Florence is for Food

Ok my peoples...sorry ive lagged since my last post, but ive been having too much god damn fun...sue me. All that aside...lemme tell u bout a lil city called Florence:

We left Vernazza on our way to Florence and decided to make a stop in a small town called Lucca for the afternoon. Lucca, a very old Tuscan town, is surrounded by a large wall which separates the "old city" from the "new city". And no...its not like the Berlin of old... We rented bikes and spent a few hours circumnavigating the path along the wall. Every now and then, we'd cruise into one of the arteries into the town and stop at stores to browse or for some gelatto. Not too shabby, but our eyes were on the prize, in this case Florence and we took off before dark and made our way to the Tuscan portal.

It should ne noted, that our Florentine escapdes are special, as Bianca studied in Florence for a year and I was with a seasoned city-vet, thus allowing us both to breathe easy as we arrived. The couple that ran the pensione (lodging) where Bianca lived, Massimo and Silvia, were gracious enough to make a reservation at Hotel Cordova, just off Piazza Duomo, for us. We settled in and had a small, but picturesque balcony that from the 5th floor of the building, overlooked the tops of Florentine homes and monuments, like the Duomo. A sunset cocktail on the balcony preceeded our 9pm dinner reservation at 'La Giostra', a well-known local restaurant that Bianca had been to before, but never experienced an evening like the one we had on our first night in Florence....

We wanted to go big...and being gullible foodies, we over-ordered, but it was E-P-I-C! We ordered the carpaccio di chianina (from Tuscany's most renowned region for beef) with ruccola and shaved reggiano cheese as antipasti. But before we could dive in, we were presented with a lovely mixed antipasto plate, which featured everything from goose liver pate crostinis to Tuscan salami, courtesy of the house. We knew we were in trouble since we had each ordered a first (primmi) and second (secondi) course... We chose "a nice bottle of chianti..fffpfpfpfpfp" to accompany our dinner, which was properly decanted with the right amount of aeration and flair of presentation. I had the tagliatelle al funghi porcini and Bianca had the pear and gorgonzola ravioli as our primmi and for secondi, Bianca had a filleto balsamico and i had the most amazingly delicious and over-sized osso bucco. We were in major pain after all of that and the house graciously presented us with a bottle of limoncello, which they continuosly poured into our cordial glasses, to aid our digestion. We hobbled back to the hotel and slept like infants after a dinner that rivaled what we ate in Paris at Chez Andre and probably even edged past it as far as our favorites were concerned.

When i say that Florence is for food, i mean it and the next day we went to Massimo and Silvia's house for lunch. We met Lauran, who was in the same study abroad program as Bianca, but a year later. She was with her boyfriend Joe and their friend Tate. Our friendship with Lauran would prove to be a fateful one as our Italian journey unfolded. Silvia made a fantastic lasagna with pears, walnuts and gorgonzola cheese. We had tuscan wine, mozzarella di buffala, varied crostinis, pana cotta and vin santo for dessert and of course, Italian coffee (always espresso and always fantastic).

The rest of the story reads like a montage: We strolled through Florence during the day and browsed shops, walked over the Ponte Vecchia, went up to Piazza Michaelangelo. I ate osso bucco and Bianca had tagliatta (sliced beef) almost everywhere we went. I always ordered limoncello afterwards. While in a stationary shop, we were reccomended a hole in the wall restaurant (Le Mossacce) and it was a bullseye. Looked like a shady bar in front and when you walk to the back there was a small dining room of packed tables. The pasta was simple, fresh, cheap and fantastic...like a local would eat.

We went out to dinner with Silvia, Massimo, Lauran, Joe and Tate to a place called Vinandro in nearby Fiesole, which stands above Florence. Also joining us for dinner was Laurans Dad, Greg, who was staying with Silvia and Massimo, as the families had gotten to know wach other well. We all shared our travel stories and when Greg heard we were going to Cortona as one of our next stops, he suggested we exchange phone numbers as he was staying about 10km outside Florence working on a small plot of land through a program called WWOOF (I think it stands for Worldwide Organized Organic Farmers....look it up...its an awesome concept) He told us about this 16th century structure he was at, which was a convent in earlier times and said it was beautiful but rustic. We liked the idea and figured it would at least be a great option....but i'll tell you about that in my next entry...

Our last day in Florence, we took a guided trip out into the Chianti Classico region with our own personal tour guide, Monika Iris, who quickly became one of my favorite people of all time. She picked us up in Florence and for the next 8 hours, Monika took us on a crash course of Chianti Classico. We visited a family owned terra cotta manufacturer in Impruneta, a small olive oil and old style chianti classico producer (80% sangiovese and 20%white wine grapes, which can longer we classified as 'classico' due to strict winemaking regulations from the chianti classico certification gurus). The old style turned out to be one of our favorite wines. We went to a town called Volpaia and tried their wine and met their locals. We stopped in a town called Panzano and had lunch at world-renowned and wacky as hell butcher Dario Cecchini's restaurant. We strolled through tiny Radda en Chianti before meeting Fernando, who makes Chianti Classico in Montefioralle. The Montefioralle vino blew us away..Fernando's creations were amazing and after a long day, he paired everything with crostini misti, salumi and reggiano. At the end, we sampled his vin santo, which is Tuscan dessert wine and it was some of the best we'd had. We were having a jolly good time conversing with Fernando and Monika about wine, chianti and the accompanying culture, when he pulls out of bottle of vin santo from 1960! Suffice it to say, its not on the market, but it was an experience to savor. This vin santo made by this wonderful man, who had contiued to craft the magic that aged for over 40 years in that bottle. We have 6 bottles of Fernando's Montefioralle wines waiting for us when we get home, since although small, his operation facillitated shipping to the US. Finally, Monika took us to Greve en Chianti, where she lives. We meandered through the main piazza and walked through the most amazing butcher shop and bought some prosciutto for the road, before returning to Florence.

A private tour is not something we'd normally delve into, but a family friend highly recommended Monika and it was worth every penny..er...euro. We somehow even found time to visit a woman who handmakes ceramics, which Bianca insisted we go to. Of course, i obliged...arent i a nice guy? ;) And furthermore, driving through the beautiful hills of the region to reach each destination was special in and of itself.

Well, thats it Florence and the surrounding areas in a nutshell. We were there for 5 days and loved every minute of it. We found a killer parking spot for our car and ended up not having to pay for parking while we were there and got a great rate at the hotel because of Massimo, which we were extremely grateful for...and thus, we looked forward to our next part of our journey, leading to Cortona, my motherland in Santa Maria di Castellabate and beyond! More stories to come, but until then Ciao! and thanks for all the limoncello!

Adriano Spinelli - uomo internazionali di misterio

A note on Monika: Monika Iris is German born and one day decided to pack up her bags and travel by Vespa through Tuscany...she stayed, married an Italian chef and together, they operated an award winning restaurant, while living in Greve. They closed shop a few years ago and she's been sharing her friendships and connections with visitors not just throughout the Chianti Classico region, but many other parts of Tuscany including San Gimigiano, Montepulciano and beyond...Check her website at www.monikairis.com and if you're in Florence or nearby, call her for a full or half day tour (she'll customize it to your preferences) and tell her Adrian and Bianca sent you...and then thank me later...you wont be disappointed.

Books Read:

David Cross - I Drink For a Reason (done)
Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises (almost done at this point)
No third book to read, so one must be found soon!

Playlist (What I listened to while writing this)

Lily Allen - Take What You Take
Tarantulaz f. Monique Bingham - They Forgot It (OM:Chilled)
4th Avenue Jones - Can't Trust 'em
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
Bjork - Possibly Maybe
Sublime - New Song
The Cinematic Orchetsra - BlueBirds
Lootpack - Psyche Move
LTJ Bukem - Viewpoint
Zion I f. Knowmadic, D - You Get Stuck
Mylo - Sunworshipper
Thelonious Monk - Ugly Beauty
Nina Simone - Fine and Mellow
Wu-Tang Clan - The Projects
The Beatles - Hey Jude