being 30 degrees outside -I went inside the local Gelateria to sample one of these. The flavor choices were overwhelming - but I went with my first choice, Coconut. For 4 Euro I got a heaping portion on a thick housemade sugar cone complete with 2 pirouette cookies and a tasting spoon. We sat in the back to taste and be amazed. It was sensational!
I had to walk around a bit after the first few tastes - we were right in front of the monstrous Duomo - and I wanted to see all perspectives. It's really hard to take it all in.
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