Welcome to our 2nd installment of our Pancia Piena! blog series. If you thought Rome sounded delightfully delicious, put on your stretchy elastic waistband pants and buckle up in your Fiat 500 because we’re heading north to Florence. This stunning capital city of Tuscany (Giovanna’s favorite city in the entire world, where she also lived and studied) is not only rich in art, history and fashion but for foodies it’s the setting for some of the world’s most famous culinary treasures.

Where to begin….how about the famous Bistecca Fiorentina?!
If you’re a vegetarian sit tight, we’ll get to you in a minute. For the loud and proud carnivores, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better steak anywhere else in the country. It’s big (always meant to share for at least 2 people), it’s juicy and it will melt in your mouth. But beware, any traditional location will NOT ask you how you want this steak cooked – it comes as rare as it can without it still mooing and most restaurants will not allow you to order it any other way as it would ruin the intended consistency and integrity of the flavor. Trust the process, please. Our favorite places to try this delectable delight are Trattoria Bordino, Ristorante Perseus and La Giostra (for the latter two you absolutely need reservations).

Next of course we must talk about pasta. In any city in Italy, you will always have plenty of options but in Florence and the Tuscany region will you find the most unbelievably delicious pasta with truffles (black truffles in the summer or white truffles in the fall/winter). We’re going to keep you at Trattoria Bordino for this as well but another of our favorites is also Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco. This location also boasts another regional specialty of wild boar sauce (“cinghiale” in Italian means boar, so yes you should try that here too).

Let’s move onto a couple of dishes that perhaps you’ve never heard of that are equally as important for your palate to experience. Two dishes that are great to eat in the colder months are Ribollita and Pappa al Pomodoro. Both dishes have their origins as “peasant” food with the main ingredient being day old bread. But don’t let that fool you. These hearty stews combine the bread with delicious ingredients like cabbage or chard, beans, tomatoes, carrots and the freshest olive oil to make a very filling and satisfying meal. Our favorite places to try these very local dishes are Trattoria ZàZà and Trattoria Marione.

And no meal would be complete with gelato obviously, so make sure to stop by La Strega Nocciola (our favorite location is the one by the Ponte Vecchio). Yes, there is also Vivoli if you want to get your Insta photos but if you’re like us and don’t care to wait on an hour long line to get your “cono al cioccolato fondente e limone” (one of our favorite flavor combos) then you’ll probably avoid going to this specific location.

Stay hungry amici, we’ll head to the east coast and visit Venice to explore her culinary treasures next!