Isn’t Florence one of the most beautiful destinations in the world?

Oh, yes! It is!

It was also my home for 3 years and a half, so I have many fond memories of Florence. That’s where I fell in love with lampredotto and coffee, where we had our first home, car and dog. Even if I have moved to Rome eleven months ago, I miss it a lot.

While reminiscing today, I realised that there are so many awesome things about it I want to share with the world but never did. So here it goes: my personal top recommendations for Florence.

PASSION FRUIT GELATO

One of my top 3 most favourite gelato in the world is the one of maracuja (passion fruit) from Gelateria della Passera. It is so delicious the way the sweetness and the sourness combine and make your taste buds feel like heaven.

 

PANINO WITH LAMPREDOTTO

One very popular and traditional Florentine street food you can have is the panino with lampredotto. In the years I have spent there, I made it my quest to find the best one. I tried so many of them in so many places. I had so many bad ones (and trust me, there’s nothing worse than cow stomach cooked badly), but in the end I found the best one. And then we were going almost every Saturday to have it for lunch, brunch or breakfast. You can find it in Piazza delle Cure. There is a lovely guy selling it, among other traditional delicacies, in a van (usually they are called piadina bus in Italian). It is a bit out of the centre, but it is well worth it. Plus you get to see an area of Florence tourists never see. If you do go to have it, ask for a ‘panino con lampredotto sbucciatto con salsa verde e piccante‘ (the spicy sauce isn’t very spicy and the salsa verde is a kind of parsley pesto).

 

COFFEE 

I must admit that it took me a long time to go to Ditta Artigianale. I do not know why. Probably because when they opened the first place, everyone got super crazy about it. I wanted to give it some time before trying it because everyone does good and puts extra effort in the beginning, but it usually wears off in time. I am glad that they did not do it and they always put extra effort into being great! It only made me like them even more.

However, what I love the most about them is that they make different kinds of coffees, not only the traditional Italian ones. I do love my espresso, but filtered coffee, and especially VERY GOOD one is heaven! Aaand they also have two bars, a bigger one, less than 1 minute away from Gelateria della Passera and second one in Via dei Neri. I prefer the first one because well.. it is near my favorite gelateria so could have one treat after another and they also have a terrace perfect for when the weather is nice.

 

APERITIVO

I have been to and organised thousands of aperitivi in Italy, but hand on my heart – there is no other place as great as Caffetteria delle Oblate! Their staff is lovely, the cocktails are well made, the aperitivo buffet is pretty great and the view, oh, the view! Just look at this

Would you not say that THIS IS THE BEST VIEW FOR ENJOYING YOUR COCKTAIL? And do not say no because I know you are lying. I could move on the terrace of this library and I would most definitely be happy for the rest of my life!

 

WALK ALONG THE ARNO

This is another thing that I really, really miss – walking along the river. We used to live 5 minutes away from it and despite all the mosquitoes that wanted to eat us alive throughout the entire year, I loved that river.

 

I loved that it brought so much green into the city and the view of the Ponte Vecchio was simply stunning. You can often see people sitting on the fence, enjoying a drink and a pizza while watching the sunset.

 

It is the simple things in life that make such a gorgeous and famous city in the entire world even more amazing, wonderful and special!

 

Special thanks to Keith Sutherland for allowing me to use his photo for the featured image of this article. You can find his work here.