Mama Mia

Several people have told me that when they visited Florence (Firenze), they found it a bit of a nightmare to navigate. We were very fortunate then, as our lovely little pension was just five minutes walk from the main bus and train depot and a further two minutes to all of the central sights of Florence. After settling in at the Leonardo Guesthouse (owned and run by two generations of Leonardos – uncle and nephew), we set out to explore – first stop... LUNCH!

Leonardo Jnr had very kindly given us a map of the inner city and had marked on it various places he recommend we visit and also several places to eat at. We were not disappointed by his first recommendation, a gorgeous little restaurant named Za-za.

Having not eaten since leaving Stansted airport (and let’s be honest, can you really count airport food as real food!?), we were both starving. There were far too many choices on the menu, but after much agonising I narrowed it down to the fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli with creamy truffle sauce and a glass of pinot grigio (yes, I know I don’t drink wine, but when in Florence…)

The wine came quickly, along with a basket of freshly baked bread, which was equally quickly devoured. The bread was quite dense and crusty – but very yummy – especially with olive oil drizzled over the top! Finally, our mains came. The ravioli was delicious! I could tell it was fresh – the spinach in the ravioli was still green, and the pasta had that egg-y flavour that only comes when it is fresh. The sauce wasn’t too bad either… ok, let's be honest, it was fabulous… in fact, when I ran out of pasta I had to use the remaining bread to sop up the last bits of the sauce!

Fully restored, we headed to the Galleria dell'Accademia to check out the world's most famous sculpture - Michelangelo's David. The Accademia almost certainly has the biggest drawcard of the city, however the rest of the gallery really doesn't have anything else worth noting - especially by someone such as myself who has only recently discovered the joys of art appreciation.

However, just going to see David alone is well worth it. At 4.5 metres tall, he is certainly a lot bigger than I had realised he would be - and thus dominates the purpose built room he has been housed in since the late nineteenth century. Michelangelo was just 26 when he finished the sculpture - can you imagine!? The piece was commissioned by the local government to be a symbol of Florence in 1501 - making David over 500 years old - and let me tell you - he is in pretty good shape!

After finishing at the Accademia, we headed back to the guest house for a well-earned siesta (remember we had been up since 3am!) of course along the way we made time for a gelato stop. Gelato is fantastic and perhaps one of Italy's greatest accomplishments. I am amazed that it has failed to become the global phenomenon that much of Italy's other cuisine has done. Over the three days we were in Florence I managed to sample the following flavours: meringue, crema, strachiatella (like a vanilla choc chip), creme caramel, nutella (Italians have a strange obsession with nutella - this suspicion was confirmed when I discovered a book in a local bookstore which was totally devoted to nutella and recipes with it as the main ingredient!), pistachio, chocolate orange, dark chocolate, irish cream, chocolate mousse, profiterole, and licorice. My favourite was the combination of licorice and dark chocolate. To be honest, even if Italy was lacking in every other area (which thankfully, it is not), I would probably go back for the gelato alone!

Waking from our siestas, with tummies ready to partake in yet another Italian gastronomic adventure, we headed to an Italian pizzeria (a cliche in every sense - the music, atmosphere, decor, menu...) situated right next to the Duomo for dinner. The pizza itself was nothing particularly special - a huge serving, with a lovely fresh base - I had a napoli which consisted of anchovies, capers, olives and fresh tomato and mozarella. I have had pizza of a similar quality at home, but the experience of sitting in an Italian restaurant in Florence over pizza and a bottle of wine, sharing the experience with a dear friend, will be hard to top none the less.