Honeymoon in Italy: Highlights in Florence, Part II

We had a lot of fun food experiences in Florence. Our travel agent booked us a pasta making class with Towns of Italy Cooking School, a walking food tour with Eating Europe, and a wine tasting and dinner experience that was also with Towns of Italy. All of them were really fun, and I'd highly recommend them. And while we didn't take a pizza making class, I bet that would have been fun, too!

Pasta Making Class

While we had a little bit of a tricky time finding the place, once we saw the line of people waiting on the sidewalk, that was a hint we were getting close. There were probably about 20 people in our group, and we all sat at a long table wearing aprons to prepare for class.

The teacher, Tomas, was AWESOME. He was the best part of the experience! He was knowledgeable, happy to answer questions, and so funny. That evening he taught us how to make two kinds of pasta, two sauces, and chocolate gelato; he also taught us the difference between "pecorino" and "pecorina" (look it up). 

The tagliatelle was the easier pasta to make, since we were just making long strips; for the ravioli, there were more steps, and it was hard to know how much ricotta to use to fill each one. And neither Steve nor I like pesto, but the way we made it in class, it was delicious! It was less oily, and maybe didn't have as many pine nuts. It just seemed so light and fresh. I doubt we will make our own actual pasta, but the sauce we might do. We later watched a video on how to pick the best pasta in the store; good tips!

And since we don't have an ice cream maker at home, we probably won't be making our own gelato, either (and there are so many ice cream and Italian ice places near us in Florida). But it was very yummy! We learned that the best gelato places cover the gelato (don't be fooled by the HUGE piles you see to entice you to come in; it's all air!), only offer maybe a dozen flavors, and make unique flavors, too.

Martina was our walking food tour guide, and she was so sweet. Loved her!

Walking Food Tour

The day unfortunately did not start off great because 1. it was raining and 2. we were given two different meeting locations for our outing and we didn't know which was right. Eventually we did find the right place, but we clearly were the last ones there and were a little late. But once the tour was underway, we had a great time! Note that this was a Tuscan food tour, so we did not eat pizza, risotto, cannoli, pasta carbonara, etc., all of which came from somewhere else in Italy. 

The hanging meat looks gray because it is aged with salt and pepper to preserve it. Sometimes the meat will also be aged with fennel to cover the funky meat smell. And remember: it's salame, not salami!

We walked over to the Mercato Centrale to visit several of the food stands inside. The downstairs is the original market that is only open until about 3pm each day, while the upstairs is more like a food court with restaurants that stays open all night, so we stayed downstairs for this part (we had actually explored the upstairs on our own a previous day anyway). We tried some charcuterie, and since I don't eat meat, I got more cheese to taste, which I thought was a better deal anyway; we loved the pear pecorino cheese, and even though I don't normally like blue cheese, the one we tried was really good.

Steve was brave and tried tripe at Bambi while I had warm carrots on bread (it sounds weird, but it was yummy!); the seasoned tomatoes were also delicious. At another stand we tried several olive oils flavored with white and black truffle (and they had a truffle gin, too, but we couldn't try it). From the market we all got vegetarian cannelloni for lunch, and we took it over to the Zanobini, a wine shop that had a table in the back; we ate there and enjoyed some Chianti classico wine (look for the black rooster!). Chianti is made with san giovese grapes, which are everywhere in this area, and is aged for at least one year. Chianti is not only the name of the wine but also of the region, kind of like Napa Valley. 

At Bambi I didn't try the meatballs (which were filled with potato), but the bread with carrots and tomatoes were good!

After lunch we went to a little coffee shop that had a whole room in the back; I'm not even sure how you would have known it was there! We enjoyed coffee with true almond milk from southern Italy (it's more syrupy and sweeter than what we have here in the States), and it was delicious! We also tried two kinds of ammazzacaffè, or "coffee killer," which is an alcoholic shot that acts as a digestive after you drink coffee. I liked it, but Steve not so much, so I finished his, too.

For dessert we had biscotti (which translates as "cookie" in Italian), but they call them cantucci there because that means "wedge." We dipped the cookies into sweet wine; the wine was sweet not because of added sugars, but because the grapes were harvested later in the season, which means sweeter grapes. And of course we had to have some gelato! We went to the only shop where I saw peanut gelato, and since I love peanut butter, I was in heaven. Gelato was actually invented in Florence during the Medici era, and it's been popular ever since!

Winery Tour and Tasting

The Diadema winery is beautiful!

Of course Tuscany (the area that Florence is in) is known for its wine, and we would have loved to explore more wineries and vineyards. But we didn't have a car, and most of those places are pretty far from the city. But the tasting we did at the Diadema winery was only about a half hour away, so that was perfect. We took a bus with three other couples; one pair were young newlyweds from Australia, and the other two couples were from Florida, and they were ready to PARTY. They even got beers to go from a nearby bar so they could take the drinks on the bus!

Gratzia was both our tour guide and bus driver, and she was awesome! I like to think she had fun with our wild group 😜

We took the winding, sometimes scarily narrow road out to the country town of Impruneta, driving past many olive orchards (there are four different kinds of olives in the area) and vineyards. The Diadema winery is a small family winery (you can also stay there overnight), and we had the chance to see the big tanks and barrels where the wines are aged (and saw the olive press for olive oil, too). They also had huge terracotta jugs that aged red wine made from san giovese grapes; the terracotta actually absorbs some of the liquid, so the jug has to keep getting topped off, and since there is no wood to change the flavor, this wine is very high in tannins (so it's very dry). That wine shouldn't be left in the bottle for more than 2-3 years (Italian wine is low in sulfites, which are a natural preservative, so it can't be aged as long anyway.). We had the chance to try some of that wine as well as a few others, including a rosé, and tried two of their olive oils, too (older, more mature olive oil has a stronger, spicier taste). 

After the Diadema tasting, then we got to have another tasting experience. We tried three different red wines and had to guess what they were based on smell, taste, body, and finish. In the end, they were merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and san giovese; I only got the last one right because it has such a distinct taste. THEN we got to mix the three together in our chosen proportions to make our very own wine. Steve did our mixture, and it was really good! We called it "Stella di Magnifico"after his dog, and we drank it over the next two nights to enjoy with Italian bread and cheese. Yum!

Finally, when we were done tasting, we were served a lovely dinner. We were seated in the sunroom, but midway through the meal, the rain was coming down so hard that it actually started coming in through the window! So we quickly rushed to a different area of the restaurant and continued eating. Over the course of the meal we enjoyed: a salad with carrots; potato soup; eggplant with a floral cheese; seafood pasta with a white sauce (Steve's favorite); and a spiced gelato over chocolate soufflé (I couldn't put my finger on the spice, but it was very unique! And who doesn't like chocolate soufflé?). Our group was the last one in the restaurant, so we shut the place down. Then we took the short ride back to the city. Steve and I went straight to our hotel, but I am sure those two Florida couples went out to drink even more! What an adventure!

My next post will be all about the Palazzo Pitti, a Medici palace that is now an art museum!