Florence!

Ah, Firenze. This city was incredible. We spent lots of time here, making three back to back day trips from the Chianti region in Tuscany. I remember at first being taken back by how beautiful the city is. The first thing we did in this city was visiting the Pitti Palace which has an incredible garden that offers a spectacular panoramic view of the city and the surrounding mountain range. This was my favorite place. I sat in these gardens alone for at least an hour just taking in the view. I wrote the following in my journal about the sight:

“The city burst at the seams with endless winding streets colored with hues of orange, yellow, and pale off white. Flower beds and awnings add nice little accents to the rustic slated tile roof tops that cover the renaissance style homes. The city is nestled right up against the foot of a terrific mellow mountain range that grows from the ground and offers a spectacular spectrum of green from the dark wooded areas all the way to light green open faces. Houses of yellow, white, and red are dropped without pattern into these magnificent hills and seem to rest so peacefully.”

This city is the birthplace of the renaissance. The creative hotspot of the day. Florence has a legendary artistic heritage. Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance, Ghiberti and the Della Robbias, Filippo Lippi and Angelico; Botticelli, Paolo Uccello and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Due to the historical significance of this city, famous paintings and sculptures are housed here including the statue of David by Michelangelo, and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primaverra. This is also the home of the famous Duomo, which was the first architectural masterpiece of the renaissance period because at the time none of the architects were able to conceive a way to build a dome of that size. This city also had a beautiful waterway that ran through it and over the waterway was a nice bridge that was full of street vendors, performers, and little shops.

I also had my first taste of fine Italian food in this city. This city was a great place for food, much more realistic prices and higher quality foods then Venice. For lunch, I had a small sandwich from a local shop that was incredibly fresh and local. It consisted of a local Tuscan ham, local goat’s cheese and fresh vegetables. It was SO good! But the highlight is what I had for dinner. I started with a Pecorino, ruccola e Pinoli which was just a basic rocket salad that had Tuscan pecorino cheese and pine nuts. It was nothing to write home about. But once the Primi Piatti came out it was game time. I ordered a Pappardelle Sul Cinghiale. This was a pappardelle with wild boar sauce. The “star” of the dish was the house made pasta that was incredibly thick, buttery, wide and had the ability to cover your entire tongue. The pasta was paired with a sauce that was full of meaty boar flavors. It reminded me of the texture of meatballs but more tender to the mite. It had a mellow aroma and savory meat notes. It was an incredible dish that reminded me of exactly what Italy should taste like – fresh, filling, etc. I was a little disappointed because my dish was not the champion of the table. Kelli’s Al Forno took home the gold with a wide thick noodle that coats your tongue with a delicious cream full of buttery notes and slight spices and then meat mixed in the dish. The dish was baked in the oven with a coating of cheese on top. Total ecstasy in the mouth.