I'm back, baby!

After an extended period of time working on a project in Kansas City, Slice of Tuscany is back in Italy. For now, at least. While here, I plan on blogging daily and taking lots of photos (follow me on Facebook and Instagram: sliceoftuscany). Here’s a quick update on travel and what happened the first day.

I left Kansas City Monday evening and was supposed to have a quick layover in Chicago then onto Munich and Florence arriving Tuesday afternoon. Instead there were mechanical issues, an overnight in Chicago (thank you, Schuler!), reroute to Frankfurt, arriving in Florence early Wednesday morning. Because I’m staying a month or more this time, missing half a day didn’t matter all that much. But to those who only have a week or so to travel, I offer you my most valuable travel suggestion: Avoid Chicago O’Hare at all costs.

I was absolutely floored to be back in Florence, especially in my former apartment located just a block from the Ponte Vecchio and in the heart of Santo Spirito, my favorite neighborhood in the entire city. The apartment is huge and was miraculously available during my stay. (It is available to rent for longer stays in Florence 2+ weeks generally. Contact me for info.) It’s such a strange feeling to be back. It feels like I never left, but at the same time feels like I was gone for far too long. After throwing my bags in the house, I went on a quick walk around the city to say Ciao and give hugs to some of my favorite people.

Enzo!

For dinner I ventured to a new spot in Piazza Santo Spirito where they hand make the pasta as you walk in. It had a trendy but cozy atmosphere, live music and a menu that I vow to make my way through entirely. They served up some fresh bread with this year’s new olive oil to taste. It was deliciously pizzica, which means it’s so fresh that it kind of tickles your mouth and throat. We ordered a bottle of nebbiolo and an antipasti plate of prosciutto, stracchino and coccole (fried pizza dough). For dinner we ordered the pici pasta with duck ragu followed by una tagliata di manzo. Pici pasta is quite possible one of my favorite dishes in Italy. It’s typical of Tuscany and Umbria and shaped like spaghetti but much thicker and with very al dente but soft and hearty aspect to it. In fact after that, we were stuffed to the brim and cancelled the second plate.

It was during the pasta dish that I got a huge surprise. You all know how all across Italy every evening there are men who walk around and try to sell you roses? It happens in the piazzas mainly but there are several restaurants, especially in Florence, who let them inside during dinner as well. As small as Florence is it is very common to see the same guys going around almost every night no matter where you are. A few years ago when I first moved here I saw the same guy almost every single night. Even if I wasn’t out to dinner, I would be out walking around or grabbing a gelato somewhere and almost always run into him. At one point I thought he had a twin because he was literally everywhere. We became friends – in the sense that he wouldn’t try to sell me roses and we would give each other a high five and move on. All of a sudden, before I moved to Rome, I stopped seeing him. He disappeared. In fact I was slightly concerned that something had happened to him. Low and behold, last night during dinner I see him walk in holding a giant bouquet of lilies. I quietly watched him move from table to table not saying a word. He finally turned towards our table and when his eyes met mine, he shouted and ran over for a hug asking me where and how I have been. Loved it.

Post dinner we went in the piazza and had some drinks with the rest of Florence. I met up with one of my favorite people in Florence and old roommate, Andrea, as well as some other friends. Then there are the familiar faces and acquaintances I hadn’t seen in forever, but without skipping a beat just gave me a hug and a “bentornata” or welcome back. That’s the thing about Florence and being able to come back time and time again, is that as much as Florence is world cultural hotspot, it’s warm and inviting with friendly faces and lovely people.