Day 28 and 29: Florance and Panzano

We got on the train in Venice and arrived in a very rainy Florence. Even in the rain we could tell that we liked the city, so we took that as a good sign about the days to come. We found our hostel (which is huge!) and dropped off our bags. The guy at the front desk gave us a restaurant recommendation for lunch… and we are forever indebted to him. The food was amazing! Andrew got a Tuscan style goulash with hunks of beef that were so tender that he didn’t need a knife. The whole restaurant was decorated to look like an old Tuscan villa with candles, paintings, and statues all over. That afternoon we explored Florence’s famous leather market and were overwhelmed by all of the purses and jackets. We might have to go back one of these days when it stops raining.

Back at the hotel we learned that the famous Siena Palio is on Monday, and our hostel has organized a tour. We’ve heard so much about the Palio (but didn’t realize it was this week!) so we just had to sign up for the excursion. Our hostel is basically a huge hotel for college students- it has two bars, a restaurant, workout room, sauna, swimming pool… and more we haven’t explored yet. We unpacked in our room, finally did a load of laundry, and hung around the hostel all night. We met some Australian girls at dinner and made plans to meet up with them the following night.

Panzano
An earlier post refers to an almost disastrous trip to Panzano near Bologna. On Sunday we made our way to Panzano in Chianti to pick up a special salt for the Fosters- and we are very glad we did! Panzano is an hour bus ride from Florence with beautiful views along the way (which Allyson didn’t get to enjoy because of her extreme carsickness). Panzano is a tiny village, best known for its famous butcher Dario Ceccini. Look him up- he’s awesome. We found his little shop and bought the seasoned salt for the Fosters. Dario came over to meet us and was very excited to tell Andrew about the time he taught a class in San Francisco. He is one of the most enthusiastic people we’ve ever met! The Fosters told us that if we made it to Panzano and went to Dario’s shop they would pay for us to eat at his restaurant across the street. We made reservations for Sunday lunch at 1pm and walked out three hours later very satisfied!

There was a little outdoor market in town that we decided to check out. Andrew was drawn to a wine-lottery game that involved paying 1 euro to draw a slip of paper from a bowl. If your slip had a number on it you would win a bottle of wine for a display that corresponds to your number. 4 euros later, Andrew was the proud winner of a locally produced bottle of wine.

When it was time to get back to Florence we made our way back to the bus stop. When we finally made it back to Florence we were still too full to think about dinner so we decided to check our the rooftop terrace bar at the hostel. We ran into our Australian friends and had a few drinks with them. They had heard about a cool bar in town so we set off on a mission to find it. We never made it to the bar, but we had some good sandwiches and gelato that made the walk worth it. We all went to bed pretty early because we had the horse races the next day and the girls had to catch an early bus to Cinque Terre.

Travel Blunder: The bus ride to Panzano was simple- we looked at our bus schedule and got on the bus we wanted in Florence. Coming back was a bit more frustrating, as it was on a Sunday as well as a local holiday. The bus schedule was clearly different- we came to this conclusion around 5:15 when our 4:50 bus back didn’t show. We hoped that if we sat at the bus stop, eventually a bus would show up. Luckily, we were on our way home at 5:47.

Gourmet Moment: Dario Ceccini’s restaurant, Solociccia, is family-style seating with a set menu. We arrived and were escorted down several flights of stairs to what was once a wine cellar. There was a big table set for 12 people with fresh bread and vegetables waiting for us. As the rest of the table filled up we realized that everyone else was Italian. Luckily, one man spoke very good English and acted as our translator with the rest of the table. Lunch consisted of: Dario’s wine, amazing home-made focaccia, vegetables from his garden, beef ragu bruschetta, an assortment of batter fried meat and vegetables, white beans in olive oil (the one dish that Allyson didn’t wolf down), sautéed marinated beef meatballs, a roast beef dish, boiled beef and vegetable salad, and finally a succulent braised pork with caramelized onions. For dessert they brought out coffee, an assortment of Italian liquors, and olive oil cake. Everything was absolutely incredible! It was the best meal either of us have ever eaten in our lives! If you are ever in the area you need to eat here. Thank you so much Foster family!