Explore Italy: San Gimignano

New post series!

In honor of everyone’s favorite year ever, 2020, and all of our hopes and dreams being smashed, batted down, trampled on, and flippantly disposed of, I’m starting a new series on travel. If that seems uncorrelated or insensitive as I live in Italy and much of the world is still banned from entering the EU, allow me to explain.

Because traveling is severely diminished these days, vacations and adventures delayed, cancelled, or no longer optional due to income loss, I hoped to write some simple posts exploring my favorite cities in Italy to bring Italy to YOU. Of course a blog post will never come close to actually traveling, but maybe one of these posts will bring to light a city you’ve never been to and inspire you to start thinking about your next trip. Or cross it off your list, ha! It helps me, too, since I will not be taking any grand holidays this year. This is not all due to coronavirus, but also given we just moved apartments and we’ll be having a baby in September, it’s probably best to stay put for now and plan and prepare since we haven’t been able to do any of that yet! Ironically, I’d love to be in the US right now with my family, because having a baby is so much better with family around, ya know? But I’m not, so here’s a little trip down memory lane of some of the beautiful cities I have gotten to see in my time here in Italy!

Enjoy, and if you ever have any questions, you can always reach out to me! I love helping people when possible.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, Jennyblogs may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps to support Jennyblogs. For further information see the privacy policy. Grazie!

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Piazza della Cisterna

San Gimignano is a little walled town near Siena perched on one of the rolling hills of Tuscany famed for its medieval charm, beautiful views, wine, and one of the best gelato shops in Italy. That last one is reason enough for me to visit a place!

San Gimignano in a nutshell

Location: Tuscany, Italy

Best known for: Its medieval charm, tall towers, and gelato

Days needed to explore: 1+ - makes for an excellent day trip

What to see and do:

• Piazza della Cisterna

• Climb the tallest tower, Torre Grossa, for a fee somewhere around 5euro I believe. It’s been standing since 1298, so super safe, right? No, I’m sure it’s fine, and the views are spectacular.

Established: San Gimignano has a somewhat complex history with Etruscan roots, as testified by some of the Etruscan tombs you can still see today.

Two brothers who fled Rome built two towers, one which would eventually be called San Gimignano, and the city has been called so since at least 929 AD. It developed into a thriving city, until the plague of 1348 decimated two-thirds of its population and it submitted to Florentine dominance, never quite to return to its former independent glory. It is known for its fine towers, there were once 72, and today you can still admire 14 of them, which gives it a uniquely medieval skyline perched on its little hill. It has numerous examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

Exploring off the beaten track

Being quite small, it feels like there is one main street, a large principal piazza, and the rest little side streets to wander. This makes it a very easy day trip or possibly somewhere to stay and take a few breaths away from the larger cities. Personally, I really enjoyed San Gimignano as a day trip and didn’t feel the need to stay overnight or even all day. In fact, getting up early my husband and I saw San Gimignano and Siena all in one day and didn’t feel overly rushed. It’s very easy to go back and forth between Siena and San Gimignano by bus or car.

Places to eat:

• Gelateria Dondoli. If you’re looking for the world’s best gelato, you’ve found it at Gelateria Dondoli, or so they say! I really don’t know how you decide these things, because there is an awful lot of gelato in the world, and good stuff at that, so how do you choose which is THE best?! Regardless, I had heard from people that it truly was delicious, so I went in with rather high expectations, even if I expected to be at least somewhat disappointed. Well, l will tell you, it was truly delicious gelato. Even for being hyped as the best, I didn’t leave scoffing one bit. So definitely stop and get at least one gelato. It’s found in Piazza della Cisterna. There will probably be a line, and don’t get confused by the other gelateria just on the other corner that has a large sign “World’s best gelato.” This can be very confusing for those looking for the real one, so follow the line if in doubt. They’re famous for a few flavors, including Crema di Santa Fina (cream, saffron, pine nuts), Champelmo (sparkling wine and grapefruit), and Vernaccia Sorbet (made with the famous Vernaccia wine). I particularly recommend the Champelmo and any flavor you normally like! I’ve purposefully gone away from the flavors they’re known for, to see if they put as much finesse into the lesser known flavors. And they did. YUM.

Typical foods to try:

• Saffron - a spice, not a dish, but something San Gimignano is known for. Order dishes that feature “zafferano” or take some home with you!

• Olive oil - San Gimignano produces a wonderful extra virgin olive oil. Another great product to take with you.

• Wine - While you are here you should try the DOCG white wine for which San Gimignano is known: Vernaccia di San Gimignano. For more on this wine and where to have some tastings, check out this site.

How to get there from Florence:

Porta San Giovanni where the bus will drop you off

• By car: The quickest and maybe easiest way is by car.

• By train: There is no direct train, so you’ll actually need to take a train to Poggibonsi from the main Santa Maria Novella train station, followed by a bus. Once you get to Poggibonsi you’ll get the 130 bus, San Gimignano-Siena line to Porta San Giovanni. Total time will be around 2 hours, depending on how quickly the bus comes. Train ride is about an hour, bus ride is about 20 minutes.

• By bus: To get there you will need to get two buses. There is a bus station behind the Santa Maria Novella train station from which you can take a 131 Florence-Siena Busitalia bus to Poggibonsi, where you will transfer buses. Once at Poggibonsi take the 130 San Gimignano-Siena bus to Porta San Giovanni. Total time will be about 1hr 45minutes. First bus takes about 50 minutes, second bus will be around 25 minutes. Buses are my preferred method of travel to get to San Gimignano and also the cheapest. Tickets don’t need to be purchased in advance, but buses run about once every hour on weekdays, less on Saturday and much less on Sundays and holidays, so it’s best to check the schedules ahead of time.

Where to find bus schedules? As with many things in Italy, your safest bet is to go straight to the source to get correct information, in this case the bus station behind the train station in Via Santa Caterina da Siena. Maybe check out the station and get bus departures while you’re out exploring Florence. This way you will also know where to head the morning of your trip to San Gimignano, save some time and stress.

Why I like San Gimignano

While big cities may be more adrenaline inducing for the traveler with all the activity, abundance of restaurants and shops, and sites of interest, the lovely part of these tiny cities is that there isn’t really anything you need to see or do to check off your bucket list. This creates more of a stress free, wander as you will type of experience which I think is very refreshing after running around a city like Rome or Florence. You can put away your phone or map and just enjoy. No matter where you go, you will see ancient and beautiful Italian buildings, shutters, flowers, and local goods. It is very hard to get lost here. There a few museums, of course restaurants, and the main towers and piazzas that are hard to miss.

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Living in Italy: The Art of Grocery Shopping

While I was originally going to include this segment on grocery shopping (yes, grocery shopping) as part of a different post, I realized I had enough to say on the subject to warrant its own post.

No gloves? Good eye, this photo was taken in France

Why grocery shopping? If you think about it, it’s something that most human beings do on a weekly basis and we probably take if for granted. But when you’re in a new country or even a new city, these everyday errands can be invaluable in getting a glimpse into the new culture you’re in.

If you’ve moved to Italy for however long, sooner or later you are going to have to stop eating out all the time (you can’t live off margherita pizzas and gelato forever) and start cooking for yourself in your new (most likely fun-sized) kitchen.

If you’re looking for help on where to find specific ingredients in Italy, check out my post on Hard-to-Find Ingredients in Italy.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, Jennyblogs may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps to support Jennyblogs. For further information see the privacy policy. Grazie!

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The grocery stores

Supermarket prices are roughly the same in Italy as you would find in the US. So if you’re trying to create a budget before moving here, keep it the same. If you spend $50 a week on groceries, budget 50euro. Maybe 55 as a safety net for when you uh, buy the wrong products. Like when my friend and I bought laundry softener accidentally instead of detergent? Yeah. Our laundry smelled SO good. Can’t vouch for how clean it actually was, but dang. Fields of lavanda for days.

The four main grocery stores are Coop, Esselunga, Conad, Carrefour, and I prefer grocery shopping at them in that order. There are also some Pam’s in the city center which have fair prices, and Lidl which is the European equivalent (and I believe same owners) of Aldi. Conad and Carrefour tend to be the most expensive, and you will usually find them in the city center and out. If they’re in the center, they’ll probably be on the smaller side. Coop and Esselunga on the other hand, are usually only found outside city centers and tend to be larger, with parking more readily available, usually in the form of underground parking garages.

I believe all four have some kind of loyalty card, Carrefour is the only one I can’t say for sure.

• Coop, as a cooperativo, you have to pay 25euro to get their card and benefit from exclusive sales, among other “advantages” that may or may not be useful to you.

• Esselunga has their “Fidaty” card, which is free to get. For every item you buy you acquire points, sometimes on certain products you can get extra points. When you reach 3,000 points you can redeem your points for 27euro off groceries. Otherwise you can save your points and choose something from their prize catalog.

• Conad has their Insieme card which is similar to Esselunga’s. Free to obtain and you start collecting points which goes towards prizes. I’ve never shopped enough to ever obtain enough points to do anything with at Conad, but since it’s free it doesn’t hurt whether you decide to get it or not.

The rhythm of grocery shopping

For many reasons, grocery shopping in Italy is not just a once-a-week excursion but a multiple-times-a-week lifestyle. why?

• Food is very much available seasonally, and when you’re getting the best and ripest of produce, it usually doesn’t last a week before going bad! You’ll find many Italians only buying what they need for a few days, ensuring they always have the freshest stuff on hand.

• Others, like myself, walk to the grocery store and can only buy as much as can physically be carried. This necessitates shopping more frequently. You could also invest in a “nonna” cart, one of the bags on wheels that many nonne use for their shopping.

• The elderly generations themselves also use a daily trip to the grocery store as exercise, and may also serve as their socializing for the day. The strict lockdown during coronavirus only allowed 1 member from each household to grocery shop once a week. I really don’t think that many people complied, as there wasn’t any good way to enforce this rule. In one instance, the police finally cited a man after he was caught at the grocery store for the thirteenth time that day. Yes, thirteenth.

Have an exit plan

As you embark to explore the wonders that Esselunga, Conad, Carrefour, or Coop have to offer, there's something you might want to know.  Some grocery stores have entrance and exit gates, and you can only exit if you have a receipt with a barcode.  You could flag down one of the employees near the self-checkout and they will let you out, but after my experience of getting trapped because I didn’t buy anything, (I just wanted to see what they had to offer!) I always made sure to buy at least a snack or drink, even if I was just going to the store to check to see if they had a certain item.  Maybe I’m the only one who scopes out grocery stores. Ah well. You’ve been warned.

Don’t touch the produce

Whether at an open market or the grocery store, the fruit and vegetables are not to be touched with your bare hands! Or you might get your hand slapped or verbally accosted by some nonna. Plastic bags and gloves are provided so you can rifle through for the best peaches without sullying them.

I do sometimes rebel, especially if I only need one or two things from the produce section and don’t want to waste a glove. Then I will be careful to eyeball the produce and only touch the fruit I buy. Hint: If you only need say, 3 apples, and do want to look them over before choosing them, use your empty bag as a makeshift glove to turn over some apples. Then when you’ve chosen your three, take your hand out of the bag and use your bare hand to touch only the three you want.

A lady once came up next to me to get some peaches and apologized as she chose some without a glove. I told her not to worry. In case she hadn’t noticed, I also was glove-less and clearly not about to rebuke her for a sin I was already committing. Two rebels in the store, lalala.

Don’t forget the mercati

Speaking of produce, it’s much more enjoyable to have one or two days a week set aside for getting your fresh produce from an outdoor mercato. The produce is usually the freshest and you can develop relationships with your favorite vendors. Not only is it a much more rewarding experience to buy your produce from someone you know, you’re supporting local farms and hey, they just might start giving you some deals if they like you! Not to mention some of them have recommendations or recipes they’re willing to share!

I used to shop once a week at the Mercato di San Lorenzo when I lived closer to the center, and there was one dear old signore that I would often buy my produce from. He would frequently sneak some surprise pieces in my bag when he thought I wasn’t looking (it’s normal for the vendors to select the produce you want instead of you getting it yourself) and I would have to figure out what to do with them when I got home. That’s how I discovered khaki/persimmons, actually! I’m pretty sure he would always round the price down for me, but then again I’ll never really know because he lumped and weighed everything together, would think a moment, then tell me the price. The receipt only ever gave the total price, but a couple euros for several different kinds of deliciously ripe fruits and veggies didn’t seem a bad deal to me. Even if he was rounding the price up, I was blissfully ignorant and still consider it a great memory.

I also love the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio. They have some unique stalls, and if you go on the right days you can even find scoby for sale to make your own kombucha or apple cider vinegar with the mother.

How to wait in line - “fare la fila”

Basically, if you’re not breathing down the person’s neck in front of you, you’re not doing it right. If you’re not doing it right, you will get cut. Waiting in line is all a part of the Italian life. No one likes lines, no one wants to wait, and those who know how to queue in Italy know you might have to be pushy, aggressive, and perfect your evil eye.

You know you’re queueing with Italians and people who live in Italy when:

1. You can smell what kind of shampoo the person in front of you uses, or lack thereof

2. When you take a small step backwards you step on someone

3. The line looks more like a mob than a line

4. Someone comes to wait in line and stands next to you instead of behind you

5. That same person shifts ever more forward every time the line moves up

6. Someone asks if you’re in line, which is really just a lightly veiled threat meaning, “if you don’t keep your spot clearly, I will take your spot”

7. Someone blatantly cuts the line

8. When a cutter is called out, they will either act innocently as if they didn’t know or just completely ignore everyone and continue forward anyway. Either way.

9. Someone genuinely asks where the end of the line is, because you never can tell

In my early days in Italy a lady once asked if I was waiting in line for bread. When I said I was, she then informed me I had best move up or the Italians will cut me. It was kind of her to instruct my green American self. I think? Or it was another manifestation of #6.

Grocery carts

Smaller grocery stores in the center might not have the big metal carts, but they will have the smaller plastic “baskets” on wheels.

At the larger stores you’ll find the metal carts which can be used with a coin deposit. Confession: I’ve only ever used a big cart once, at Lidl, because I had to in order to enter during the coronavirus lockdown. In my scramble to unlock a cart and not lose my place in line, I tried inserting a 20 cent piece. Hint, it didn’t work. However, 50 cent pieces and 1euro pieces do. I prefer to use the smaller rolling baskets as it keeps my shopping realistic. I walk to the grocery store so can only buy as much as I carry.

What to buy where

Over time you will develop your own favorite stores and where you can find certain products or find the best deals. My favorite store is Coop, and yet I often can’t find spicy peppers. No jalapeños, habaneros, nothing. (Italy never labels their peppers. They’re either sweet, spicy, or bell. Sigh.) Every store has their quirks. I also was convinced for years that sour cream hardly exists here. I could only find it at my local Esselunga in the tiny Mexican food section. It’s imported, expensive, and not refrigerated, which doesn’t set well with me. Just the other day, while strolling the refrigerated section at Coop, what did I see? Sour cream. Normal, not sour cream. Aside from these things, there are certain ingredients you just can’t find in any of these grocery stores, or at least if you do, you’ll be paying an arm and a leg. 5+euro for Skippy peanut butter, anyone?

Here are some hints to get you started:

• Although some stores may have a small end cap or section dedicated to Asian, Mexican, or Arab foods, skip their higher prices and go to the sources themselves.

• For Asian ingredients around Florence, there are numerous Asian grocers around the city to satisfy all your rice noodle, ramen, soy, rice vinegar, and coconut milk needs. And peanut butter. Random brands, but almost always cheaper.

• For Mexican ingredients, head to Vivi Market in Florence. Although not an exhaustive source, they have a few shelves of tortillas, chips, sauces/salsas, and beans to get you by. They are also a reliable source of sweet potatoes and random American ingredients, like Reese’s, you may not find anywhere else. The downside to Vivi is their prices, they’re one of the more expensive Asian grocers.

• For Arab food, head to any of the Arab butchers around the city. This is where you can find cheaper black beans, harissa, dates, peanut butter, and other specialty ingredients if you are familiar with Middle-Eastern/North African cuisine.

• While Lidl might not have the biggest selection, they definitely have some of the cheapest options. I usually buy cheddar cheese, bretzels, hummus, maple syrup, and other random goodies that you can’t find in a normal Italian grocery store. They also have a little Greek section, so if you have a hankering for maybe not the best baklava, there you go. You’re welcome.

• When it comes to buying meat, think of it the same way as the produce. The big grocery stores are the most convenient, but if you want the best quality, you might consider visiting your neighborhood butcher. Again, you’re supporting local, and being a regular customer might just get you some deals. Italy is more of a “I do you a favor, you do me a favor” type society, rather than the more American independent ideology.

Grocery bags

Every grocery bag at the grocery store will run you 5-10 cents a piece. They are usually biodegradable, but it’s a good way to save some pennies and the economy by bringing your own bags. I never go anywhere without a few plastic and reusable bags in my purse for when I need to unexpectedly pick up some things while out and about.

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There you have it, more information than you probably ever needed to know about grocery shopping in Italy!

Italy Lockdown Update: May the 4th Be With You

It’s hard to believe it’s going on two months since I originally wrote about the coronavirus in Italy, and in turn pleading for my fellow Americans across the pond to take the virus seriously.

If you would like to read the original post on coronavirus in Italy, click here.

The husband spying on abandoned green houses because, apparently, we’ve been quarantined too long.

8 weeks and a day I since started quarantining. So much has changed since then. I had originally planned on updating my original blog on coronavirus periodically, but it really didn’t make sense to me when all TV channels, new sources, social media feeds, and conversations already revolved around this world pandemic. As it has affected everyone, and many in very real and very tragic ways, this makes sense, but I didn’t feel that my voice had anything important to add to the din. I had already given my two cents worth and given a little glimpse into the window of Italy when it became one of the worst hit countries after China before the rest of the world went under, too. Shortly after we were all in the same boat, anyway, under some kind of lockdown, travel restrictions, feeling the fear and uncertainty, wondering what is going to happen to our loved ones, our jobs, our economy, weddings, graduations, planned and saved for vacations…the list goes on and on.

However, although much still seems bleak, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, especially for those of us who have been living in Italy under one of the stricter lockdowns.

Today, May 4th, starts phase two. Many rejoice, as it feels like the first breath of fresh air (literally, for many!) in 8 long weeks stuck in small apartments. Maybe dark. Maybe all alone. Maybe with too many family members. Maybe without a balcony or any way to get some decent sunshine. Maybe struggling to get food on the table. But there is hope, the weather has turned warm and sunny, and the daily new cases and deaths have dramatically decreased in recent days.

At its worst, Italy saw 6,000+ new daily cases, and 900+ new daily deaths. Today, May 4th, there were only 1,221 new daily cases and 195 new daily deaths. For more information on the numbers in Italy, see here.

With the country slowly reopening I think many are waiting with baited breath…will it work? Or will there be a second wave? Especially in a country where people have been locked up for 8 weeks and maybe are overly zealous to get out? Hopefully, if we don’t let our guard down, everything will progress smoothly.

So, what does phase two in Italy look like? I’ll highlight here the most important updates, leaving out some of the nitty gritty boring stuff.

Italy Phase Two, May 4th

• While the essential reasons for leaving home have basically stayed the same, Italians are now able to travel within their region instead of only within their city/neighborhood. Those essential reasons remain for work, health, and now necessary visits to family members, including boyfriends/girlfriends. Movement beyond your own region is consented for work, health, emergency reasons, and for returning home. (Some workers, students, etc. found themselves locked out of their own regions/unable to return home when the lockdown started. They are now finally able to go back home.)

• The “autocertificazione” or self-certification is still required when you leave home, to justify your reason for being out. An updated version, the sixth edition I do believe, is available starting from today. With more shops opening, the necessary reasons stated above have also somehow been stretched to include errands to get any type of good used in every day life, newspapers, and of course still pharmacies and grocery shopping.

• As of May 1st we are now allowed to walk/exercise freely, instead of having to stay within 200 meters of our home. This is my favorite, favorite, favorite part of phase two! One source said we could go as far as we can physically walk, but don’t try leaving your region. You must maintain 1 meter distance from other people (people who don’t live with you) and 2 meters if you are running, and you may not take public transportation to a certain area to exercise.

• Too many people have tried to profit off the demand for masks, so the government has stepped in to cap surgical mask prices at 50 cents a piece. Masks are required if you leave home.

• Masks must be worn on public transportation. This has already been in place in Florence for the past week or two, I believe. The exception is for those under age 6 and anyone who has a medical problem that would prevent them from wearing a mask.

• Public parks and gardens will reopen.

• Funerals will be allowed, with only family members of the first and second degree and a maximum of 15 people.

• Restaurants will now be allowed to provide take-away instead of just home delivery. However the take-away food must be consumed at home or in the office, to avoid assemblies of people in front of buidlings, etc.

• Industrial, construction, furnishings, and wholesale commerce can recommence.

• Individual sports can restart, behind closed doors, not out in the open.

April 14th

In mid-April there was a very soft opening of a few types of shops. Cartolerie (paper and stationary type stores), kids’ clothing stores, and bookstores. Not essential, but it at least helps some store owners to be able to reopen but with very low risk of crowds.

I had an appointment this day, and was surprised to see how many people were out. They were clearly not all rushing to get fountain pens and stationary, but it’s also hard for me to blame people who have been cooped up for so long, if they’re at least respecting the distance…

Hoping and praying things can start going back to some semblance of normal!

Thanks for reading, and if you need me, I’ll be up in the Tuscan hills, walking as far as my legs will carry me…

On Coronavirus: Don't Panic, Plan Ahead, Love Your Neighbors

Click here to read the May 4th update from Italy: Phase 2.

We can’t stop thinking about it. We can’t stop talking about it. It’s all you see on social media. We’re all obsessed. Say it with me now, Coronavirus! Or Covid-19. As you like.

First things first. I’m writing this article from my apartment, under quarantine, in Florence, Italy. I am in no way a medical professional nor in a leading position in government, and what I’ve written below are merely my experiences and observances. That said, I tend to take a humorous outlook on most things in life, but I also believe that serious things need to be given their due weight. This virus has shown itself to be serious, physically and economically.

This is not the end of the world. Panic is never the answer. But by planning ahead and taking precautionary measures you can do your part in helping your country, State or region, city, and community stop or at least quell the spread. By doing so, you could indirectly be saving lives, by not catching and spreading the virus, especially to those who have been shown to be most vulnerable, the elderly population and those with underlying health problems.

How it Began in Italy

Italy reported its first two cases of Covid-19 on January 30. Two Chinese tourists became ill and were quarantined in the Spallanzani hospital near Rome. They recovered and were discharged.

A period of calm ensued. I remember being grateful no more cases were reported, even though the two Chinese tourists had reportedly traveled to Florence, among other cities. Fast forward to February 21 (some articles I’m double checking as I write this say Feb 20), when a man checked himself into the hospital in Codogno (northern Italy) and became the third confirmed Covid-19 case in Italy. That same day, Italy reported 16 new cases in the Lombardy and Veneto regions and the first death. A red flag immediately was raised for me. From everything I’ve been reading about this virus, mostly from reports from China and the WHO, you don’t simply catch this virus and die in the same day. Which can only mean, this virus has been circulating in Italy for some time already. Who knows where those people have been? Whom they’ve been in contact with that can then become carriers. Silently circulating, and no one knew. In Codogno, while hospitals were already dealing with the seasonal flu cases, they noticed a high number of people with respiratory problems. These people were treated as though they had the flu, not coronavirus. They weren’t quarantined.

My husband and I’s anniversary was February 24 and my birthday was February 28, so we were talking about taking a weekend trip somewhere. Top contender was Brescia, which is a great base from which to take day trips. I really wanted to see Sirmione. (Google that one for the photos and it’ll be on your list, too.) As cases and deaths continued to increase, we put our plans on hold. Should we go? Shouldn’t we? We unanimously agreed not to go. We found some cheap tickets to Sicily, but didn’t buy them because then cases started popping up in Sicily, also. We decided to stay put. By the time my birthday came, we had already decided to limit our outings (which proved difficult because we had appointments almost every single day) and not go to restaurants. I really wanted sushi, though, so I made a reservation at my favorite sushi place, Aji Tei, for right when they opened at 7:30pm, hoping it would be less crowded. We had tried to make a reservation earlier in February but they were full up. Pages and pages of reservations. This place, unlike a lot of dining places in Italy, is not small. It has an ample dining room and a large covered garden out back. And it can be hard to get in. The whole time we were there it didn’t even get to 25% capacity. It was nice for us, but sad, knowing they and probably many restaurants were feeling the impact.

All this time, the attitude of many people I talked to were flippant, dismissive, or a bit surprised if I mentioned something about being careful. The virus was still largely in the northern Lombardy region and I think some people may have thought me mildly crazy. All the while many politicians, business owners, and residents were passionately encouragingly the world at large to “come to Italy!” It’s safe, Italy is as beautiful as ever! I understand many people live off tourism here and they don’t want the economy or their livelihood to hurt…but we’re also talking about people’s lives. How many times did I see people who had planned trips to Italy asking on some forum or facebook group, is Italy safe? Should we still come? And the overwhelming response was always YES. Come, don’t listen to the naysayers, Italy is safe, it’s just a cold guys COME ON. Not one that I saw encouraged them to do what they thought was best for their family or their peace of mind, or stopped to ask if maybe someone in their group was over 60 or had underlying health problems?

The grocery stores started to be hit all over the country. Pictures of empty shelves, and from parts of the country that didn’t even have confirmed cases yet. The big Esselunga in my neighborhood wasn’t too bad, emptier than I’ve ever seen it, but I was able to get everything I needed. The items that were most hit? Toilet paper, rice, pasta, water, sanitizer of any kind and…women’s razors? I might get quarantined, must have smooth legs!!! haha what? At one point the eggs were gone, and also the milk, but next time I went the milk was completely restocked. I have yet to find a bottle of hand sanitizer in a grocery store. The stores have done a really good job of staying on top of the demand, otherwise.

As the days went on and the number of cases continued to increase in an alarming manner, the leaders in government continued to attack the “fake news” and encourage tourists to come. For my news sources I read mostly BBC News, because I enjoy their straightforward, fact and quote based reporting without adding any drama, insinuations, or sensational statements. And for a few days, Italy all but disappeared from the coronavirus news. Where did Italy go? It’s quickly becoming one of the worst hit countries, and suddenly I can’t find anything out anymore? I would have to google things to find them out, and even then I would have to do so in English and Italian with different wordings before finally finding up to date articles.

As cases spiked to more than 5,800 and more than 230 deaths were reported, the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte made the decision to quarantine 14 regions in the north on March 8. However, this news was leaked out before going into effect, and there was a mass exodus of thousands of people from the soon-to-be quarantined regions trying to get home and flee the lockdown. I watched in disbelief as these measures that are supposed to curb the outbreak are about to make things so. much. worse. I read about a BBC journalist who drove up to the quarantined north, a good 24 hrs after the new “no one enters, no one leaves” had been in effect. And there was nothing. No police, no checks, no barriers. The quarantine at that point seemed to be still a suggestion, or an idea. My disbelief grew. It was from that point that my husband and I decided to self-quarantine, because there were now thousands of people potentially and probably spreading the virus carelessly. I doubt anyone had the specific evil intent of escaping to spread the virus, but people who don’t have symptoms don’t know they’re spreading and don’t know the harm they’re doing. But that is how it will go. We are human, and our first instinct is to think of ourselves, and we will hurt others in our selfish wake.

Two days after the news broke about the north being quarantined, Prime Minister Conte put into quarantine ALL of Italy. Everyone seemed to wake up, and realize what many of us already had: to curb this pandemia, we must all do what we can and quarantine.

Can you imagine how different this might have gone if Italy had decided to quarantine and take these drastic measures two weeks ago? No one wanted to make that sacrifice. People continued to downplay the severity of the situation and now everyone is forced to make that sacrifice anyway. This way, because the virus has been allowed to spread for so long, it will take longer to get things under control. The economy will hurt more. It’s the unfortunate reality of the situation in Italy right now.

I’m not writing this to shame Italy and lament on the if-onlys. I am writing this so you can learn from Italy. Even if your leaders are not yet taking this as seriously as they should or the actions they should, you CAN. You can be the weirdo and not hug or kiss people, keep your distance while in public, go out as little as possible, wash your hands, all the things you’ve probably already heard a hundred times or more.

If you’ve read this far, thank you, and sorry for being long-winded. I know there are a thousand other articles and blogs on coronavirus you could be reading. Maybe you should be! But have pity, I’m quarantined at home in a small apartment; I have all the time in the world to be long-winded! :) Soon, that may be you, too. Get the good books, movies, and snacks, man.

What are the current restrictions in Italy?

Here’s a snapshot of our life right now. At first just some things were closed or restricted, then things got stricter and time extended, now basically everything is closed except grocery stores, pharmacies and banks.

• Thursday, March 5, all schools and universities were closed across the country. Study-abroad students were sent home.

• Suspended until April 3, roughly translated from a post from the Florence Mayor Dario Nardella:

  • Child Educational services and every didactic activity of every order and grade

  • Universities and all artistic, musical, and dance institutions

  • Professional regional and national master courses

  • Universities for the elderly

  • Drivings schools

  • Congress, conventions, reunions, meetings, and social events

  • Demonstrations, events, and shows of any nature

  • Cinema and theatre

  • Pubs, clubs, and similar locales

  • Dance schools

  • Game rooms, casinos, and bingo halls (nooooo not the bingoooo)

  • Museums and every cultural place, such as libraries, archives, archeological parks and areas, monumental complexes

  • School trips, outings, exchanges, guided tours, didactic outings

  • Staying in waiting rooms at hospitals or emergency rooms

  • Civil and religious ceremonies including funerals

  • Visits to nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, hospice, etc. are limited

  • All commercial activities except for the tabacchi, newspaper stands, pharmacies

  • All restaurants, bars, etc. except for home delivery

  • All salons, barbers, etc

At first the grocery stores were going to be closed on Saturday and Sunday , the two busiest days of the week. It was all over the news and I didn’t get it. How does that help? That takes the crowds from the weekends (I’m a weirdo and love grocery shopping but highly dislike going on Saturday and Sunday because it’s shoulder to shoulder) and forces them to go during the week. So now the week will be extra crowded? How does this help crowd control? They only allow so many people in the store at a time, but the lines outside? My husband went to the store today, and after being gone for an hour, came back empty handed. The line was so long he waited for a bit, then decided he didn’t want to be there for hours and hours. Then I remembered today is Friday. Everyone is stocking up for the weekend. Ohhhh snap. I googled to see if anything would be open tomorrow, and you know what? Grocery stores are now open on the weekends. But I had to google that to find out. We have the TV on quite a bit listening for updates, you think they could’ve squeezed that useful bit of information in there somewhere? On the bright side, maybe if I go tomorrow the stores will be empty because everyone still think the stores will be closed, like I did. If anyone can think of why closing grocery stores for two days was a good idea, please. Tell me why.

Beyond these measures, you’re basically not supposed to leave your home, and if you do, at least 1 meter (about 3 ft) between you and other people at all times. I am still a bit confused if I can go out for a walk or fresh air? If you have a dog, you can, but once the dog has done his business, back inside you go. I heard once on the TV no, don’t go outside unless it’s for emergencies or going to the store, and only the grocery store in your area. This upset people who like to go for runs and exercise outside. Then I heard you could go out for fresh air. Today I heard you can go out for a run/exercise, if you stay 1 meter away from others, of course. So tentatively, yes? And if you need to go anywhere outside your area, you must carry with you an official document stating who you are, where you live, and where you are going which had better be for work, medical reasons, or a necessary motive. If you are outside and stopped by police and they determine your reason isn’t valid or you’re lying (ie you say you have a doctor visit and they make you call your doctor who is unaware you have a visit), you will be fined up to 206euro or face up to 3 months in prison. It doesn’t matter if you’re walking or driving, bring this document with you. Only 1 person per family can go grocery shopping at a time. Max 2 people in a car, 1 driving and one in back. 3 people in car? Fined. If you know you are positive for Covid-19 and you leave your home anyway, you can face up to 12 years in jail for voluntary homicide.

If you live in Italy and are looking for the “autocertificazione coronavirus” document, they have the PDF you can download at the bottom of this article.

Italy is taking the situation very seriously. They were left with no choice. The hospitals in the north are at a breaking point, having to make the decision between who gets the ventilator and who doesn’t; literally, who lives and who dies. They are running out of room. As I write this, the numbers from today have come out, and they’re only getting worse. Just since yesterday, 2,547 new cases, 250 new deaths. During the worst of China’s outbreak, deaths never exceeded 150 in one day. Italy has more people dying in one day than China did on any given day. You see this is serious? You can see that if you live elsewhere, your country still has the chance to stall this? Or at least slow down the spread so that hospitals aren’t overloaded and doctors won’t have to make the moral choices they are being forced to here in Italy.

Just in the past couple days my homeland, USA, has greatly ramped up the closures, not to mention the whole world. Schools, dance studios, Broadway, events, sports…Though the US is nowhere near where Italy is outbreak wise, they are thankfully taking these hard steps as a prevention. I still see a lot of Americans on social media who are dismissive of this virus, and I wish they would look at Italy. Most Italians had that same attitude up until they were forced to completely switch gears. For some it was overnight, and it was a bit bizarre. Accept with grace that your leaders are trying to protect you. I just wish the US would up their testing game, so the virus doesn’t have a chance to circulate undetected for so long like it did in Italy.

If you’re one of my friends who thinks this coronavirus is manmade, leaked on purpose, a new weapon, the world trying to control you, etc etc. I hear you. But is posting all the articles demonstrating IT’S THE DEMOCRATS helping? Is it loving your neighbor? I don’t think it is. The best way we can go forward is to not panic, check your sources, take preventive measures even if they’re hard, and look after those who are maybe less privileged or are more vulnerable than you. If you know of an elderly person near you, make them a meal and deliver it to their doorstep. Or have groceries delivered to their door. Offer to go pick up their prescription for them. Don’t hoard food/products you don’t need. Know a family that has a lot of kids? Maybe bless them by having pizza delivered to their home, so the mom and dad can have a night off from cooking. By doing this you not only help people out, but you help support businesses that are struggling. I’m sure there a ton of different ways I haven’t even thought of that would be a great help. In this day and age with apps like Uber Eats, food and many other commodities are just a click away.

Oh, and can we all stop comparing this virus to common cold/influenza? Flu has been around for a long time, we have some immunities to it, and there are vaccines. This coronavirus is brand new and we just don’t know enough about it. If you try and compare flu data to coronavirus data, is that even fair? Coronavirus only has data from December, the flu has data up the wazoo. We already know this coronavirus is more deadly, so before you “pshaw” it and rattle of a recent year’s data from the flu, just realize we’re trying to keep Covid-19 from becoming rampant like the flu so it never has a chance to kill as many people as the flu, or worse. Currently in Italy, the mortality rate for the virus is 5.8%, where flu in the US has a mortality rate of about 0.1%. I would rather huddle at home and be proved wrong later that it wasn’t that serious, rather than disregard the precautions and later be proved wrong that it WAS that serious.

I’d love to end this with some encouragement like, we’ve got this, or we’re each stronger than we think, we can all be heroes…but you know what? You don’t have to look far to see that our base reaction has been protection of…self. Me. My needs. My comforts. I rejoice that I don’t have to put my faith in myself, humans, governments, or regulations. I rejoice in the Lord, who has the whole world and this situation in His control. I rejoice knowing that this world is not all there is. This life is not all I have. But while I’m here, I hope to be able to love my neighbor well and do my part because, in Jesus, I’ve been shown true selfless love.

One more thing. Toilet paper? Let’s all just calm down now. You know who you are. Leave some for your neighbors. Count your squares, people! Oh, and I hope you stocked up on Desitin as well if you actually plan to use that much toilet paper…

Other Useful Resources

For live cases worldwide and easy to look at statistics, check out this site.

For more info on cases in Italy, check out this page.

For all things Florence and other useful information on coronavirus if you’re in Italy, check out Girl in Florence!

If you’ve read this far and want to really understand why social distancing is a thing, check out this article full of graphs, maths, possible outcomes and general confirmation that this is serious stuff and must be acted on now.

Italian Holidays

Italy, the land of pizza, wine, many hand gestures and many holidays. As you may have guessed from the title, this post is covering the holidays in Italy and why you should care.

The Beach at Viareggio. Most Italian beaches are not free, you have to rent an umbrella and a couple chairs, usually around 30euro per day.

Italy is a predominantly Catholic country and home to Papa, or the pope. Well, technically the Vatican which is in and of itself a country is home to the Papa, but the Vatican is in Italy, so, same thing. There are many holidays celebrated in Italy to commemorate different saints and events in the Bible. Some seem to based more on folklore than actual fact, but they are celebrated with gusto and nonetheless an important part of the culture here.

Whether or not you celebrate them, these holidays will still have an effect upon your life if you travel or live in Italy. If you’ve planned a trip or traveled to Italy, you may have read about or experienced the infamous Ferragosto, the holiday on August 15th where all the Italians escape seaside for vacation. Even though everything closes down like it’s Christmas, the “ferie” or holidays actually start usually towards the end of July and finish the beginning of September. This means having to plan very carefully when you grocery shop, shop, get public transport, go the gym, eat out, go to the doctor, and everything else that includes hours of business. Make sure to tell all your appliances and A/C not to break during August. If they do, and you know that if they do they will during this month, sorry ‘bout ya. The plumber is at the beach. So is the electrician. Also the tabaccheria where you buy bus tickets, your local coffee place, and the doctor who was supposed to perform your surgery. Ah well.

City centers mostly stay open for tourism, but neighborhoods around that don’t get many tourists will almost achieve ghost town status. It’s quite peaceful, actually, until I start missing the pizza from my local pizzeria. Come backkkkk!! I’m hungry!! Ah well, #firstworldproblems.

Another good thing to note is that all Sundays are considered giorni festivi, or treated like holidays. This means that every Sunday there will be fewer buses and shops will probably close earlier, if they were open in the first place.

What about the rest of the holidays? What are they about? Are they a big enough deal to close schools down, or mere formalities?

The following list includes all the major holidays in Italy that usually affect business hours, schools, and public transport, if not all three. This way we can plan our lives in Italy accordingly and not have to wonder why there are witches and stockings everywhere in the stores in January and not October! I say we because this list is as much a refresher for me as it is for you; I’m fairly certain I end up asking or Googling every year the same holidays because I just can’t keep them all straight! :)

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Italian Holidays

1. January 1 - Capodanno / New Year’s Day

   Yes, even in Italy the New Year happens, albeit 6 hours ahead of the EST.

2. January 6 - Befana o Epifania / Befana or Epiphany

   The day in which the wise men visited Jesus according to the Catholic tradition, hence the word epiphany. If you count from Christmas Day you’ll notice that there are twelve days between it and January 6, which is where the Twelve Days of Christmas originated.

   It’s also called Befana in Italy after the old woman who gets on her broom and flies to deliver little gifts to good children who have left out stockings on the night between the 5th and 6th of January. Naughty children will wake up to coal, garlic, or possibly a stick. Children often leave out fruit or treats for Befana and maybe even a glass of wine (ohhh, Santa is jealous). This is similar to the Babbo Natale/Santa Clause tradition, although Befana has been a part of the Italian culture longer than Babbo Natale even.

   As one story goes the three wise men are traveling to find baby Jesus in Bethlehem and find themselves in need of direction. They ask an old woman, Befana, who indicates to them the way. (Another version says she didn’t know the way but instead offered them food and a place to stay for the night.) They are so grateful to her that they invite her to come along. Despite their insistence, she refuses. After they depart she regrets staying behind, and attempts to find them, bringing with her a large bag of sweets. She is not successful and gives out the sweets to every child she meets in the hopes that one of them will be Jesus.

   Another, darker version recounts Befana as a mother whose child dies. Her grief turns to madness and she goes to offer baby Jesus gifts to make him happy, thinking that he is her son. Jesus in turn gives her the gift of being the mother to all children in Italy, and she goes around giving gifts to them.

   You will notice the stores full of witches and pre-filled stockings leading up to this day. The day of Befana usually involves many excited children, parades, and women who dress up like the old, sooty Befana. In Florence there is a parade with the magi coming to see baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the nativity setup in front of the Duomo.

   This holiday ensures that the Italian children also get their moment of realization when they find out that Befana is not in fact real, haha!

   This holiday usually signals the end of the Christmas festivities, with school starting shortly after.

3. February/March - Carnevale

   Carnevale is like a much happier Halloween. It’s a festivity that usually takes place over a period of days, usually in Catholic countries. People dress up, there are parades, and also special sweets and food before the Lenten season begins.

   If you’ve been to Venice you probably noticed how many shops sport costumes and masks for Carnevale. In fact, Venice is among the cities most renowned in Italy (and the world) for their Carnevale festivities, along with Viareggio, Cento, Ivrea, Acireale.

4. March/April - Pasqua e Pasquetta / Easter and Easter Monday

   Similar to the US, Good Friday-Easter Sunday are usually government holidays. Easter Monday, or Pasquetta is also a holiday in Italy remembering the women who met the angel at the empty tomb of Jesus, usually spent with family and friends, probably eating.

5. April 25 - Anniversario della Liberazione d’Italia / Anniversary of the Liberation of Italy

   An important day in Italian history when it was freed from fascist control and Nazi occupation.

6. May 1 - La Festa dei Lavoratori / Worker’s Day

   The day that the 8-hour work day became law, first in Chicago, Illinois. This law soon spread to other states and is now celebrated by many countries around the world. Ironically, although it originated in America we now celebrate this achievement in September, and we know it as Labor Day.

7. June 2 - La Festa della Repubblica / Day of the Republic

   A day to celebrate the birth of the Italian Republic after the institutional referendum in 1946 following World War II.

8. June 24 - San Giovanni / St. John the Baptist

   Each city in Italy has a patron saint and celebrates on different days. John the Baptist is the patron saint of Florence, and is celebrated with fochi d’artificio or fireworks, parades, and the final match of calcio storico Fiorentino, a type of historic soccer/rugby.

   Most shops around Florence close in the evening if not the whole day.

9. August 15 - Ferragosto o Assunzione di Maria Virgine / August Holidays or the Ascension of Virgin Mary

   The holiday we discussed in the beginning. It originates from the Roman Empire when Caeser Augustus was emperor in the year 18 a.d. when he designated the August holidays, “Feriae Augusti” in Latin.

   This is also the day that the Catholic church says the Virgin Mary ascended into heaven.

   In reality, these holidays stretch anywhere from end of July to early September, with most businesses choosing 2-4 weeks within this period to close up shop and head to the coast. So while the towns might be quiet, the beaches are crazy. The actual day of August 15th pretty much everything is closed, so this is a day best used for taking a stroll, a picnic, or staying at home.

10. October 31 - Halloween

    While this is not an Italian holiday, it is an American one and thus becoming quite popular in Italy. Italians don’t tend to dress up as much as they go all out with makeup, the more gruesome and scary the better. All the pretty costumes are saved for Carnevale closer to springtime. The exception would be the expat’s children and a select few Italian children who dress up and go from store to store to trick-or-treat.

    This one does not affect schools, transport or business hours.

11. November 1 - Tutti i Santi / All Saints Day

    Just as it sounds, this is a day celebrating all saints. And there are a lot of them.

12. December 8 - Immacolata Concezione / Immaculate Conception

    The day in 1854 in which Mary was declared by Pope Pio IX to have been sinless from the time of her birth until the conception of Jesus. This day deals with the dogma of original sin, and not, as I had originally understood, the day in which the angel appeared to Mary to announce to her that she would give birth to Jesus. That doesn’t work out very well on the calendar anyway if we celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25th…not that Jesus was born on December 25th in the first place.

13. December 24, 25 - Vigilia di Natale, Natale / Christmas Eve, Christmas Day

    The best days of the year celebrating Jesus’ birth!

14. December 26 - Santo Stefano / Saint Stephan

    A day to commemorate the Saint Stephan. Being so soon after Christmas it all seems to just blend together!

15. December 31 - Ultimo Giorno dell’Anno / New Year’s Eve

    I experienced my first New Year’s Eve in Florence, and wanting to make a fun night of it, went with my husband to the Duomo where there were large crowds and we were hoping to find a countdown. There was no official countdown whatsoever, and several different groups of people seemed to announce it at different times depending on when their phones/watches changed. I kept asking, was that it? Is that the New Year? Needless to say, it was a bit anticlimactic with a lot of chaos. Everyone had open bottles and glasses of beer and wine, and it was sloshing everywhere. Don’t wear nice clothes out in public on New Year’s Eve. Lots of noise, major smooching, and the firecrackers are awful. People like to set them off at random, even the week before and after, and it can be frightening and hurts my ears! If you can’t tell, I have since decided to spend New Year’s Eve (at least in Italy) inside with a nice movie and food and not in the city center! But to each his own! The next day there are bottles and trash strewn everywhere, between little rivers of red wine. Just not a fan of drunkenness and the various aftereffects.

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Christmas time is magical around Florence

There we are, a (hopefully) comprehensive list of the major holidays in Italy. If I missed any, let me know in the comments below. Or if you’ve had any funny run-ins or fond memories celebrating any of these holidays, I’d love to hear about it! Until next time!

Resources and Tricks for Learning Italian

Photo Credit to Practical

Learning a second language (or third or fourth or twelfth) can be challenging, enjoyable, frustrating, rewarding, and just plain ol’ take a lot of your brain power, thoughts, and time.

If you weren’t lucky enough to grow up immersed in a bi or multilingual family, then you can hop on the struggle boat with the rest of us while learning another language.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably studying or thinking about starting to learn a new language, maybe Italian, and I commend you! Or, maybe you are curious as to what it might take, or are looking for resources for someone else. Whatever brings you, I’m glad you’re here, and I hope this post might help you or a friend out.

When it comes to learning a language, you will be most successful if you are fully immersed. You’ve probably heard this before, but it bears repeating because it’s true.

If you aren’t immersed, don’t despair. Taking a trip to a country that speaks your desired language or finding a friend, community, or group in your city or online that you can practice with can make a big difference! Even if these are not possible for you, there are still ways to learn a language successfully.

I for one will do everything in my power to search and learn things for free. I don’t want to pay for school, tutors, programs, books, more books, some more books, and a couple more programs if I don’t need to. (Yes, you can say it, I’m a tightwad.:) Those are all helpful and good things, and if you have the resources to do those things, go for it! But there is more to the equation than just “intensive Italian school = Italian fluency.”

There is a principal ingredient you need to learn Italian or any language: drive. The drive, desire, patience, and determination to learn and work through the moments of frustration and plateaus. If you have the drive but don’t live in Italy, you will still make good progress. On the other hand, if you move to Italy and have no great desire to learn Italian, you will probably pick up very little Italian. It still surprises me how many people I come across who have lived in Italy for years and still can only speak very basic Italian. Some people learn quicker than others and the younger you are the easier it is, but still. You’re only doing yourself a favor if you learn the language and it’s respectful of the culture you are now in. I know it’s way easier to live with and hang out with your culture and every once in awhile order a gelato in Italian…but if you want to learn, get comfortable being outside of your comfort zone.

This may leave you asking, “How long does it take to learn Italian?” I asked people I met and friends this a lot my first year in Italy, those who weren’t native Italian-speakers. Almost everyone responded with “about a year.” Knowing various nationalities who speak varying levels of Italian, I would like to amend the 1 year guideline so you don’t feel too much pressure or behind. You will probably have learned Italian fairly well after 1 year IF you are immersed in the culture and also consistently speaking with others in Italian. If you have Italian friends, live with an Italian roommate, work in an Italian setting, study at an Italian school, or date/marry an Italian speaker, this 1 year guideline could very well be true for you. Otherwise, expect longer and no shame! As long as you are learning new words and concepts and they stay with you, you are on the right track.

Enough philosophy-ing and let’s get to these resources, most of which are free, or if they’re not, I truly think they’re worth it! Keep in mind that the more resources and ways you can expose yourself to a language, the more success you will have. Try not to ever get stuck using just one, i.e. Duolingo or the back of Rick Steve’s Travel Guide. :)

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Resources and Tricks for Learning Italian

• This Italian Verb Drills book

  One of my best friends went to Italy as an au pair and she used this book while learning with her Italian family. Shortly after she got back I went to Italy, and she passed it on to me.

  It’s not overly complex because it only covers verb forms, but it’s the simplicity of its layout I think that makes it so useful. And once you understand the verbs, it’s like a door opens for understanding the language.

  Honestly, if you were to take just one of the suggestions from this post to add to your current learning methods, I would probably recommend this one.

  Pros: Easy to use, excellent for learning verbs, a main component of any language. It’s also pretty cheap. You can also find French, German, Latin, Spanish Verb Drills easily on Amazon, all for about the same price, $10-$12.

  Cons: Not free, and will only help with verbs and not other aspects of the language.

• Duolingo

  If learning a language has ever been on your radar, you’ve probably used or at least heard of Duolingo.

  Pros: Free, tons of languages to choose from, easy to use, fun, and accessible. You can use it on your computer or download the app on your phone to use anywhere, anytime.

  Cons: New words aren’t always easy to remember, and there is no way to go back and easily reference what you’ve learned without doing the lessons over again. They recommend you write down the words you’ve remember after each lesson, but I think they could also provide a list of things learned for each section/level.

  I also think they could explain concepts better. While you can often click on words or phrases which opens up a discussion board, that becomes quite entailed to do so every time especially since anyone can comment on the message boards and they can be quite long. For example, I’d rather have someone explain to me that when “a” and “an” in Italian (un/una) is in front of a masculine word that starts with a vowel, it remains separate from the word, but when it’s in front of a feminine word that starts with a vowel, it is separated by an apostrophe.

  Un amico (masculine) - or - un’amica (feminine).

  Otherwise in Duolingo they would just give me sentences that include this idea, but without actually explaining it. It’s up to you, as the learner, to notice that, hey, why do un and una sometimes stay separate and sometimes are separated by an apostrophe? See what I mean? If not, don’t worry, suffice to say that Duolingo as you’re only learning source will only get you so far.

• Babbel

  Another online resource similar to Duolingo. Trying new programs and keeping a variety may be more fun and thus make you more likely to want to practice every day instead of the “I should….” Plus every program has their unique approach and you might learn some words you wouldn’t with other programs.

  Pros: Free, easy to use, plenty of languages to choose from.

  Cons: To get the full experience you will have to pay, but even just using the free part is worthwhile!

• Translator App

  Having a trusty translator app on your phone can help you learn, too! Anytime you’re practicing, even if you’re just thinking through things, there will probably be words that come up that you don’t know what they mean or you’re saying or thinking a sentence and missing a word. Pop out your phone to translate throughout the day.

  iTranslator is my favorite translator probably. It’s simple and I like that when you translate a word, below it often gives you all the person tenses (if it’s a verb) or all the different synonyms or similar words if it’s a noun or adjective.

  Google Translate App is another good one. It’s a bit snazzier, you can even scan a chunk of text and it will translate it on your screen so you don’t have to type anything in, although it doesn’t always work super great.

  A word to the wise, don’t trust a translator 100%, especially for longer sentences or paragraphs. It’s a computer and doing its best, but it can’t really know exactly what you’re after. Then add in all the dialects, slang, phrases that don’t translate well, and words that just may not exist in that language and well, just realize it’s not going to be perfect. Always run by new words with a native speaker if you can, especially if you have any doubts.

• Coffeebreak Italian

  This is a podcast where you get to listen to a man with a lovely Scottish accent while learning Italian. They also have several other languages, I recently started Coffeebreak French to brush up for my impending trip to Paris. Eeeeeee!!

  Pros: Listening to a language is SO important, and what better way than to have it clearly explained to you through a hands off podcast? Great for when you’re driving, making dinner, or anytime!

  Cons: No visuals, so you can’t see how words are written, which isn’t helpful for my visual learning friends. It can also get annoying to have to keep backing up if you couldn’t hear over honking horns or you want to hear something again.

• Italian Books

  If you take a trip to Italy or can find some ones that interest you on Amazon, reading books in Italian is a great way to learn. I suggest reading children’s books (seriously, baby animal and counting books are wonderful for beginners!) and books you are familiar with unless you have a pretty good handle on Italian.

  Pros: Reading is good for you, and reading in Italian is also so good for you! If you read adult books it can actually be quite difficult and you will quickly find out how many words you have to learn, but on the upside books contain so many words (no, really Jenny?) that you will see certain words over and over again, thus emblazing them upon your memory.

  Cons: There is a special verb tense for writing in Italian. It’s not usually spoken so you really only learn it by reading. However, if you are an avid reader just beware that those verbs won’t serve you in everyday conversations.

• Write

  I recommend keeping a small notebook handy with you, maybe in your car or purse, to write down all the new words you learn. Writing things down help to cement them in your memory, even if you never reference back to them. And when you can’t remember that word you learned yesterday, you have it handy!

  You can also try journaling or writing out your calendar in Italian.

• Netflix

  Now you can Netflix and chill and be “studying”…yesssss. If you have Netflix (or even Hulu or other paid prescriptions, but I’m not sure on the others) go into the settings on your profile and change your language preference to Italian. Now all the films that are available in Italian or with Italian subtitles will show up on this account. The selection will be different, so you probably want to keep at least one other profile with English or your native language. Similar to reading books, I recommend starting with movies or shows you are familiar with. Watching them in Italian the first time may crack you up, but it will help you understand them better. Disney was my best friend when I started watching films in Italian. I actually went to the Italian grocery store once when they had a sale on Disney movies for 5-7euro each…research, ya know? ;)

• Language Tandem Partner

  Having a language tandem partner ( a person with which you exchange languages, i.e. I, an American, might meet up with an Italian where we would spend time speaking in both English and Italian) is super helpful. You get to hear a native speaker and listen, I mean, pick up on their accent, and ask all the questions you want while practicing your language in real time.

  If you happen to live in Italy, there are Facebook groups called AEGEE and Language Exchange that you can join. Depending on what city you live in, you will join your respective city’s group. I’m a part of AEGEE - Firenze and Language Exchange in Florence - Language Tandem. Usually you post in the group introducing yourself, English or Italian is best so everyone can understand, and ask if someone would like to meet up with you. I specified that I wanted to meet up with a woman, because I don’t love meeting up with strange men, ya know? Then you’ll probably get several messages from people who saw your post and would like to meet up with you. I still got WAY more men messaging me than women, even some offering me romantic sunsets and rides on their vespa…tempting, but no. Then you choose who you want to meet up with! The AEGEE group also offers free courses in various languages and organized events or trips.

  Pros: Free and a good way to make new friends. Plus you get to learn all the best spots to eat and drink around the city, from a local!

  Cons: This may only work if you live in Italy or can find someone who speaks Italian in your area. Also can be quite intimidating the first few times, especially for uh, introverts. But I wouldn’t know by experience, nope!

• Think in Italian

  This isn’t a resource as much as it is a suggestion. As you go throughout your day, try thinking in Italian! This is best done after you have a decent base, but you’ll soon find words you don’t know and become curious how to say them. As I hinted above, use a translator app to learn new words throughout your day. For a bonus, put sticky notes around the house with new words or phrases, or ones that you’re having a hard time learning.

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Are you learning or have you learned a second+ language? What really helped you learn? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

How to Learn Some Italian Using Words You Already Know - Lesson 3

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Here we are at the third and final installment of this little series, “How to Learn Some Italian Using Words You Already Know.”

What originally began as my fascination with the amount of English words used in Italian ended up turning into these comical learn-Italian-effortlessly lessons. Aren’t you glad I decided to write them down? Heheheh. :)

In Lesson 1 we saw all the English words Italians use in every day conversations, or that are the same. Words like budget, Facebook, privacy, password, etc.

In Lesson 2 we saw all the Italian words we can learn simply by adding vowels onto the end of English words, like tubo, musica, dieta, cono, etc.

After Lesson 2 you might be feeling pretty snazzy with all the new words you learned. If you spend any time listening to or reading Italian, maybe you have started to keep an eye out for other words that can easily be deciphered. You’ll probably notice plenty of them that didn’t even make it in these lessons!

Therefore, before things get too comfy, I am going to burst your bubble a bit in Lesson 3. How lovely. We are still going to learn some new words, but we will look at a variety of words that are the same (at least written) or that you think would be the same or mean something similar. But they’re not, or they don’t.

For example, let’s look at the word “peperoni.” You might be looking at an Italian pizza menu and spot a friendly face: Peperoni Pizza. (Truly it would probably be called “Pizza ai Peperoni” or “Pizza con Peperoni” but regardless, you understand “pizza” and “peperoni,” right? Maybe not—>) You order your peperoni pizza while snickering at how they spelled “pepperoni” with only one “p” instead of two. Your pizza arrives and to your shock and dismay, you have a cheese pizza with bell peppers, not pepperoni, and are snickering no more. This is an all too common mistake made by meat-loving American tourists, as indeed “peperoni” means bell peppers in Italian, not spicy-meat-sausage-pizza-condiment.

One more for ya: If you saw the word “arma” you might think it means “arm.” I probably would, too. But guess what? It actually means “weapon.” So don’t go around saying what a nice “arma” that person has, thinking you’re complimenting their strong biceps, alright?

You’ll be happy to see that today’s list is not as extensive as the other lessons, but I’m sure it will continue to expand as I’ve been adding new words almost daily to the other lessons since I’ve posted them. If you want to be of help in growing any of these lists, drop me a note in the comments below!

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Italian Words That Are Not All That They Seem

1. Camera (CAH-mair-a) - not a photo camera, but a room. An apartment with two camere.

2. Lampone (Lahm-PO-nay) - you might think this means lamp, but it actually means raspberry.

3. Lampo (LAHM-po) - still doesn’t mean lamp, but this refers to a twinkle, flash of light, or lightning. I frequently get this confused with lampone and am forever saying “ohhh, did you see that raspberry in the sky?” It’s embarrassing.

4. Stiro (STEE-ro) - not stir, but a verb that means “I iron.”

5. Topo (TO-po) - I’m on topo of the world! Nope. Topo means mouse.

6. Formica (for-MEE-ca) - You might be thinking formica countertops? Nope. Formica means ant. So you might have a formica or two on your formica.

7. Peperoni (peh-per-OHN-ee) - As mentioned above, this is not pepperoni misspelled, but actually bell peppers. By the way, I love peperoni on my pizza! Give me all the pizze ai peperoni! ;)

8. Sale (SAH-lay) - Shopping friends, don’t get too excited, this doesn’t mean

9. Salsa - salsa means sauce. While Americans take salsa to mean the spicy red tomato and pepper sauce (ya know, chips and salsa?), this is used much more generically in Italian. It can be used to mean a dressing, condiment, sauce, gravy, etc. You can also say sugo, which is a bit more specifically translated to sauce. So if you’re deciding which sauce you want to go with your pasta, you would be better off saying sugo.

10. Moka - if you hear someone talking about moka, you might be thinking of the mocha with coffee and chocolate. What they’re probably referring to, though, is a moka pot, the instrument of choice for making espresso at home!

11. Latte - another word that often results with tourists in a conundrum. Latte as it is known in the English speaking world is really a shortened form of caffè latte, which is Italian in origin. So when you try and order a simple latte in Italy, you will end up with a glass of milk. If you want a latte WITH coffee, then go ahead and order that caffè latte, sometimes also spelled caffelatte or caffellatte.

12. Kebab - While we could call anything in America that’s skewered (fruit, meat, veggies) a kebab, in Italy it refers to the very large hunk of mixed meats that is skewered and slowly roasted while rotating. This meat is shaved as it’s roasted and used to make kebab wraps or sandwiches, referred to as just kebabs. It has origins in the Middle East, and is why most of the kebab restaurants will be Pakistani, Turkish, Indian, etc. It’s delicious, by the way.

13. Granite (grah-NEE-tay) - more countertops? No, rather the Italian version of a slushy. I’ve never had one, maybe because I don’t really like slushies. I’m sure if I tried one, in its little 8oz-ish cup with fresh fruit flavors, I would enjoy it, especially if I were in Sicily where they’re supposed to be the bomb.

14. Gusto (GOOS-toh) - I always thought we used this to mean with oomph, with style, in English. As in, “he swirled his cape with gusto.” In Italian, this means taste. So it still kinda works, “he swirled his cape with taste.” Eh, not quite the same.

15. Punto (POON-toh) - Not a football punt, but a point, period, or dot. Get my punto?

16. Solo - dance solo, flying solo? Yes, finally one that is more or less correct! Solo means by yourself, alone, or just or only, as in “just one pizza, please!” How many cones of gelato did you eat today? “Solo uno!” (Only one!)

17. Mano (MAH-no) - if someone asks you if want a mano, they’re asking if you want a hand, not a man, silly. Man is uomo. Mano is hand.

18. Oro - do you want pizza oro pasta? <——Not correct usage. Oro means gold. The Italian way to say “sweet dreams” is to say “sogni d’oro” or literally, dream of gold! Awwwwwww.

19. Argento - maybe this one isn’t all that close to Argentinian, but if I didn’t know what it meant that would probably be my guess. It actually means silver! Now that you know how to say both silver and gold in Italian, you can sing your favorite song come Christmas time. Argentooooo e oroooo, argentoooo e oroooo..!!

20. Avvocato - if you ask someone what they do for a living and they respond with, “I’m an avvocato,” they’re not delusional, they mean that they’re a lawyer. That double v and t for a d makes a very big difference in differentiating between our little green friend and a career choice.

21. Slip (sleep) - we might say slip in reference to an under-dress or under-skirt, but in Italian this refers to underwear. This can be men’s briefs or ladies’ undies.

22. Casino (cah-ZEE-no) - you might think Italians talk an awful lot about casinos as you hear them mutter, “che casino!”, but this really means “what a mess.” If you come to Italy to live you too will soon be muttering this under your breath, often and fervently. To say casino it’s actually casinò, with the accent on the end.

23. Per - this literally means for in Italian, and although it is used in both languages, we use it a bit differently in English. If you want to translate the English per to Italian, sometimes it’s per, other times a. “Let’s make 3 cookies per person” / “Facciamo 3 dolcetti per persona.” “We earn about $100 per day” / “Guadagniamo circa $100 al giorno.” It can also be used to talk multiplication. Five times five equals twenty-five. Or cinque per cinque fa venticinque.

24. Grasso - what a nice, lovely yard of green grasso you have there! Grasso means fat. We basically just insulted someone’s fat yard. If you want to say grass, say erba.

25. Grosso - not gross, but another way of saying big, fat, and wide. For example, the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is called “Il Mio Grosso Grasso Matrimonio Greco” in Italian. If you wish to say gross, say schifo. Che schifo! / How gross!

26. Fine (FEE-nay) - La fine / the end! Not “Fine and dandy!”

27. Arma - this one we also discussed above, so you should be wise enough to know it doesn’t mean arm, but rather weapon. Unless you swing a good one and want to think of your arm as a good one?

28. Pronto - “I need the report pronto!” meaning right away, asap…in Italian, this means ready, and also what they say when they answer the phone. “Pronto? ahh ciao Chiara, come va?”

29. Vesto / Vesti / Veste - none of which mean vest. These are the first, second, and third person of the verb vestire which means to dress, so I dress, you dress, and he/she dresses, respectively. Sounds like an article of clothing but refers to dressing, easy enough to remember, no?

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Here we are, 3 lessons later, actually 4 if you needed a refresher on the Italian alphabet and pronunciation. What have learned? Oh, ya know, only 200+ new Italian words!

How to Learn Some Italian Using Words You Already Know - Lesson 2

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In the first lesson of How to Learn Some Italian Using Words You Already know we focused on all the English words Italians use on a daily basis, thus making our lives that much easier when trying to communicate. There are over 70 words, in fact, that are either English, the same in Italian and English, or so similar that you understand anyway, and I keep finding words to add to that list!

To read Lesson 1, click here.

For Lesson 2 we are going to focus on taking the English words you can turn into Italian, simply by adding a vowel on the end. (If you hadn’t noticed from lesson 1, these lessons aren’t exactly serious… they aren’t aimed at the studious, full-time Italian-language student, but rather can be enjoyed by anyone, whether you speak any Italian or not. :)

If you have spent any time around the Italian culture (or just watching The Godfather) you will have noticed that Italian words all end in vowels, and that it’s very easy to imitate them by adding a vowel on to any word. This is often found highly entertaining by other cultures (ahem, American), even if it (obviously) ends with made-up words. '“Yes, ciao, I will take-o the pizza and the pasta to take-away-o!”

If you don’t want to sound like you are speaking Ameritalian or someone who has lived their whole life imitating Italian stereotypes, read this post about the Italian alphabet and pronunciation of key letters. Some words in the list that follows are spelled the same as in English but with a vowel on the end, but the pronunciation might be slightly different. Likewise, some are spelled differently but are pronounced the same, aside from that last vowel, of course. If I don’t indicate how it should be pronounced, that means the accent and pronunciation stay essentially the same as in English.

One more note to remember as we progress: Italian words are split into two categories, feminine and masculine, usually ending in a or o, respectively. The ending of adjectives can fluctuate, depending on if the word or person they are describing is masculine or feminine. For example, “buono” is an adjective that means “good,” and you could say “oliO buonO” or “pizzA buonA.”

One more example to make sure we’re clear, let’s take #1 from the list below. I am an American, (and a woman) so I would say, “sono un’Americana.” I can’t (or shouldn’t) say “sono un Americano” because the adjective “Americano” no longer matches what it is describing, me the woman. So if you see the o/a below or realize a word is an adjective, remember it depends on if the noun the adjective is describing is masculine or feminine!

Ok, ready to add to your Italian vocabulary?

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English Words to Which You Can Add Vowels to Make Italian Words

1. American, Italian, Indian, and others / Americano/a, Italiano/a, Indiano/a - This holds true for several nationalities, but not all. For example, Australian is Australiano/a, but British is Inglese and French is Francese, Ah well, helpful for some!

2. Person / Persona (per-SOHN-a)

3. Tube / Tubo

4. Cube / Cubo (COO-Boh)

5. Sphere / Sfera (SFAIR-ah)

6. Case / Caso (CAH-zo) - in any caso…

7. Event / Evento - Hey let’s go to that evento!

8. Concert / Concerto (cone-CHAIR-toh)

9. Art / Arte

10. Ballet / Balletto - Ah, finally you can pronounce that “t” sound like you’ve always been tempted to!

11. Dance / Danza (DAH-nza)

12. Music / Musica (MOO-zee-cah)

13. Tambourine / Tamburino

14. Battery / Batteria (Baht-TAIR-ee-ah) - this also can refer to drums.

15. Angelic / Angelico/a (ahn-JEL-ee-co)

16. Content / Contento/a - I am so contenta to see you!

17. Conversion / Conversione (cohn-VAIR-zee-ohn-ay)

18. Impression / Impressione (eem-PRESS-ee-ohn-ay)

19. Candle / Candela (cahn-DEL-ah)

20. Diamond / Diamante (dee-ah-MAHN-tay)

21. Mark / Marchio note that there is also “marca” but that means a brand or make, such as Gucci or Ferrari, rather than a mark on something.

22. Television / Televisione (tel-eh-viz-ee-OHN-ay)

23. Kiosk / Chiosco (kee-OH-sco) - or newspaper stand.

24. Zone / Zona

25. Current / Corrente (cohr-EHN-tay) - this can be used for all forms of “current” in English, current in water, current events, etc.

26. Equilibrium / Equilibrio (ee-quil-EE-bree-oh)

27. Diet / Dieta (dee-EH-ta)

28. Vitamin / Vitamina (vee-tah-MEE-na) - Let’s go soak up some vitamina d!

29. Ingredient / Ingrediente (een-GREY-dee-en-tay)

30. Rice / Riso ( REE-zo)

31. Cone / Cono

32. Carrot / Carota (cah-ROH-ta)

33. Melon / Melone (Meh-LOHN-ay)

34. Marmalade / Marmellata (mar-may-LAH-ta) - you might not eat marmalade very often, but “marmellata” refers to all jams, jellies, and marmalades.

35. Olive / Oliva (oh-LEE-va)

36. Liquor/Liqueur / Liquore - although liquor refers to stronger spirits (vodka, taquila, etc.) and liqueur to sweeter spirits (Kahlua, Bailey’s, etc.) both of these are encompassed in the Italian “liquore.”

37. Cream / Crema - this can refer to any kind of cream, such as a face cream or a cream you would eat. Crema is also how you would say “pudding” in Italian.

38. Spinach / Spinaci (spee-NAH-chee)

39. Protein / Proteine (pro-tay-EEN-ay)

40. Pork / Porco it’s also often referred to as “maiale”

41. Pen / Penna - if this word looks familiar, that’s because yes, penne pasta literally means “pens” in Italian! Remember to lay those n’s on nice and thick, because if you take away one “n” you end up with a completely different word that you definitely don’t want to be ordering for dinner! (If I got you curious, it’s anatomy, not a swear word or worse, but you can go translate it because I prefer to keep this blog G rated. :)

42. Train / Treno (TRAY-no)

43. Airplane / Aeroplano (air-oh-PLAHN-o)

44. Airport / Aeroporto (air-oh-PORT-o)

45. Bank / Banca (BAHN-ca)

46. Post / Posta - this can refer to the post in your mailbox as well as the actual post office.

47. Postal / Postale (post-AHL-ay)

48. Pharmacy / Farmacia (far-ma-chee-ah)

49. University / Università (oon-ee-vers-ee-TAH)

50. Camp / Campo (CAHM-po) also means field, realm, sphere, domain, any of those kinds of camp.

51. Metal / Metallo (Meh-TAHL-lo)

52. Metallic / Metallico/a

53. Atomic / Atomica (Ah-TOH-mee-ca)

54. Comic / Comico/a also known as a comedian or used as an adjective to describe something funny

55. Animal / Animale (ahn-ee-MAHL-ay)

56. Elephant / Elefante

57. Lion / Leone (lay-OHN-ay)

58. Dolphin / Delfino (del-FEEN-o)

59. Serpent / Serpente

60. Rat / Ratto

61. Vote / Voto

62. System / Sistema (sees-TAIM-a)

63. Problem / Problema

64. Terrible / Terribile (tair-REE-bee-lay)

65. Crucial / Cruciale (croo-CHYA-lay)

66. Special / Speciale (speh-CHYA-lay)

67. Incredible / Incredibile (in-cred-EE-bee-lay)

68. Important / Importante (eem-por-TAHN-tay)

69. Fine / Fino - thin, the dimension, not “fine, be that way.”

70. False / Falso - true or falso?

71. Liberty / Libertà

72. Destiny / Destino (des-TEEN-o)

73. Ocean / Oceano (och-YA-no)

74. Divine / Divino/a (Dee-VEE-no) - not to be confused with “divano” which means “couch.”

75. Noble / Nobile (NO-bee-lay)

76. Dollar / Dollaro - (DOL-lar-o)

77. Button / Bottone (boo-TOH-nay)

78. Distant / Distante (dee-STAN-tay)

79. Second / Secondo

80. Moment / Momento

81. Medicine / Medicina (meh-dee-CHEE-na)

82. Pulse / Polso (POHL-so)

83. Palm / Palma

84. Penicillin / Penicillina (pen-ee-chee-LEE-na)

85. Vein / Vena

86. Nude / Nudo/a - Don’t come in, I’m nuda! In English we more commonly say naked rather than nude, but in Italian you get one option. Try not to laugh too much the first time you actually get to use it.

87. Cigarette / Sigaretta

88. Rose / Rosa - means rose as well as pink.

89. Vase / Vaso (VAH-zo) - I got you a vaso to put your rosa in.

90. Medium / Medio (meh-dyo)

91. Category / Categoria

92. Comment / Commento (cohm-MEN-toh)

93. Phrase / Frase (FRAH-zay)

94. Alphabet / Alfabeto

95. Letter / Lettera - as in English, this can mean both a letter in a word and a letter you write someone.

96. Note / Nota - like a note you write someone along with musical notes, etc.

97. Icon / Icona (ee-COHN-a)

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There is yet another taste for you, that Italian can be easy to learn! And fun(ny). There are many, many more words like this, which is why it can be almost effortless to expand your vocabulary of nouns and adjectives. And this doesn’t even touch upon all the letter combinations you’ll start to pick on, those that are in English but not Italian, then figuring out the Italian equivalent, which enables you to translate words on your own without using a translator or asking a friend. Huh? Let me explain quickly.

Take for example, words in English that end in “tion.”

Frustration. Eradication.

If I tell you that “frustration” becomes “frustrazione” and “eradication” becomes “eradicazione,” you can see that the root of the word stays the same, and the “tion” suffix becomes “zione" in Italian. Easy, right? I bet you can figure out the next three.

• Extraction = Estrazione

• Indication = Indicazione

• Indecision = Indecisione

Did you catch the exceptions? Where one root word didn’t stay the same, and one word didn’t end in “tion”? The “ex” in “extraction” became “es” in “estrazione,” and “indecision” ends in “sion.” This, in turn, could open the next letter combinations you could translate by yourself. There is no “x” in the Italian alphabet, therefore the combination of “ex” usually becomes “es,” and words that end in “sion” often become “sione” in Italian.

• Expulsion = Espulsione

• Extrusion = Estrusione

• Extrinsic = Estrinsico

• Invasion = Invasione

I’m getting ahead of myself, and going beyond the just the light-hearted lesson I had planned-o today-o, but I’ll leave you with on last word to translate on your own. Conversation…go!

Until next time, alla prossima!

How to Learn Some Italian Using Words You Already Know - Lesson 1

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Did you know that you already know a whole bunch of words that Italians use everyday? You’re basically fluent in Italian and don’t even know it. Ok, ok, not really, but the fact is, Italians use a good bit of English in their everyday jargon. I’m not talking about Italians when they’re speaking in English, I mean the English words that are thrown in to Italian conversations. English words that have come to replace the traditional Italian, or words that were coined in English in recent decades and have wound their way into Italian.

Some Italian words by now are almost obsolete. I’ve spent almost 3 years’ worth of time in Italy, only including the time in which I was learning Italian and conversing maybe more in Italian than English, and still have yet to hear the Italian equivalent of certain English words. For example, “privacy.” Written, spoken, it’s always “privacy.” I didn’t even notice I had no idea how to say nor had I ever heard someone say “privacy” in Italian until someone brought it to my attention. So I had to ask, how do you say “privacy” in Italian? “Privatezza.” By now with "terms of privacy” and the like around the internet, especially here in the EU, “privatezza” has been rendered all but forgotten, I guess. Maybe just uncool.

English is a desired language and thus becomes cool if you can speak any. Plus Italy is so dependent upon tourism that many people’s jobs require them to speak some basic English, if not fluently. Many parents look to English speaking au pairs to teach their children English from a young age, or get them in any programs that involve English native-tongues, no matter the program, just for the language experience. Teaching English is almost always an option for native speakers.

I can’t tell you how often my Italian colleagues in every day conversation would sprinkle in some English. “Yes” would replace a “si,” “excuse me,” “oh my god,” “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome” would be used just as often as their Italian counterparts. And my colleagues often weren’t talking to me, the only native English speaker who worked there. Americans learn a second language often in high school, but because we have no need of the language it is never exercised and usually forgotten. Even the basic words we retain we don’t often use, even if we also think it’s cool, because it seems a bit pretentious. At least I think the general consensus is that it is. Here, I don’t know, maybe the desire to learn English (and French, German, Spanish, etc.) is almost so accepted that it’s more common everyone is “practicing” in a way, and therefore not pretentious? Shrug.

Whether you’re looking forward to an upcoming Italian adventure, learning Italian, or simply curious, here is a great way to add some QUICK and EASY words to your repertoire. Heheh.

Buca di Beppo requires full out Italian speaking mode ON

Quick Note on Italian Pronunciation

Even if it is a true English word that Italians use, they often pronounce it with their wonderful accent ( and sometimes may not understand you the first time [or ever] if you pronounce the same word but in the correct English way.) So as you are reading the words that follow, you might want to learn or brush up on the Italian alphabet and how to pronounce some of their key words to get the full appreciation. (Click here to do so.) It’s way more fun to pronounce things in an Italian accent anyway, so let your inner Fabio/Martina come bursting forth!

If you want to actually learn Italian or you have a base that you would like to build upon, I have found this book to be very useful in clarifying all the different verbs in Italian. One of my best friends used it while she was in Italy as an au pair, and later gave it to me to use when I first came to Italy!

Italian Verb Drills, Third Edition (Drills Series)

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Italian Words You Already Know

Some they borrow from us, some we borrow from them, either way we understand each other!

1. Weekend - Il Weekend. By now everyone wishes you a “buon weekend!” instead of “buon fine settimana!” I once heard an elderly gentleman say “buon fine settimana” to an acquaintance on the bus. It actually made me turn around and take note of this gentleman. And that’s it. Just that one time I’ve heard it. It’s really just the older generations that use it. I think it’s a bit sad, really, that some words aren’t hardly even used anymore. As someone who wants to learn Italian and learn it well, it feels a bit like cheating injecting words you already know!

2. Relax - you could use the Italian verb rilassarsi, but why don’t you relax and use what you already know? ;)

3. Budget - I was using the Italian “bilancio” for the longest time until I realized that Italians use “budget.” Why do I even try?

4. Zero - one number down, uh, a couple trillion to go?

5. Radio - La radio. This I learned when briefly taking Italian lessons. Yay for words that are the same, just a slightly different pronunciation! Rahhhhdio instead of Rayyyydio. Remember those pronunciation rules?

6. Computer - they even say this one a bit like we do, the u is a “yoo” sound instead of the usual Italian “oo.” But try and roll that r a bit. I know I know, but you’ll get there!

7. iPhone, Android, iPad, and other well-known technological products and companies - Even though Android seems to have a higher number of cell phone users, Apple is still as desired here as it is in the States. Except an iPhone can cost about €100-300 more than it’s American retail price. Add that in with a weaker economy and it doesn’t take much imagination why Android is still #1.

8. Social - the only difference here is that Italians don’t say “media” after. It’s always just “social.”

9. Facebook, Instagram, selfie, etc. - all those trendy words coined in recent years are all the same!

10. Email - la email…

11. Password - la password…I don’t even know if these have a translation in Italian. I think they are what they are.

12. Account - I believe you can also say il conto, the same you would say when asking for the bill or tab at a restaurant. But I’ve never heard anyone use anything other than account, so, no worries!

13. Display - what a nice display of words we have here! There are several different ways to say this in Italian, such as “mettere in mostra” / to put on display, or “sfoggiare” / to show off, display. But it’s much easier just saying display, now, isn’t it?

14. Wi-Fi and Internet - need WiFi? You can communicate with one word. WiFi? Si? Grazie!

15. TV - pronounced “tee-vo,” and short for televisione, but reading it is the same.

16. Modem and Router - at this rate you might be thinking you can handle calling a help center for internet or something. You can say password, account, email, internet, modem, router…right? Wrong. This bit of knowledge I can pass on to you, internet, cable, and phone companies are awful to talk to all the world round. You may have already known this. ;)

17. Giga - like social media, they don’t say the second word. Instead of giga-byte, it’s simply giga. I have 50 giga per month, and so far my phone service has only taken unauthorized money from my account once, and they fixed it afterwards, these are two positives of my phone company!

18. Touch Screen - you could be all fancy and say “schermo tattile” or “schermo sensibile al tatto” but I haven’t seen those readily as touch screen is way easier to say, no?

19. Cliccare and taggare - these might be the only verbs on this list, but they make me laugh because they just turned English words into Italian verbs. All Italian verbs end in “are” (ah-ray), “ere” (air-ay), or “ire” (eer-ay) in the infinitive form. Thus “click” became “cliccare” (to click) and “tag” became “taggare” (to tag, as in Instagram).

20. Privacy - as stated above, I finally had to ask, how DO you say privacy in Italian? Ah. Privatezza. But goodness, you’re so uncool if you say the Italian.

21. Area - pronounced like the name “Aria” this is the same in Italian and English.

22. Marketing - Italians have taken American marketing to new levels. The kind that makes you roll your eyes and say “marketing.”

23. Logo - “il logo” logos are logos the world round!

24. Range - this one seems really random to me. But useful, because I can’t think of how to say it in Italian. Gamma, assortimento, portata, actually there a quite a few.

25. Babysitter - or you can be a tata!

26. Stalker - useful. Very useful.

27. Gas - as in water “with gas.” You’ll hear this quite a bit in restaurants, but not necessarily to be used for gasoline, or the other kind. Um, flatulence?

28. Spa - the relaxing wellness center, not to be confused with S.p.a. which is the Italian equivalent of our LLC.

29. Fitness - fitness is so important, people! Even Italians understand this.

30. Personal Trainer - there are so many at the gym I go to!

31. Zumba, Spinning, Yoga, Pilates, Box, and other popular sports and activities - there are also plenty of corsi di fitness at my gym. Note that boxing is said just “box.”

32. Studio - Pilates è in studio 1. Pilates is in studio 1. Only one word is different. Crazy, huh? (Although 1 would be pronounced “uno”)

33. Sport - lo sport, very important in Italy and Europe.

34. Basket - like social and box, basketball is just “basket.” Or pallacanestro.

35. Trek - un trek!

36. Adidas, Nike, Prada, Timberland, any well-known international brand - except, much to my enjoyment, the pronunciations are sometimes different. Not just the letters but the accent, too. I grew up hearing Adidas as “ah-DEE-des” but here it is “AH-dee-das.”

37. Performance - or spettacolo.

38. Record - un nuovo record! Used as in “setting a record” and that type of record, but I haven’t heard it used as the type of record related to music and other meanings.

39. Stop - I learned some Italian phrases before coming to Italy for the first time, including the useful “basta” (stop, or enough). It would have been nice to know I could’ve also used good ol’ STOP, too.

40. Bus - short for autobus, but ends up essentially the same in the abbreviated.

41. Mascara - long a’s, ladies, for long eyelashes.

42. Shopping - shoppers, rejoice!

43. T-shirt - mi piace la tua t-shirt! Italian is “maglietta,” but they are interchangeable.

44. Jeans - jeans are jeans. “Pantaloni” refers to all long pants, but if you want specifically a pair of jeans, the term is jeans.

45. Push-up - I’m not sure about the exercise push-up, but ladies will have an easy time finding a certain type of lingerie in this style!

46. Influenza - the sickness, but is also Italian for “influence.”

47. Stress - lo stress. Yes, even Italians living their dolce vita experience stress. Che stress / what stress!

48. Idea - what a great idea! Che bella idea! It’s the same, different pronunciation.

49. Blu - said the same as our blue, but without the e. There is another word for blue in Italian, azzurro, that is more commonly used, especially for medium and lighter blues, but for your purposes, using “blu” is just fine.

50. In - this is actually Italian and English, and generally used in the same way: Inside something.

51. Me - also both Italian and English. Chi, me? Yes, you.

52. Circa - this is usually used in English to determine an approximate date. “He was born circa 1950.” You can use it this same way in Italian, but also in many other ways, such as: with regard to, about, approximately, roughly, thereabouts, etc etc.

53. Via - Used similarly in the two languages, to express a means of getting somewhere. “I sent it via email.” Only in Italian, however, it is the equivalent of street. I want to live in Via delle Belle Donne! In Italian you can also say “attraverso,” meaning through.

54. Film - usually used in place of movie. Do you want to go see a movie? Vuoi andare a vedere un film?

55. Set - film set, set of plates/set di piatti, set of silverware/set di posati…if Italians lift weights in the gym they probably have a number of steps they do. I just said set too many times in my head and now it seems like the most bizarre word. Set. Weird.

56. Fan - this is widely used in Italian in reference to a fan club (not the ventilation fan), but if you want to sound more Italian you could say appassionato/a, fanatico/a, or tifoso/a for a sports fan.

57. Video - a videoclip on Facebook or recording on your phone is considered a “video.”

58. Foto - short for fotografia, but pronounced the same.

59. Piercing - your parents might not appreciate that there isn’t even much of a language barrier for getting a piercing here. Heheh.

60. Bomber - I’m not cool enough to know how to use this exactly right in actual English, but I do know that Italians understand it as a cool, “fuoriclasse,” or out-of-their-league person. Cristiano Ronaldo is a bomber. Maybe “This cake is the bomb” and if you made the cake, you’re the bomber? I’m trying, ok!?! Let’s just say it can be used exactly the same in Italian as it is in English, mmmk?

61. Rock, Pop, Rap, and other types or styles of music - la radio, pop, per favore! Look, we’re already able to easily build phrases from this list. Amazing. “Per favore” I realize is not on here, but you’ll find that in any guidebook. ;)

62. Bar - bar is the same in both languages, although it is a bit more widely used term in Italy. Bar is used to refer to just about any place that sells coffee. A true bar usually opens early with coffee and pastries, somewhere around 10am transitions to selling sandwiches “panini” and maybe some lunch dishes, and sells alcohol all day long, and finally closes sometime in the early evening.

63. Hotel - these, of course, you will see everywhere, and if you ask an Italian they will point you to the nearest “otel.” Italian is albergo, but maybe they also eventually adopted hotel because the people who search for hotels, that would be tourists, would find and understand hotel better than albergo. Just a theory.

64. Pizza - I think this has long been accepted as both English and Italian.

65. Pasta - Another dual citizen here, except it has a few more meanings in Italian, not always meaning the delicious plate of carbs with wonderful sauces. Pasta can also mean dough, batter, paste, and pastry.

66. Spaghetti, Gnocchi, Linguini, etc. - these probably seem obvious, however I will add a quick note: for whatever reason, types of pasta are sometimes referred to in their singular form. You may not notice this as a tourist, but if you hang out enough with pasta and Italians, you’ll start hearing “spaghetto” and “raviolo” or “gnocco” and “casereccia.”

67. Panini - important note on this one…panini is PLURAL. You shouldn’t ask for one panini in Italian, that’s like ordering “one sandwiches.” It’s panino, and denotes any kind of sandwich rather than the American grilled sandwich. Just so you know. :D

68. Cheesecake - there are many cheesecake gelato flavors and cheesecakes themselves in restaurants and gelaterie, but they generally taste quite different. They are more like a semi-freddo in texture. I don’t know why. I thought it was the cream cheese, but after making cheesecakes at home that turned out great, I still don’t understand. It shall remain a mystery for now.

69. Hamburger - to be pronounced as Jacques Clouseau from the Pink Panther. Hamburgers are very popular here, and based on the restaurants Italians seem to think that America is stuck in the 1950’s diner era and all we eat are hamburgers, French fries, and milkshakes. Ah well, Americans think Italians only eat pizza, pasta, and wine, so we’re even, right?

70. Hotdog - not as popular as the hamburger, but it has it’s own following and can be found in most grocery stores.

71. Yogurt - the yogurt section can be quite extensive in grocery stores, as Italians are rather obsessed with their digestion.

72. Avocado - millennials, rejoice! No translator needed to find your beloved green fruit. Your wallet will not rejoice, as avocados usually hover about €5/kg (that’s about $2.50-3.00/lb)

73. Banana - you say “bah-naaa-nah,” Italians say “bah-nah-nah.”

74. Lime - sometimes called the same as a limone. But lime and lemon are very different, how can I tell what you are offering me if you say limone? I don’t understand.

75. Sushi and other ethnic foods - entering an ethnic restaurant that then tries to explain under the title what the dish is in Italian, can be very amusing to me. Lo mein that is explained as spaghetti just doesn’t get it for me, haha.

76. Paprika - spelled the same, but in Italian it has a different pronunciation: PAH-pree-kuh instead of pah-PREE-kuh

77. Curry - the same, although the u is not pronounced as the Italian u, instead it is a strong a, like in “carry.”

78. Sultana - we usually say raisin in English, but sultana works in English and Italian!

79. Brioche - technically a buttery, enriched French bread in French or English, this term in Italian applies to any pastry.

80. Cocktail - cocktail and most of the classic cocktail names, Mojito, Moscow Mule, etc. will get you far during aperitivo hour.

81. Espresso, Cappuccino, etc. - yes, all the famed coffee drinks that were invented in Italy are the same and so far we haven’t managed to mess up the pronunciation too much! Good job, everybody!

82. Broccoli - the same in Italian and English. Random, but hey, we could all use a little more broccoli in our life!

83. Hobby - an Italian hobby might be sitting at the local bar and people watching, wine tasting, long dinners, long strolls, watching soccer, discussing soccer, watching news discussing soccer, and playing soccer.

84. Food Truck - Italians have picked up on the food truck trend in America and are following suit with their own trendy hamburger food trucks!

85. Street Food - like food truck above, except I don’t think that restaurant I saw the other day advertising “street food” fully understood the concept.

86. Take-away - mangi qui o take-away? Italian is “da portare via” or “d’asporto.”

87. All You Can Eat - ALL sushi restaurants I have ever seen or eaten at in Italy are always the “all you can eat” formula. And “all you can eat” is always written in English, everything else in Italian. Don’t ask me why.

88. Freezer - I always appreciated this one because for a while there I could never remember “congelatore.” Maybe because I heard the English more often than the Italian, didn’t stick with me, haha!

89. Zebra - the same, except I say ZEE-brah, you say ZAY-brah…

90. Zoo - everyone loves the zoo! It’s the same word except for in Italian you pronounce it “Zo.”

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There you are, a whole list of “Italian” words you already knew. My little Italian prodigies!

I’m sure I’m missing a whole slew of English/Italian words, if you want to add to this list drop me a comment below!

The Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation

A nook along Cinque Terre hiking trails in full Italian speaking mode…you don’t like to find crevices that are just your size??

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Listening to Italian makes you happy, doesn’t it? It doesn’t even matter if you know what they’re saying or not. The rolls and lilts of the language are filled with an over-exaggerated sense of passion and drama, and you can’t help but smile. Unless they’re yelling, then I’m not smiling. Even if it’s probably just a friendly exchange about the last soccer match. I’m very non-confrontational and the public displays of conflict make me nervous. Run awayyyyyy! In fact, someone once thought I was Hungarian because I was so laid back and calm. Hmmm…

As far as languages go, Italian is really not that difficult to learn. Yes, it’s a foreign language and difficult, but. Have you ever tried to learn Chinese or Arabic? That’ll put things into perspective real quick! With Italian you can learn just a few phrases and suddenly you feel alive and all the hand gestures come as if you were born doing them. But before we warm up our hands and our best “mamma mia” expressions, let’s go over the alphabet and pronunciation of vowels that is oh-so-important.

The Italian Alphabet

Alright sing this and see if you can figure out which letters are missing:

A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V Z

(Pronounced: ah-bee-chee-dee-ae-effe-jee-acca-ee-elle-emme-enne-oh-pee-coo-erre-esse-tee-oo-voo-zeta)

Haha got it? See, Italian is easy because they have less letters than the English alphabet! Only 21, to be exact. But they messed up our nicely coordinated ABC song by Mozart. Rude. (You’ve made the connection by now that the ABC song is the same as Twinkle Twinkle, yes? Great. Ok, we can move on.)

The following letters don’t technically exist in Italian, except for in the foreign words that have been adopted:

J K W X Y

(Pronounced: ee loonga - kappa - doppio voo - eex - eepsilon)

And thusly we have eliminated half of the letters in my first name. Thanks guys!

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Pronunciation of Those Vowels in Italian

• “A” in Italian is a long A as in “ah”

  “casa” (CAH-zah)

• “E” is usually a hard A as in “mate,” but can also be softer, closer to “eh”

  “re” (RAY [king]) / “permesso” (pair-MEH-sso [permission]); the first e is harder, the second softer

• “I” is a hard E as in “feet”

  “ravioli” (rah-vee-oh-lee)

• “O” is usually a hard O as in “poke,” but can also be softer, closer to “moss”

  “otto” (OHT-toe [eight]); the first o is softer, the second harder

• “U” is a hard U as in “fluke”

  “cappuccino” (CAP-poo-CHEE-no)

How to Pronounce Key Consonants in Italian

• “C” is a hard c as in “cup” unless it is immediately followed by an i or e in which case it is a soft c as in “chocolate.”

  “cono” (CO-no [cone]) / “cioccolato” (CHYO-co-lah-to [chocolate]) / “cena” (CHAY-na [dinner])

• “Ch” is always pronounced as a hard c.

  “chiuso” (kee-OO-zo [closed])

• “G” is a hard g as in “gas” unless it is immediately followed by an i or e in which case it is a soft g as in “Germany.” (J doesn’t exist in the Italian alphabet, so any j sound is made with a g and an i or e. The Italian version of my name is spelled Genny, short for Giovanna.)

  “gatto” (GAH-to [cat]) / “giardino” (jyar-DEE-no [garden]) / “gelato” (je-LAH-to)

• “Gh” is always pronounced as a hard g.

  “ghiaccio” ( ghyA-chyo [ice])

• “S” is a z sound like the s in “pose” if it is between vowels, otherwise it is an s sound as in “soup”

  “casino” (ca-ZEE-no [mess]) / “pasta” (PAH-sta)

• “SS” is an s sound like in “messy”

  “bellissima” (bell-EE-see-ma [so pretty])

• “Z” is a normal z sound as in “zebra” at the beginning of words, otherwise it is a ts sound as in “mats”

  “zucchero” (ZOO-kair-o [sugar]) / “stazione” (Sta-tsee-O-nay [station])

• “R” is always semi-rolled, not the “er” sound we make in English where the tongue doesn’t come in contact with any part of the mouth.

  “mercato” (mair-CAH-to [market])

• “RR” is an exaggerated roll. And yes, you can learn to roll your r’s!

  “ferro” (FAY-rrrr-o [iron])

• “GN” is pronounced like the ñ in Spanish; the g is silent.

  “gnocchi” (nyO-kee)

• “GLI” when it is in the middle of a word or used as an article (“gli” [plural for the]) is the L version of ñ; the closest example would be like the lli in “million.” This one is harder to write without hearing it, especially because many people struggle with this subtle but particular sound. It’s like saying “Lee” while trying to stretch the back of your tongue between your molars and the roof of your mouth instead of just touching the tip of your tongue to the front of the mouth to make the normal L sound…or in other words trying to say it more from the back of your mouth than just the front. (How are we doing? If there is anyone by you, you may want to explain why you’re contorting your mouth so much.)

  “famiglia” (fa-MEE-lya) / “gli uomini” (LYEE oo-OH-mee-nee [the men])

• “SC” is an sh sound as in “shop” if it is followed by an i or e, otherwise the letters are pronounced normally as in “escape.”

  “scienza” (shee-EN-za [science]) / “sconto” (SKOHN-toe [discount])

• “H” is always silent.

  Santa Clause says “ho ho ho” / Babbo Natale says “O O O”

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In my head it was going to be a lot easier writing all that out than it actually was. It seems like a lot of information, but don’t worry, it’s actually quite simple with a bit of practice!

Food in Florence: Great Aperitivo

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Aperitivo. You either love it or…don’t know what it is?

Aperitivo in Italy refers to a period in the evening, usually between 6pm - 8pm where people gather to drink cocktails, wine, or non-alcoholic drinks and eat some light snacks and food. You usually pay between 7-10euro for a drink and includes all the food they have set out in a buffet-like style. It’s a bit like happy hour, except the point isn’t to take advantage of the cheap drinks, but to stimulate your digestion before dinner. Ya know, science, heheh.

Plate of random food from buffet at O Bar

In my personal experience, if I actually want to be able to eat dinner afterwards, I just get a drink without going for the actual “aperitivo” price which includes the snackies. But. Also in my experience, if you plan on going out for aperitivo, especially with a group of students, people on a budget, or people with light appetites, that actually means you’ll linger so long you basically eat a meal of the hors d’oeuvres, or end up ordering a couple plates to share because everyone is too full to eat their own but felt bad that their party wiped clean the buffet bar. The larger your group I think the more likely the latter is to happen, but it’s not uncommon, and either way is highly enjoyable. Either way you look at it you’re with good food, drinks, and company.

A Quick History of the Aperitivo

The Italian word “Aperitivo” comes from the Latin “Aperitivus” which means “che apre” or “which tends to open the bowels.” (Do I sound like the dad on My Big Fat Greek Wedding?) Namely, a drink that is able to stimulate or “open” your digestion from the forthcoming onslaught of food. That thing we normally call dinner.

Apparently, in the 5th century the Greek physician Hippocrates discovered that a drink based on white wine, flowers of dittany, absinthe, and rue could help his patients who complained of loss of appetite. This concoction was then passed down through time until it reached the medicinal doctors of Medieval times. These doctors found that it wasn’t so much these particular ingredients that had this effect, but rather the bitterness of them. For this reason, the principal drinks served during aperitivo hour are based on bitter components.

The actual aperitivo as it is known in Italy today was born in Torino in the late 1700’s by one Antonio Benedetto Carpano, who invented vermouth. It was tasted by the then King of Italy, Vittorio Emanule II, who enjoyed this bitter drink so much he made it an official drink of court. It became a must drink for many famous people to come, such as Cavour and Garibaldi. Entering the 1800’s others eventually invented their own bitter drinks for the aperitivo to be drunk before a meal, with amaro, Campani, and Martini becoming particularly popular and are still the main stays of aperitivo today.

Which brings us to the question, what are the cocktails you can expect to find in Florence and around Italy?

Typical Cocktails in Italy

• Spritz - prosecco, club soda, and either Aperol or Campari. Born in Italy, this is probably the most famous aperitivo here. There are two main versions, the Aperol Spritz, with Aperol, and the Campari Spritz, with Campari.

• Negroni - gin, vermouth rosso, Campari. Invented in Florence in the 1920’s.

• Negroni Sbagliato - vermouth rosso, Campari, prosecco. Created by accident in the 1960’s when a barman went to make a Negroni and instead of gin found in his hand prosecco…the rest is history.

• Americano - Campari, sweet vermouth, club soda. Created in the latter half of the 19th century in either Torino or Milan.

• Martini Dry - gin, dry vermouth. Another Italian cocktail born in the 19th century.

These are the typical Italian aperitivi, although be sure to check out the menus or ask wherever you go to see the creations and offerings of that particular place, including all the classics such as mojito, Moscow mule, gin and tonic, etc.

If for whatever reason you don’t want to partake in an alcoholic beverage, you can usually get a tonic with lemon or various other flavors of Schweppes they might have on hand, fruit juice, Crudino (a sweet and bitter non-alcoholic drink similar in taste to the alcoholic ones, I love it), soft drinks, or ask if the barman can make you a special non-alcoholic drink of his or your choice!

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Great Aperitivo

In no particular order

Non-alcoholic cocktail invented by the barman.

1. ARTS INN

   Via del Porcellana, 63r, close to the church of Santa Maria Novella.

   A very cool little place specializing in cocktails, two floors and various nooks and crannies where you’re bound to find a cozy little corner to chat with friends.

2. La Cité

   Borgo S. Frediano, 20, south of the river not far from the church of Santo Spirito.

   This place is also featured on my list for the best coffee in Florence (as is Caffetteria delle Oblate below), because it is such a great and versatile place. Great for meeting friends, studying, going for cocktails or coffee. Like ARTS INN, it has an up and downstairs and much more exciting seating options than your typical place.

3. La Pescatoria

   Via Palazzuolo 80r, not far from the train station SMN.

   This is the aperitivo for fish lovers. Most of their buffet has something to do with some kind of fish, dips, crostini, salads etc. I think my favorite part was the fried fish, so good! Nice atmosphere as well.

4. Caffetteria delle Oblate

   Via dell’Oriuolo, 26, in the center not far from the Duomo.

   An aperitivo on the third floor of an old convent. It has views of the Duomo without paying the higher prices of aperitivos usually on hotel rooftops. This place is very popular with students and at times it can be hard to find seating, but sitting on the steps or floor around the terrace is always an option if your bones can take it.

5. Quelo Bar

   Borgo Santa Croce, 15r, two steps from the church of Santa Croce.

   Very chic place with nice offerings in a relatively quiet street leading straight to Santa Croce. Limited outdoor seating, nice seating inside.

6. O Bar

   Via de’ bardi, 54, just a few steps from Ponte Vecchio.

   Nice wines and buffet with a great view of Ponte Vecchio and the river! Prices aren’t bad either considering, I believe it’s 10euro for drink and buffet, which is pretty standard.

7. Gallery

   Via dei Benci, 30, close to the church of Santa Croce.

   This for me is the quintessential aperitivo in Italy. Something about the type of place and their offerings make them appealing to many and accessible, but not super special. This was one of the more frequented places for meeting with friends when I first came to Florence. There are quite a few aperitivo places on the street, and it has quite the night life.

8. Kitsch

   Two locations: Viale Antonio Gramsci 1/5r on the east edge of the city center, and Via San Gallo, 22r, close to San Marco.

   An eclectic place with a decent offering of drinks and buffet food. Usually one of the first places suggested when trying to meet for aperitivo, as it’s known to most and has two convenient locations.

Seasonal summer pop-ups:

Because these are seasonal places they don’t usually have an actual address, but you can find it on Googlemaps by typing in the name. These places don’t include the buffet but you can choose to order some small plates or meals along with your drinks.

1. Utopiko

   Lots of unique and hand crafted seating in a park along the river, outside the city center. They have some delicious cocktails, but their non-alcoholic options are limited.

2. Lungarno del Tempio

   Food truck style food kiosks and bars appear for the summer in this park along the river just outside the crazy city center. Great to finally catch the breeze off the river while sipping on a cold drink after a hot day walking around the city. Note: Typing in Lungarno del Tempio will get you a pin on the map actually across the street, for more accuracy type in La Toraia Lungarno del Tempio which is one of the food kiosks.

3. Molo Firenze

   Outdoor and great summery aperitivo on the river, just past Lungarno del Tempio. They can get the music going so best if you want more of club vibe than a quiet, chat with my friends type feel.

For a classy aperitivo experience try:

1. The Fusion Bar & Restaurant

   Vicolo dell’Oro, 3, a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio.

   A part of a hotel, this place is a local institution with competent barmen and original cocktails. The food is Asian fusion cuisine, so don’t forget the sushi! Higher end prices.

2. Harry’s Bar Firenze

   Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, 22r, just a 6 minute walk from the American Consulate.

   Elegant ambience in a historic Florentine locale with nice views and elevated prices.

3. Locale Firenze

   Via delle Seggiole, 12r, between the Duomo and Santa Croce.

   A historic restaurant with a notable bar and aperitivo smack dab in the center of the center. If you decide to stay and dine you’ll find well-thought out Italian dishes. You’ll want to dress up a bit for this place for sure.

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If you have any questions or have suggestions to add to the list, leave a comment below! I always love hearing from you guys!

Food in Florence: Where to Find the Best Eats

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Choosing where to eat in a new city is always one of the hardest decisions. Especially if that city is half way across the world and you don’t get over there every day.

This is important because I essentially love traveling for two principle reasons: The culture and the food. But how to find, say, good Belgian waffles and frites in Bruges, Belgium, or croissants and baguettes in Paris, France, or pizza and mozzarella di bufala in Napoli, Italy, when most of the places you see are screaming “tourist trap!”?

Unless you are fortunate enough to know some locals, you are completely left to yourselves, aside, of course, from the hundreds of books and online guides touting the 10 best places to eat. The overwhelming part for me is weighing through the endless sites and opinions, some of which are good, and an amazing number of which are not at all reliable. So here I’m just going to throw myself in the mix, as a local in Florence, with some of my favorite places to eat, namely lunch and dinner!

Lunch and Dinner in Italy

First, a few quick notes about lunch and dinner in Italy.

Sit-down lunchtime is roughly from 12:00pm - 3:00pm, with the peak being 1:00pm - 2:00pm. If you go before or after these hours, chances are the restaurant will be closed or not serving lunch anymore.

If you find yourself in need of a snack before lunchtime hits, pop into any bar and pick up a quick sandwich. If I eat a late breakfast at a bar I often notice quite a few local workers who pop in for a sandwich starting as early as 10:00am. These sandwiches are pre-made (but should be made that same day!) in the display case and slowly replace the pastries as the morning wears on. You can get a large or small, and they are usually simple with just 2-3 ingredients on a focaccia type bread. You could try a mozzarella, tomato, and lettuce, or prosciutto and tomato, or mortadella (Italian equivalent of bologna) and cheese, or bresaola (prosciutto made with beef instead of pork), arugula, and grana padano, etc.

Dinnertime in Italy generally starts from 7:30pm and can linger on until 11 or later, especially in the summer when that is when it finally cools down. Most restaurants don’t even open until 7:30pm for the dinner shift. It’s rare to find a restaurant that doesn’t close between the lunch and dinner shifts, as you’ll be able to see from the opening hours below.

Remember, if you sit down in a restaurant there will almost always be a “coperto” or cover charge, usually about 1.50 - 2euro per person, which cover the cost of napkins, bread, etc. And you have to pay for water, even if it’s tap water that comes in a refillable bottle. For more dining and Italy tips take a look at this list.

Hours may vary. You can make reservations on quandoo.it or thefork.it or by calling the restaurant directly.

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Where to Find the Best Eats

In no particular order

Simbiosi Organic Pizzeria, plus organic beer and wine

Margherita Pizza from Le Follie di Romualdo

Fuori Porta

All'antico Vinaio

Upstairs at the Mercato Centrale

Da Nerbone

Pizzeria Orto del Cigno

Pizza split with the “Contadina” and “Parmigiana” toppings

Aji Tei

Ararat Ristorante Armeno

Avanti - Pizza & Grill - Arab Restaurant

Apetizer

Rosticceria Tavola Marrochina

couscous, harissa, bread, olives, chicken kebabs

Bistecca Fiorentina (Florentine steak)

Stuffed Gnocchi

“Gnocchi ripieni” spinach gnocchi stuffed with panchetta in an asiago cheese sauce, upstairs at the Mercato Centrale

1. Simbiosi Organic

   Via de’ Ginori, 56r, 58r/60r (two locations), near to San Lorenzo.

   Simbiosi has two different locations around the corner from each other. The original location is an organic pizzeria, with great decor: exposed bricks and chandeliers! The second location features organic pasta and other dishes, and both locations have a nice selection of organic beer and wine. Oh, and the food is really good, especially the pizza. They appreciate reservations.

2. Osteria Cinghiale Bianco

   Borgo San Jacop, 43, just a bit away from the Santa Trinita bridge in a lovely neighborhood south of the center.

   Lovely local place with delicious typical Tuscan food and wine, housed in the bottom of a tower from 300 a.d.! I would highly recommend reservations, even if during the “off” season (which hardly seems to exist in Florence anymore) or you may not get in.

3. Enoteca Fuori Porta

   Via del Monte alle Croci, 10, on the way to Piazzale Michelangelo.

   This is a cute little wine shop with great meat and cheese plates and, of course, wine. Great for a snack, a light meal, or just a drink. Indoor and outdoor seating and conveniently located on the way to Piazzale Michelangelo (a nice uphill hike to get the views) for a snack after all that exertion. ;)

4. All’antico Vinaio

   Via dei Neri, 76, between Palazzo Vecchio and the church of Santa Croce.

   This is the most famous sandwich place in Florence, and have had lines since the first time I went in 2014. They have since expanded to at least 3 locations all on the same street near each other, two for sandwiches and one Osteria. I recommend going before or after prime lunch time to avoid the long lines; I’ve never been for dinner so can’t vouch for what the lines are like. Take your sandwich to go and sit on the steps of a church or piazza to enjoy your food. Keep in mind that if you don’t eat or don’t like pork, your pickings will be slim. They usually have turkey, sometimes bresaola (the beef equivalent of prosciutto), or you could always get some of the vegetable toppings with cheese and call it a day if you’re vegetarian.

5. Antica Panineria

   Via Faenza, 53. Between the train station and San Lorenzo.

   Another delicious and cheap focaccia sandwich place. Located not too far from the train station, this makes for a convenient lunch on the train, or there is a nice area outside to sit! Unlike All’Antico Vinaio here there are is usually no or a very short line which is convenient for a quicker meal.

6. Gustapizza

   Via Maggio, 46r, south of the river.

   Decent prices and just really good pizza. This is considered by some the best pizza in Florence. In my personal opinion, as they’ve become well known and busy, their quality control has dropped a bit. Obviously, they still made this list, but maybe instead of THE best they are one of the best. How’s that? They’re small and often full but even if Italy doesn’t have much of a “to go” culture, pizza is always acceptable to get to go. In fact, if they’re full up, take your pizza a few steps away and sit and eat on the steps of the church of Santo Spirito or in the piazza.

7. Mercato Centrale

   Piazza del Mercato Centrale, Via dell’Ariento, near to the church of San Lorenzo

   On the second floor is the Italian style food court, except everything is made fresh and on the spot. This is great for larger groups because there is something to please everyone, but be warned, it can get crazy up here even if there are hundreds of tables; it’s popular! So aim for a bit before or after lunch or dinner, if you can. There’s pasta, pizza, sushi, hamburgers, steak, vegan, seafood, various typical Florentine options, and more. My only word of warning is that not every stall is made equally. I personally recommend the pizza (that fluffy Neopolitan crust, oh man!), the seafood fresh or fried, the famous Florentine steak (bistecca fiorentina, one of the best), gelato, bread or desserts from the French stall “Bedu,” and vegan. They also have large TVs setup so you can watch the soccer matches, although that also means many seats will be occupied by people who aren’t even eating during those times. Rude. ;)

8. Da Nerbone

   Piazza del Mercato Centrale, near to the church of San Lorenzo

   This is a very busy, very delicious, traditional Tuscan food stand on the ground floor of the Mercato Centrale among all the farmer’s market stands. They usually have a long line but it moves fast enough. The hard part is getting a seat, so have someone ordering and picking up the food, another scouting and claiming a table! The seating is quite tight but for a taste of scrumptious Florentine comfort food, it’s worth it. I love the Lampredotto (very typical Florentine, I’m gonna go ahead and let you google that one), any of the pasta dishes, and the beef cheek called “stracotto.” And I don’t even hardly eat beef! Comfort food at it’s greatest.

9. Pizzeria Orto del Cigno

   Via di Varlungo, 27, on the east side of the city center not far from Tuscany Hall.

   A pizzeria that feels like home, because they serve large pizzas that everyone can eat a slice from American style, instead of the individual pizzas. You can get each pizza with 2 or 3 of the topping options, so you can try more! I absolutely fell in love with the parmigiana…definitely one of the top 5 pizzas I’ve ever eaten!

   I recommend taking a stroll from the city center along the river going east, the sidewalk eventually turns into a peaceful reprieve from the touristy center, with nature and the river on your right and locals jogging past. About a 45 minute walk and the pizzeria will be on your left.

10. Aji Tei

    Viale Spartaco Lavagnini, 20A, not far from the tip of the city center, Piazza Libertà.

    My favorite sushi in Florence, and that’s saying something because there are a ton of Japanese restaurants around. I know of very few sushi places in Italy that are not the “all you can eat” formula, but have you ever not wanted to eat all you can of sushi? Their menu is extensive (sushi, sashimi, special rolls, fried stuff, hot and cold plates) and the “all you can eat” includes everythinggggg except drinks, I think it even includes dessert. The price is higher, 29euro a head for dinner, but if you break down how many rolls of sushi I can consume, it turns out to be a pretty good deal. Unlike some sushi places, their price is the same for lunch and dinner. Oh, and the ambience is super cool. I recommend asking to eat in the garden if there is space. Even in the off season this place fills up quickly so I recommend making a reservation.

11. Ristorante Giapponese Rakutei

    Via della Casaccia, 19-21-23, on the east side of the city center.

    I just mentioned my favorite sushi above, but this place is also really good and much more conveniently located for where I live, and also for those of you who are staying on the east side of town or at the campground. “All you can eat” once again! Take bus 14 to get here and get off at the “casaccia” bus stop. Their prices are a bit lower, and you can take advantage of the lunch hour and pay 14euro for all you can eat, otherwise it’s 24euro drinks excluded for dinner.

12. PassaGuai

    Borgo San Frediano, 44r, on the south side of the river near to the church of Santo Spirito.

    This was one of the favorite places my family ate at during our vacation here in 2014, a cool little spot with absolutely delicious sandwiches for 4euro. It’s now evolved into a restaurant with an emphasis on meat and fish, but still the same owners and quality food.

13. Le Sorgenti

    Via Chiara, 6r, right by the Mercato Centrale.

    One of my favorite Chinese places, although there are so many and quite a few of them are delicious! Order lots of small plates and share, they’re reasonably priced. I recommend the taglierini alla griglia (basically grilled lo mein) and the branzino alla griglia (grilled sea bass). YUM.

14. Los Chicos

    Via dei Benci, 15r, near to the church of Santa Croce.

    Florence has a sadly lacking Mexican food scene. This place, however, can get a you a nice burrito or taco! The tacos are 3euro each, and you can get a burrito starting at 5euro. Choose your protein then add all the condiments and veggies you like. Oh, and don’t forget margaritas!

15. Ararat Ristorante Armeno

    Borgo la Croce, 32r, near to Sant’Ambrogio on the east side of the center.

    I had never had Armenian food until I ate here, but I can now say I’m a fan! Their food is well-executed with lots of meat and vegetables. The flatbread is DELICIOUS. It’s also a really pretty place, golden silverware, anyone?

16. Avanti - Pizza & Grill - Ristorante Arabo

    Via S. Pier Maggiore, 6r, close to the Santa Maria Nuova hospital.

    The menu is a mix of pizza and Iraqi food, and although I can’t speak for the pizza, I haven’t eaten anything short of scrumptious from the Iraqi section. And why would you need a pizza if you have such Arab goodness in front of you?

17. Rosticceria Tavola Marrochina

    Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 11, directly opposite the Mercato Centrale on the parking lot side. Beware of the pinpoint on google maps because it isn’t on the right street, even if the address itself seems to be correct.

    This is a little hole in the wall restaurant owned and run by a Moroccan family. The seating can be a bit tight and the ambiance not the best, but the food is delicious and the prices decent. In short, this is not the place to bring to impress, but if you’re familiar with Morocco and wanting a taste, this is a great casual place to go. Lunchtime is best, as the options get slimmer the longer the evening wears on. My favorites are couscous (of course, and you can get a “small” plate for around 4euro), the harira soup, msemmen (thin, crispy bread often filled with cheese, harissa, and boiled eggs or cheese and honey), and the mint tea.

18. Foody Farm

    Lungargno Corsini, 2A, on the river not far from Palazzo Strozzi.

    When Foody Farm first opened I didn’t care to go just because of the name…too many cliché ideas in a title for me. Then they moved to their current location on the Arno and by then I had heard enough good things to want to go. When I finally went the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” came to mind. The service was friendly and the menu fun. They offer both a normal menu and one made up of pictures so you can see what each dish looks like. Their wine menu was made up of a collage of wine labels so they are more easily recognizable. What’s more, most of their menu is able to be ordered in half or full portions, so everyone can easily order two dishes getting to try more! I loved the whole experience and thought the food was delicious and creatively served.

19. Pizzeria La Luna

    Via Vincenzo Gioberti, 93r, just outside the city center near to Piazza Beccaria

    A delightful pizza place I stumbled upon by accident one night when I was far from home but needing nourishment. Although I have passed this pizzeria many, many times, it never struck me as a “must try” and I was pleasantly surprised when the pizza was absolutely delicious. I’ve only ever gotten the pizza to go, but it seems to get pretty busy so if you’d like to sit down I would go with a reservation! They offer gluten-free pizza.

20. Le Follie di Romualdo

    Via di San Niccolò, 39r, south of the city center on the way to Piazzale Michelangelo.Romualdo is a well-known “pizzaiuolo” (pizza maker) around Florence and beyond, his being named among the top 20 best pizzas in the world by the New York Times and has received twice the highest acknowledgment from the best pizza guide Pizzerie D’Italia del Gambero Rosso. All that to say, you’ll eat some really, really good pizza here. The other food is good, too! During the summer he has a popup pizza place near the river. This location is on the newer side, the location where I was introduced to Romualdo’s was further away from the center, much bigger, and always bustling. I liked the old location better even if the new location is nice and easier to get to; their menu seemed to shrink and it was emptier. To be fair, I’ve only been to the new location once and that was towards the end of October, the pizza was still delicious and the wines great.

21. Koto Ramen

    Via Giuseppe Verdi, 42r, close to Santa Croce, and Borgo San Frediano, 41r, not far from the Ponte alla Carraia.

    If you’re craving some good ramen this is a good place to come! The menu is not overly extensive, but what they do, they do well with fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors. They have some good gyoza and appetizers, really all you need to supplement a large bowl of ramen.

Now I’m hungry…ah well off to eat some homemade vegan sloppy joes, it’ll be just as good. I hope.

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More Ideas

This is a list of places that I would like to try one day, either that I’ve heard good things about or they just looked really interesting walking by! If you try any of them before me, let me know in the comments below how you liked it!

1. Adagio

2. Cacio Vino Trallalla

3. Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura

4. Ristorante Sultan (Turkish food)

5. Royal India (Indian food)

Where are your favorite places to eat around Florence, what have I missed? Have you tried any of the places on here? Tell me about it in the comments below! I always love hearing your thoughts and experiences!

Coffee Culture in Italy

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Coffee. caffè. قهوة. ቡና. koffie. kafe. սուրճ. קפה. kaffi. caife. café. コーヒー. кофе. 咖啡. káva. kahve. ყავა. coffi. καφές. kope. ikhofi. cà phê. کافی. കോഫി. kahvi. kape. kohvi. kafo. kaffe. కాఫీ. kafija. capulus. kahawa.

More than 33 ways to say coffee in at least 37 different languages.  (Some overlap, i.e. café is Spanish, French, and Portugal.)  And even the ones that don’t share the Latin alphabet and I can’t even begin to sound out sound similar to the word “coffee.”  I know that because Google Translate and transliteration.  Amazing, isn’t it?  I mean, the languages, not Google Translate, but yeah, that’s pretty amazing also.  So many different cultures and people and centuries, and coffee is so important in so many of them.  Not least of all Italy, which is why I’m writing this post.  (Coffee in Italian is the second language written, “caffè,” and you will hear it and see it, ALOT.) 

In fact, Italy is the birthplace of many of the coffee drinks you drink today, including cappuccino, espresso, macchiato, and latte, although ordering them at Starbucks is going to get you something very different than what you would get in Italy.

So, what are the principal coffee drinks in Italy?

(You can find your own espresso depresso t-shirt on Amazon, yasssss)

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The drinks on a typical Italian coffee menu

Cappuccino

• Espresso - “Expressed”

  A strong shot of coffee and what is considered “normal coffee.” If you go into a bar and order a “caffè,” they will usually clarify by asking “caffè normale?” which of course, literally means normal coffee. It is drunk throughout the day at any time, and particularly after lunch and dinner to help digestion.

  You can order a “ristretto” (restricted) where the espresso shot is pulled early resulting in a shorter, stronger shot, or you can order a “lungo” (long) which is the opposite, a taller and waterier (is that a word?) shot of espresso.

  The name means “expressed” which could denote any or all of the three meanings of the word in English or Italian. First, the method in which espresso is made, where the steam “expresses” and pressures the coffee flavor into the water, second, that it is made quickly or “expressly,” and third, that it is made “expressly” for one person. This, however, still does not give you license to call it an “expresso,” mmk?

• Macchiato - “Stained”

  You can order a macchiato two ways: A caffè macchiato or a latte macchiato. Caffè macchiato means “stained coffee” so you will get an espresso with a small dollop of milk, usually foamed. A latte macchiato means “stained milk” and will get you hot milk with some coffee served in a glass, with or without the foamy milk, depending on the different preparations.

• Cappuccino - “Little Hood”

  The Italian coffee of choice for breakfast (and mine!) and probably doesn’t need much intro. The cappuccino, also called cappuccio which means just “hood,” got its name from the color of the hood of the Capuchin monks which it apparently resembles. According to this site (in Italian) a cappuccino should be 25ml of coffee and 125ml of milk with lots of foam.

  Oh, and you might have heard that you should never drink a cappuccino in Italy after noon or you’ll get kicked out of the country? Not exactly true. It’s mostly because, according to most Italians, milk upsets digestion unless it is a part of the traditional cappuccino and pastry breakfast in which the milk acts as an element of the meal.  But consuming milk after a heavier lunch or dinner, especially at night, is too much.  As this Italian Mamma explains, “When the casein in milk combines with the hot coffee, given the high temperature, it combines with the tannic acids characteristic of the drink (or rather the coffee); this meeting then produces a chemical composition that weighs down the digestion.” I’m not here to vouch if this is sound science or not, just quoting so you can get an idea of the Italian thinking. If you choose to abide by this “rule,” drink your cappuccino by itself or with a cookie, pastry, or something small and light and far away from mealtimes, breakfast aside.

• Caffè Latte - “Milk Coffee”

  Or caffellatte. In America we have long since dropped the “caffè” and simply order a latte. This strategy in Italy, however, will simply get you a glass of milk. A caffè latte is essentially a cappuccino without the foam.

• Caffè Americano - “American Coffee”

  A larger cup of weaker coffee in comparison to the classic espresso.  The classic way to prepare a caffè americano in Italy is to add hot water to an espresso.  Yum.  Not.  There are a few places you can find that have drip “American” coffee and even a few who do pour overs. 

• Caffè Corretto - “Corrected Coffee”

  Because, normal coffee is not correct. It must be corrected, and with a small amount of liquor. The type of alcohol used can vary depending on the region, but usually grappa is used, sometimes brandy, Sambuco, or l’anice, a type of anise liquor, or even Bailey’s.

• Caffè al Ginseng - “Ginseng Coffee”

  This is definitely one you should try, delicious even if it is a bit pre-fab. It is usually a powder mix they add to a machine and dispense as ordered, so not fresh coffee, but it’s a pungent and sweet little drink that I unabashedly love. You can order an “alto” tall or “basso” short, depending on if you want it to be the equivalent to roughly a shot of espresso or double shot. The sugar usually lies at the bottom so you’ll want to stir it before consuming.

  Ginseng has long been a part of Chinese medicine and has become popular around the world where you can find it in just about any store’s health supplement section. It is supposed to have many health benefits, including being a powerful antioxidant reducing inflammation, benefiting brain function, benefiting against cancer, boosting the immune system, increasing energy, lowering blood sugar, and having aphrodisiacal qualities. However, many of these studies seem to prove only the “may benefit” or “could help” factors with nothing concrete.

• Marocchino - “Moroccan”

  Despite its name this drink was also invented in Italy, in Piemonte. At first glance it may seem just a cappuccino with cocoa, but it is much better than that. There are quite a few different preparations, but almost all include espresso, cocoa, and steamed milk served in a clear glass. Often the glass is first sprinkled with cocoa, then the espresso is added, then steamed milk and finally more cocoa. The official site of Illy (one of the top Italian coffee roasters, you’ve probably heard of them or seen their coffee in the States) gives the preparation for the Marocchino at home as thus: Place about 1 Tbsp / 10-15ml of hot chocolate in a glass, then prepare directly in the same cup about 2 Tbsp / 20-25ml of espresso, sprinkle with a thin layer of cocoa, then steam about 2 Tbsp / 25ml of milk and add to the glass over the cocoa.

• Shakerato - “Shaken”

  Coffee shaken in a cocktail shaker with ice and if desired, sugar. The resulting refreshingly icy coffee with a bit of foam is usually served in a martini glass, sometimes a flute glass.

  I like this word because it is an English word that has been Italianified. I don’t think that’s even a word. “Sh” doesn’t exist in traditional Italian spelling, nor does “k.” They say a “sh” sound, but it is spelled with “sci” or “sce.” Essentially they took the word “shaker” and turned it into an Italian verb, shakerare, which means to shake drinks in a shaker. Then this drink’s name is the past tense, shakerato, meaning shaken. It makes me laugh, neither truly Italian or English!

• Caffè d’Orzo - “Barley Coffee”

  For those who prefer decaffeinated drinks you have the choice between ordering your favorite coffee decaffeinated or with orzo / barley instead of coffee beans.

  Decaffeinated coffee, as you probably know, are coffee beans which have gone through a process to remove the caffeine. They process usually involves hot water and methylene chloride, of which trace amounts will end up in your coffee (it’s also used as paint stripper, yum). The USDA requires that a minimum of 97% caffeine be extracted for coffee beans to be considered decaffeinated. Decaffeinated coffee will always have a small amount of caffeine in it.

  Crushed barley is used much like coffee beans to attain a dark and bitter drink which assimilates coffee, although it has its own distinctive taste. It became popular during war times in Italy when coffee beans became too expensive. Unlike decaffeinated coffee, barley is completely caffeine free, but not suitable for those who can’t consume gluten.

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The Italian coffee experience

You could parachute out of a plane and land just about anywhere in Italy and still be in sight of some place that sells coffee.

My happy face while trying the coffee at Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè, a historical cafe and roastery in Rome.

The Italian bar is a way of life here. “Bar” is a general term for any place that sells coffee. Often the name of the place has “bar” in the title, but this can also include any cafe or pasticceria that sells coffee. A bar usually has, what do you know, a bar with a rung at the bottom for standing comfortably with one foot propped up while you wait for and down your coffee.

Anytime you see an old friend or need to meet up with a colleague, you head to the nearest bar, offer them a caffè, throw it back, and you’re each on your way. And this can happen several times a day, because I don’t think I’ve met an Italian yet who stops at one coffee a day. It’s very different from the lingering 2 hour catch-up with friends or I’m-just-going-to-sit-here-and-use-the-free-wifi-on-my-computer-and-get-some-work-done experience in America. In fact, the very few times I’ve brought my computer and sat in a bar or pasticceria I felt very strange, and very millennial. Even if I linger over my coffee for more than say, 20 minutes, by the time I leave it’s a whole new crowd. The exception seems to be some of the older generation who will sit outside and people watch for hoursssss.

If you are looking for more of an American coffee shop type experience, there are a select few that are on the cutting edge, and these are the only ones that I don’t feel the oddball out if I linger too long or decide to bring my computer. You’ll find that the other young and international people who take their coffee seriously and felt more at home in a “coffee shop” type setting have gravitated to these places as well.

Then there are the restaurants, where you will always find caffè as your post-meal digestive, a must for many Italians, lunch or dinner!

For the best coffee around Florence, read this.

What are your favorite coffee drinks in Italy? Let me know in the comments below!

Food in Florence: Where to Find the Best Coffee

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something using these links, Jennyblogs may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps to support Jennyblogs. For further information see the privacy policy. Grazie!

Italy is known for it’s coffee. Your coffee beverage of choice was probably invented in Italy. Cappuccino? Yep. (Caffè) Latte? Yes. Macchiato? You bet. And of course, the king of coffee in Italy, the espresso. It’s by far the most commonly consumed coffee, so much so that all you have to do is enter a bar and order a “caffè” or “caffè normale” (literally translated, normal coffee) and you will be served an espresso. It took me awhile to realize that I didn’t need to specify an espresso when I order because it’s a given; the Italians just ask for “un caffè.”

Duomo cappuccino art

That said, it’s surprising how much bad coffee I’ve consumed in Italy. I believe a lot of it comes down to poorly sourced beans and/or over-roasted beans. (If beans have an oily appearance they have been roasted too long; they lost their oil!) Combine that with equipment that doesn’t get cleaned or wiped down enough and baristas who don’t have the passion to even perfect their cappuccino and you get a rather bitter experience. Don’t mind the pun. This list will help guide you to GOOD coffee in Florence so you don’t have to feel the burn from bad coffee. Again, I’m sorry for the pun. (Maybe not really.)

The places on this list range from a more traditional Italian coffee experience (downing an espresso quickly while standing at the bar or sitting) to the trendier locales with ample seating and ambience where people might come to study or work on their computer, which is essentially the American coffee shop experience. But no matter the style, the common denominator is the good coffee experience, whether sipped or thrown back. You might recognize some of these places from the Most Scrumptious Breakfast list, because good breakfasts and good coffee definitely have an overlap. But good coffee doesn’t always mean good pastries, and vice versa, hence the different posts.

To read more about the coffee drinks you’ll find in Italy, click here.

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Where to Find the Best Coffee in Florence

In no particular order

1. Melaleuca

   Lungarno delle Grazie, 18, right along the river not too far from Santa Croce

   Open 8:00am - 4:00pm Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 4:00pm Saturday and Sunday.

   A newer (established 2019) American/Australian Bistro Bakery right in the heart of Florence with beautiful views. It’s airy, it’s bright, and has a lovely ambiance. They partner with a local specialty coffee roaster, D612. Combine thoughtfully roasted beans with some baristas who know their stuff, you get a mean coffee. From flat whites to Matcha or Golden Lattes, I’ve never had a bad coffee from them. I also love their details, like the hand made pottery that the coffees are served in. Not to mention, it’s a comfortable international space if you just want a break from some of the Italian coffee culture/rules you may have been running in to. Everyone speaks English and sometimes you just miss being able to communicate easily. I worked here before having my son, the owners are friends of mine and lovely people! You may also notice they’re on my list for best breakfast, too!

2. Ditta Artigianale

   Location 1: Via dei Neri, 30/32r, between the church of Santa Croce and Palazzo Vecchio Location 2: Via dello Sprone, 5r, very close to Palazzo Pitti

   Open 8:00am - 12:00am Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 12:00am Saturday and Sunday

   Ditta Artigianale was founded in 2013 by an award-winning barista and is considered by many the best coffee in Florence, and they are usually busy to show it. This has one of the closest vibes to an American coffee shop with the quality coffee, cool and informal atmosphere, and competent baristas. Many people come here to work as well as socialize, drink coffee, and eat. They have single-origin coffee choices and you can buy their whole beans or have them grind them for you to make coffee at home as well as a delicious cold brew.

3. La Ménagère

   Via de’ Neri, 8, right in the center by San Lorenzo and the Mercato Centrale

   Open 8:00am - 2:30am every day

   A large caffè that serves coffee and food with different rooms on the main floor, basement, and even outside that is designed for lingering with friends or work. You can even buy botanicals or select house items, or listen to live music some evenings.

4. Mercato Centrale

   Piazza del Mercato Centrale, Via dell’Ariento, near to the church of San Lorenzo

   Open 8:00am - 12:00am every day

   Up on the second floor of this historic wrought iron building you will find a large Italian-style food court. In the center there is a bar where you can order coffee, or you can find a place to sit and a waiter should eventually come to ask if you’d like something to drink, at no extra charge. It can get extremely busy during the lunch and dinner hours, so I would recommend going in the morning when it is calm or between 3:00pm and 7:30pm to avoid the crowds. Bonus: you can order a large (and maybe even an extra large?) cappuccino called a “cappuccione” for around 2euro (and maybe 3 for the extra large!)

5. Coffee Mantra

   Borgo la Croce, 71r, near Piazza Beccaria on the east side of town in a very local area

   Open 7:00am - 7:00pm Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday

   A new and hip little coffee place in the Sant’Ambrogio neighborhood. I recommend getting your drink to go (I believe they even do flat whites here) and take a stroll around the Sant’Ambrogio market around the corner or any of the antique markets nearby.

6. Santarosa Bistrot

   Lungarno di Santa Rosa, on the south side of the river.

   Open 8:00am - Midnight weekdays, 10:00am - Midnight Saturday and Sunday

   A lovely caffe with lots of beautiful green surrounding. It creates a wonderful escape from the bustling city center and is one of my favorite places to catch up with friends over a nice cup of coffee or tea.

7. La Cité

   Borgo S. Frediano, 20r, on the south side of the river not far from the church of Santo Spirito.

   Open 10:00am - 12:02am Monday through Saturday, 2:00pm - 9:00pm Sunday

   A two story cafe and book store, this is a great place to work on projects or find a private nook for deep conversations over a good cup of coffee. Very cozy and artsy.

8. Chiaroscuro

   Via del Corso, 36r, between the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio.

   Open 7:30am - 9:30pm Monday through Saturday, 8:00am - 9:30pm Sunday

   I always thought this cafe had a classy classic feel to it, great for meeting up with people or a quick coffee but not so much for using it as a place to work from. They have coffee sourced from around the world displayed on their wall and you can even choose which beans you want for your cup of coffee.

9. Caffetteria Piansa

   Via Vincenzo Gioberti, 51r, just outside the city center on the east side.

   Open 7:00am - 7:30pm Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday

   Piansa roasts their own coffee and sells to other places around town. If you find any cafe that uses the Piansa beans, it’s probably going to be great! Here you can even get pour overs and buy Chemex and filters!

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Food in Florence: Where to Eat the Most Scrumptious Breakfasts

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Starting off a new Italy series all about Food in Florence that I’m calling…wait for it…Food in Florence! Yay, you guessed it!

I’ve been getting enough requests this past year from friends and friends for friends visiting Florence that I think it’s time to start compiling some helpful and easily accessible lists and tips of what to do/where to eat in this adopted city of mine, Florence. Creating custom “to do” and “to eat” lists is not very time efficient I find…or maybe I just give an overwhelming amount of information…nah, that couldn’t possibly be it. :)

It’s great fun to create lists that help people get the most out of their time in Florence. My favorite way to see a new city is exploring and wandering without any tour guides (with certain exceptions), while having read up a ton beforehand and bookmarked things to see, places to shop, and foods to try and where to try them. The biggest problem I always run into while preparing for a trip is knowing which lists are authentic and whose opinion I should trust. The lists in this new “Food in Florence” series would have saved me quite a bit of time before I came to Florence for the first time. I hope they will be useful to you and help you decide where you want to dine around Florence without falling for the tourist traps, specifically in this list where you can find the most scrumptious breakfasts.

As a disclaimer, these lists will probably be ever evolving because 1. Florence has a million and one places to try, 2. New places are always opening, 3. I’ve only lived here just over 2 consecutive years and 4. I probably don’t eat out nearly as much as you would expect for someone who lives in Italy. (Whaaat I don’t eat pasta for lunch and pizza for dinner everyday?! Lame.) Just remember, I’m a real person with a real budget. :)

Ponte Vecchio cappuccino art

Caffè Libertà - my favorite apple pastry

What is a typical Italian breakfast?

You’re going out to breakfast, but what can you expect to find on the menu? What do Italians typically eat for breakfast?

Italians don’t go to a sit-down type restaurant for breakfast, which is usually what entails if you go out to breakfast in America. Instead, most Italians have their favorite local bar that they go to several, if not every, morning of the week. A cappuccino is usually eaten with a pastry, and just as often eaten standing and chatting as it is sitting down and reading the morning newspaper. At just over 2euro for a cappuccino and pastry, it makes for a very affordable breakfast out. If there is a menu, it’s probably a coffee menu on the wall. The pastries are chosen through the display case. It’s common to ask what they’re filled with, if one is unsure. You can expect varying croissants and sugary puff pastries filled with the classics: cream, chocolate, Nutella, jam (usually apricot or blackberry) and apple, along with more specialty fillings that will vary by place, such as cream and orange, whole wheat with honey, pistachio, etc.

What is the best time to go out for breakfast?

The famed hot chocolate at Caffè Gilli

Whatever time you want. Really. Most pasticcerie and bars open between 5:30-7:00am, but pastries will be served until they’re gone, which is often into the afternoon. Of course, some busy places will run out by noon, so my only word of advice would be to go before then. You can manage that, right?

Or, if you’re like me and like to eat right away, have some fruit and snacks to eat first thing in the morning, and then eat a leisurely second breakfast or elevensies at a caffè once you’re out and about.

You’ll find people eating breakfast anywhere from the early morning hours to late morning, and it is socially acceptable to eat a pastry and a cappuccino in the afternoon as a snack, or a cappuccino by itself, contrary to popular American belief. See #12 on this blog post if you want to know why. So have at it! Just don’t drink a cappuccino with any food item other than pastries/cookies, k? Cappuccino and pizza taste gross together anyway.

Breakfast Etiquette

Bottega di Pasticceria

As a general rule, it’s best to pay at the cash register before ordering your pastry and drink at the bar. Many places don’t care if you eat or pay first, even if they have signs up asking you to pay first, however…some places DO care and if you’re not familiar with that particular locale, pay first to be safe.

It’s also advisable to ask before you sit down as some places up-charge for the “sit-down service.” Ya know, paying up to twice the price for your drink for the luxury of sitting down and usually them bringing you your order. Don’t think that carrying your own drink to your table is going to get you any discounts. You’re really paying for occupying the table, the service I like to think of as bonus so you might as well enjoy it!

The only place on the list below that should have an up-charge is Gilli and possibly Bottega di Pasticceria. Since they are classy and all about the experience anyway, I think we can forgive them.

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Where to Eat the Most Scrumptious Breakfasts

1. La Ménagère

   Via de’ Neri, 8, right in the center by San Lorenzo and the Mercato Centrale

   Open 8:00am - 2:30am every day

   Large and uniquely beautiful space, each room is a little different. Very cool atmosphere. There is even an area where you can buy some merchandise and flowers. Lots of pretty plants! Indoor and outdoor seating. Great coffee. A bit on the pricier side.

2. Santarosa Bistrot

   Lungarno di Santa Rosa, on the south side of the river.

   Open 8:00am - Midnight weekdays, 10:00am - Midnight Saturday and Sunday

   Beautiful outdoor caffe where you can choose to sit outside among the greenery or in the main area with the roof if it rains. So cozy. I love this place when I want to get away from the hectic city life for a moment.

3. Caffetteria delle Oblate

   Via dell’Oriuolo, 26, in the center not far from the Duomo.

   Open 2:00pm - 7:00pm Monday, 9:00am - Midnight Tuesday through Friday, 10:00am - Midnight Saturday, closed on Sunday.

   An old convent turned library with a third story caffè, this place is super cool and has spectacular views of the Duomo to boot. You can sit in the caffetteria or take your food to any of the 4 sided terrace overlooking in the inner open courtyard. There are seats and tables on most sides, but they are often occupied with studying students. When this happens I usually just sit on the floor, no one will mind. Note, the caffetteria will charge you 10 cents per person who eats outside of the caffetteria area. I find this ironically humorous as most bars will charge you if you sit down IN their area, not if you take away. Italy, the land of inconsistency.

4. Melaleuca

   Lungarno delle Grazie, 18, right along the river not too far from Santa Croce

   Open 8:00am - 4:00pm Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 4:00pm Saturday and Sunday.

   A newer (established 2019) American/Australian Bistro Bakery right in the heart of Florence with beautiful views. It’s airy, it’s bright, and has a lovely ambiance. While you won’t find typical Italian food here, you will find some of the best croissants and pastries in town (they have an in-house French baker), along with some other maybe more familiar desserts and brunch items. Think cinnamon rolls, banana bread, pumpkin bread, carrot cake, Guinness chocolate cake, and on and on. They have pancakes, they have eggs, and if you’re familiar with Australian cuisine, you might see some familiar items on their menu as well. Anything that can be house made IS house made, from buttermilk to kombucha, pickled vegetables, dips and spreads, drinks, almond milk, and almost literally everything else. It’s a comfortable space if you just want a break from some of the Italian eating culture/rules you may have been running in to! Everyone speaks English and sometimes you just miss being able to communicate easily. I worked here before having my son, the owners are friends of mine and lovely people! You may also notice they’re on my list for best coffee, too!

5. Bottega di Pasticceria

   Lungarno Francesco Ferrucci, 9c, south of the river on the edge of the city center

   Open 7:00am - 10:00pm Tuesday through Sunday, closed Monday

   This is a lovely open two story caffe that has an elegant feel to it, although don’t feel as though you need to dress up! Certain parts of the second story floor are made of glass, a warning to those who are wearing dresses and skirts! ;)

6. Caffetteria La Loggia

   Via Pietrapiana, 12, not far from the church of Santa Croce

   Open 7:00am - 8:30pm every day

   A small little place but popular with the locals and me! A good variety of pastries and coffee, they even have some specialty drinks such as Hazelnut or Pistachio Coffee, very sweet but interesting to try! If there are no available places to sit, you can always drink your coffee and eat your pastry standing up at the bar, like the Italians do, or go and sit in the nearby Piazza della Loggia which the city of Florence recently redid.

7. Caffè Libertà

   Piazza della Libertà, 27r, at the top tip of the city center in Piazza della Libertà

   Open 5:00am - 9:30pm every day

   This caffe is home to probably some of my favorite pastries in all of Florence, and that’s just talking about the pastries. The desserts are mouth-watering as well. I personally recommend the apple filled pastry, but I know others who rave about the pistachio filled pastry. Indoor or outdoor seating.

8. Caffè Pasticceria Serafini

   Via Gioberti, 168r, just outside the city center on the east side

   Open 7:00am - 9:00am Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday

   Serafini is located in a very local area and has wonderful pastries and desserts. It can get busy, but there is indoor and outdoor seating and always the option to eat at the bar or take away. They have a great chocolate and pear pastry.

9. Caffè Michelangelo

   Via Ghibellina, 116r, in the center near to Santa Croce

   Open 6:00am - 8:00pm Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday

   Another great local caffè with yummy pastries and coffee. There are a couple of baristas here who can make a mean cappuccino.

10. Caffè Gilli

    Via Roma, 1r, on Piazza della Repubblica

    Open 7:30am - Midnight every day

    Gilli is the oldest caffè in Florence, established more than 270 years ago by a Swiss family. Their hot chocolate is renowned and their sweets and chocolate beloved by many. Situated in a beautiful building with a large covered outdoor sitting area right on Piazza della Repubblica, this is the place to go if you’re looking for a high class and historic experience. Just remember you’ll be paying higher prices, i.e., a normal hot chocolate costs 3-3.50euro, Gilli will charge you somewhere around 7euro.

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Caffetteria delle Oblate

Buon Appetito!

Want to see some of your favorite spots added to the list? Let me know in the comments below!

All About that Wheat Flour - FARINA part 2

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If you’re reading this, you have probably have some form of wheat flour in your home. Even the person nearest to you, who is most likely not reading this, probably has some kind of wheat flour in their home. It almost sounds funny to say wheat flour because it is universally known as just flour. Flour refers to wheat flour, and only the other types of flour need to differentiate themselves. Rice flour is no less a flour, but we need to say “rice” in front of “flour” otherwise it will be assumed we are talking about flour; that is, wheat flour.

All-purpose, bread, cake, pastry, self-raising, strong, durum, semolina, whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, and graham are just some of the names for wheat flour types…what do you always have on hand? Besides maybe the price and brand of your flour, what else do you know about the substance that goes into so many hundreds of recipes? Should you care? It may not make a life or death difference, but if you enjoy cooking and baking, or generally like learning, then learning to understand wheat flour varieties and how best to use them can take the food you make to a whole new level!

If you’d like to read Part 1 and learn how flour is used in Italy, click here.

The Six Categories of Wheat

In your American pantry you probably have an all-purpose flour, a bread flour, maybe a cake flour, maybe a self-raising, possibly a few others. If you know when and how to use these flours (or just follow a recipe), you might not need to know where or what kind of wheat is actually grown and ground to make these. But once you become familiar with the types of wheat, their properties and best uses, you can make more educated choices about your baking and end up with a superior result. Even the most nominal baker will eventually come across recipes that call for cake flour or bread flour, and knowing more about the wheat characteristics and which kinds are used to make these flours will help you understand if you can substitute say, all-purpose flour, and the results if you do so.

The first thing to know is that wheat can be defined by these six characteristics:

L to R: durum wheat (semola), soft wheat for sweets, soft wheat (manitoba) for bread

• Soft wheat has a higher moisture content and less gluten, suitable for making cake and cookies and more delicate baked goods

• Hard wheat has a lower moisture content and higher protein/gluten* content, usually between 12-14%, suitable for bread making

• Red wheat has a slightly higher protein than white and a bolder taste

• White wheat is milder in taste even if the color is not so different from red once milled into flour

• Winter wheat is usually planted in the fall and harvested in the summer, with the exception of countries that have too harsh of winters, such as Canada where it is planted in the spring

• Spring wheat is usually planted in the spring and harvested in the fall, with the exception of countries that have too hot and dry of summers, such as California in which case it is planted in the fall. You can read more about winter and spring wheat here.

*Many use the terms protein and gluten in wheat flour interchangeably. This is because gluten is a type of protein found in wheat, the kind that is “developed” when you knead bread and gives it the elastic/chewy quality. In most cases, the higher the protein content, the higher the gluten. It is important to note that all gluten is protein, but not all protein is gluten, as your celiac friends should be able to tell you. Also, all wheat contains gluten, but not all gluten comes from wheat. Make sense? You can read more here or here for better understanding gluten in the light of gluten allergies, or here for a good explanation of gluten. For my purposes today, and baking in general, if someone says a flour is high in protein, and someone else says a flour has a high gluten content, they mean the same thing. And they both mean the flour is good for bread making.

There are thousands of varieties of wheat grown around the world, but chaos can be brought to order with the following six principle categories, using the characteristics we reviewed above:

1. Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW)

2. Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS)

3. Soft Red Winter Wheat (SRW)

4. Hard White Wheat (HW)

5. Soft White Wheat (SW)

6. Durum Wheat (DW) is the hardest of all wheat, used for pasta making

The flour you buy from the store will most likely fall into one of these six categories. The bread flour in your pantry is most likely a hard red or white spring wheat; your cake flour is probably milled from a soft white wheat; all-purpose is usually a mixture of hard and soft wheat. You’d know now, for example, that baking a loaf of bread with all-purpose or cake flour will not yield a wonderfully chewy loaf like using bread flour would; they don’t have the gluten required to achieve the chewiness.

If you’d like to start experimenting with flour varieties, check your area for a local mill. If you live in the States and are not fortunate enough to have a mill near you, check out Bob’s Red Mill, in store or online. They have some clearly labeled high-quality flours. You could buy some of their whole-wheat hard red flour and whole-wheat hard white flour and make some simple bread loaves, trying the two wheat varieties side by side.

Happy baking!

Mixing flours

Navigating the Italian Flour Section - FARINA part 1

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Farina in Italia

You’ve recently moved to Italy, still walking around completely starry-eyed from the beauty of the country, and are about to go grocery shopping because you realize, unfortunately, you can’t order pizza every night. So you decide to make it at home, crust and all. (Sneaky, aren’t you?) When you arrive in the flour section, you realize that it’s going to be a touch more than just translating “flour” to “farina” and trying to figure out which ones are all-purpose, cake flour, and bread flour. Instead, you find not only types of flour, but numbers to boot. What does it all mean? How are you supposed to use flour in Italy?

Or maybe you’ve lived in Italy for awhile and have been experimenting with the different flours with results ranging from baked goods turning out great, turning out awful, or turning out…different. This was me the first year of my life in Italy. Add on top of that ovens that don’t have temperature gauges, are strange sizes, or only cook from the bottom, you get some interesting results. Can’t I just buy a dang bag of all-purpose flour without having to figure out all the factors in this Italy baking equation?!? No, Jenny. No you cannot.

After talking to people (is there therapy for bakers? Can that be a thing?) and other expats here, reading many articles online, and of course my own many trials and error, hopefully this post will help demystify the flour section a bit for you! Reading this blog post, which is part 2, on the six categories of wheat will also help you, as some of that will then be helpful to understand (or translate) in Italian. Let’s start with a quick Italian flour cheat sheet, then keep reading to understand the properties of the Italian flour better.

Italian Flour Baking Cheat Sheet

• For cookies, bars, cakes/cupcakes, biscuits, scones, or anything that needs a tender crumb, use Farina di grano tenero, 00. This is your “cake flour.” Nobody wants a chewy cake.

• For bread, I recommend starting off with Farina di Manitoba, grano tenero, 0; this is similar to standard American bread flour. As you progress, you can start to add in Farina di grano duro, or Semola Rimacinata di grano duro. These flours will have a different feel and look to them as you knead your bread and in the final product, which is why I recommend starting out with just a small portion, around 25% of the total flour, in your recipes until you know how they act.

• For every day needs you can buy one bag of Farina di grano tenero, 00 and one bag of Farina di Manitoba, grano tenero, 0 or Farina di grano duro and mix them together to make your own homemade all-purpose flour.

Farina Explained

Grano Duro and Grano Tenero

Hard wheat and soft wheat, or as they are known here in Italy, grano duro and grano tenero, will be written on just about every bag of standard flour.

Breads and pastas usually use grano duro, or hard wheat, because of the higher gluten content. Most sweets and cakes use soft flour or grano tenero. Keep in mind however that there are some breads made with soft flour, as you will find in the bakery section at your local grocery store, or a combo of both soft and hard flour.

Flour Grinds: 00, 0, 1, 2

This is pretty straightforward: The smaller the number, the finer the flour. And in your local grocery store, 00 and 0 will be the most common by far. They don’t have every variety of flour in every grind, so the work is mostly already done for you. If you know you want a soft/grano tenero, you’ll probably find only 0 and 00. You won’t have to decide between a soft/grano tenero 00, 0, 1, or 2.

Semola and Semola Rimacinata

Semola, also know as pasta flour or sometimes semolina in the States, comes from durum wheat and has a yellowish hue. It is usually grown in the spring and is the hardest of all wheat, which makes it ideal for pasta and bread making. In Italy it comes in two primary forms: Semola and Semola Rimacinata (reground, or twice ground, making it finer). Semola is used for eggless pasta and Semola Rimacinata is used for egg pasta.

Farina di Manitoba

Named after the Canadian province of Manitoba, this is the “bread flour” of Italy. This one always threw me for a loop, because it is a grano tenero, yet has a high gluten content. Because of its unusual characteristics, it is often categorized as a “special” flour. It is often used in the fine grind of 0 and is great for breads that require long-leavening periods, such as French Baguettes, pizza, and breads that use natural yeast or madre lievito. Read more about Manitoba Flour here.

Farina per Pizza, Pasta, etc.

Because Italy is the land of pizza, pasta, and bread, you will find plenty of bags of pre-mixed wheat varieties that are supposed to be perfect for rustic breads, or focaccia, or pizza, or pasta. I’ve never bought any of these because I’ve been preoccupied with figuring out how to use all the other flours, but I’m sure they’re great for their specific purposes!

Farina e Lievito

This would be the equivalent of the self-raising flour in the States. I don’t use this in the States nor in Italy, but I’ve read that it works well here! You could also make your own, adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt per cup (120g) of flour. (I recommend using baking powder from the States as I’ve heard that the Italian baking powder/lievito in polvere does strange things.) I would use farina di grano tenero 00 if you’re planning on making biscuits or cookies.

Specialty Flours

There are also many specialty flours here to inspire your baking or aid your gluten-free needs. Some worth noting are saraceno (buckwheat), farina di riso (rice flour), farina di mais (cornmeal), farina d’avena (oat flour), teff, farina di ceci (chickpea/garbanzo bean flour), among others.

Happy baking and good luck with the farina Italiana and finicky ovens!

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Hard-to-Find Ingredients in Italy

If you’re planning on spending any amount of time in Italy in which you will want to cook, bake, or generally not always eat in restaurants (I know, it’s hard, but your bank account will thank you!), this list might come in handy.

You might think that Italy will have everything you need, they bake and cook so it’s just a matter of translating, right? Yes...and no. It’s not as different as it could be, I can imagine living in China or the DRC would present a bigger challenge for finding and cooking with familiar ingredients and brands. But this is still a “foreign” country and will present its unique challenges. The best way to tackle these challenges is to meet them head on, and hopefully with the ones that are important to you in your suitcase!

What follows is a list of ingredients and items that could fall into these categories: nonexistent - expensive - elusive - and, - it’s just not the same. Compiled from my own experience and that of fellow expat friends, I hope you find it helpful, and, as always, let me know in the comments below what should be added or your own stories! I’m sure there are things I don’t even think about that others might really miss!

Some ingredients are carried in all main grocery stores and just located in strange places, some are only found in specialty stores, and others you might want to consider bringing with you. Little Ethnic stores are your friends! Of course, this list is not all-inclusive, I chose not to list most of the items that are “name brand” or not mainstream; i.e. your favorite brand of laundry detergent might not exist, but there are plenty of other detergents that do exactly the same thing, so I don’t have Arm & Hammer listed as non existent, or likewise, I won’t have Andes Mints baking bits listed because most people wouldn’t think of those let alone miss them. Make sense? Ok let’s get grocery shopping!

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The “American” Section at Vivimarket…yes! Betty Crocker strawberry frosting, I have missed thee! Not.

• Asian Ingredients - Ingredienti Asiatici

  If you want spring roll wraps, soy sauce, canned coconut milk, sriracha, or anything that’s more Asian than Italian, chances are the prices will be high, if they carry it at all at the supermarket. The large Esselunga I shop at does have an Asian section (it’s a tiny end cap) but prices are usually 2-3x what you can find if you know where to look. Where is that? Any Asian grocer! The products are authentic, variety greater, and prices much better! You might even end up with food items (we hope they’re food?!) you’ve never seen before to try, and it might remain a mystery because the packages often lack any English, Italian, or even any Latin alphabet!

• Apples - Mele

  I love apples. I don’t love apples in Italy. They are everywhere, but I can’t understand why they are gross. It can be apple season but when you bite into a beautiful apple you get a mouthful of pith. Blech. I grew up picking fresh apples every fall with my mom and siblings so maybe I’m just apple-spoiled? The only apples that I consistently like, crisp and sweet, are the Ambrosia apples. I’ve heard of a place not too far outside of Florence where you can go and pick fresh apples! The price is right, but you would need a car to get there.

• Avocados - Avocado

  Avocados are found pretty easily, but they are expensive! They are usually between 3.50-6.50euro/kilo. And they’re not always the beloved Hass, often there is a smoother, greener variety that comes from Israel.

• Baking Powder - Lievito in Polvere

  Baking powder doesn’t come in containers or tubs like it does in the States. You will usually find it in small packets (often with the artificial vanillin flavor) in the baking section. Rumor has it it doesn’t work well, causing desserts to rise too much too fast or not rising at all. Other times I’ve heard it works just fine. I haven’t personally tried it, as this is something I bring with me and a container lasts a long time! You could try the self-raising flour, I’ve read that works reliably well.

• Baking Soda - Bicarbonato di Sodio

  This is cheap and sold in all grocery stores, it’s just not in the baking section like you’d think it would be. Look on the end caps in some stores by the Alka Seltzers or by the bottled water or soft drinks in others.

• Black Beans - Fagioli Neri

  Don’t ask me why, but the black beans are not always with the other beans at Italian grocer stores. Sometimes they don’t carry them, sometimes they are in a “special” section maybe with other seeds and nuts. But they do exist! Beans are also another item you can usually find at the little Arab or Asian stores.

• Buttermilk - Latticello

  I don’t think I’ve ever seen buttermilk in a store, but I also can’t say I’ve looked very hard because there are several handy and easy substitutes. Instead of buttermilk try this: mix 1 cup milk with 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, OR use plain kefir, which is readily available in Italian grocery stores.

• Cabbage - Cavolo

  Italians love their cabbage, especially when their cavolo nero or black cabbage comes into season. Despite its name, black cabbage seems more similar to kale than it does the variety of cabbage we use in the States, that light green head of cabbage. If you have a hankering to make say, sauerkraut or pickled purple cabbage, what do you do? Scour your nearest grocery store, sometimes they do have the “regular” heads of cabbage! I have on occasion seen the purple cabbage, but because fruits and vegetables are still very much sold seasonably, you can’t count on them year round. The green cabbage I saw was called crauti, their name for sauerkraut; it’s also called cavolo cappuccio bianco.

• Candy Bars and Candies - Barrette di Cioccolato e Caramelle

  You can find these here: Snickers, Mars, Twix, Kit Kat, Skittles (since 2018), M&M’s, Smarties (the Canadian M&M’s), Lindt, Bounty, Lion, Ferrero Rocher, and various other European varieties. Reese’s can be found at Vivimarket in Florence for a significant price. Update as of December 2020, Esselunga had packs of 2 Reese’s cups by the checkout lanes for 0.60cents.

• Canned Pumpkin Purée - Zucca in Scatola

  In Italy, this is liquid gold. To find pumpkin, you are going to need to go to specialty stores. In Florence, I know of two places that carry it. One is ViviMarket, the other is Pegna. Both places will run you about 4.60-4.80euro per 15 oz. can. I know. Like I said, liquid gold. You can find fresh pumpkin in the store, but it is not pie pumpkin and will give you a different tasting pumpkin pie if you try and cook and purée it yourself. I know people who do this, up to you if you prefer the classic pumpkin pie taste or are up for a twist!

• Cereals - Cereali

  I rarely eat cereal and I doubt you are coming to Italy dreaming about cereal, but one can’t help but notice that though cereal and granola is easily found, the selection is definitely smaller than that of an American grocery store. I’d say this is for the better, but just in case you’re a Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops die hard, realize they might not have your favorite cereal beyond the basics. There are rice krispies for making homemade granola bars, desserts, and Rice Krisipie Treats, just so you know. :)

• Cheddar Cheese - Formaggio di Cheddar

  While I’m not a big cheddar cheese fan, leave it to being far from home that I start craving all the American foods I don’t normally eat. Cheddar can usually be found at Esselunga, 150g of slices for about 2euros. I’ve also discovered that Lidl has an even bigger container of sliced cheddar cheese for about the same price.

• Chocolate Chips - Gocce di Cioccolato

  Regular-sized chocolate chips are not to be found, just mini. But there is something about chocolate chip cookies with mini chips that are just not the same. The minis are expensive, too, upwards of 2euro for 6 oz of chips/1 cup. Otherwise, you can buy a bar of chocolate for less and chop it yourself for custom chocolate chunks.

• Cilantro - Coriandolo

  Fresh and dried parsley is everywhere, but cilantro? Not as much. I have found it sometimes in the grocery store in small packages, but you’ll have a much better chance if you head to any Asian grocer. And there are plenty, at least in Florence!

• Dill - Aneto

  Dried dill can be hard to find here, but I can sometimes find fresh dill, usually in small plastic containers like the cilantro. But not always. So plan ahead if you want to make homemade pickles or add fresh dill to chicken or tuna salad, like I do. :)

• Flour - Farina

  There is a plethora of flour here, no worries! The tricky part is figuring out which kind you need, because the types of flour go beyond just all-purpose, bread, and cake. I have a post dedicated to Italian flours and how they are best utilized that you can read here, but for now just a quick overview. First, there are the two kinds of (wheat) flours; hard wheat “grano duro” and soft wheat “grano tenero.” Hard wheat is mostly used for crusty bread, pizza, and pasta because it has a higher protein content, whereas the soft wheat is used for softer breads and desserts. Second, there is the grind of the flour noted by numbers: 00, 0, 1, and 2. 00 denotes the finest grind, 2 is the coarsest. Beyond this there are also all the specialty flours you can find, including: self-raising flour as mentioned above under baking powder, farina di manitoba which is closest to what we call bread flour, almond flour, chickpea flour, cornmeal, rice flour, and more.

• Grape Juice - Succo d’Uva

  For all the juice variety you can find, only some grocery stores carry grape juice, and it’s only ever one type. Usually purple grape juice, I’ve never seen white and never 100% juice. It seems all their grape juice is made into wine, none leftover for juice, haha!

• Gum - Gomma

  Yes, there is gum in Italy, but it’s a bit more expensive and not as good as American gum. Some of it is just gross, like licorice. If you like licorice, lucky you!

• Hummus - Hummus

  Hummus can easily be made at home if you have a good blender or food processor, but sometimes the convenience of having a pre-made container of hummus is so nice. This is not a food I hunted down or even noticeably missed, but when I found some at Lidl it made me very happy and thought you might like to know that, too.

• Hydrogen Peroxide - Perossido di Idrogeno/Acqua Ossigenata

  This is not food, but if you use it for disinfecting wounds, mouth wash, removing stains, or any of its numerous uses, it might be helpful for you to know that it is readily available here, but the packaging made it harder to locate. Its bottle is usually white, generic, and small, not the signature large brown plastic I’m used to buying in America. Search near the bandages and eye drops.

• Maple Syrup - Sciroppo d’Acero

  Maple syrup costs a small fortune. It can be found in most grocery stores and also at Vivimarket in Florence. A small bottle, roughly 8 oz, will cost you about 4.50-7euro. Lidl has the cheapest price by far at less than 5euro for a bottle. This is the real stuff, pure maple syrup and not high fructose corn syrup, but I believe Vivimarket carries the Aunt Jemima (that name is changing!) stuff if you’re feeling nostalgic, but I think a bottle of that will cost you more than a pure bottle, almost 8 euro! Oh, the irony.

• Marshmallows - Toffolette

  Marshmallows are available here, but don’t expect Jet-Puffed fluffy big white mallows. To be honest, I’ve never bought them, but I’ve always heard they are just plain weird with a texture like stale marshmallows.

• Mexican Ingredients - Ingredienti Messicani

  Like the Asian ingredients, the Mexican ingredients can be found, but maybe less readily. There is a large Asian presence in Italy and no shortage of Asian grocers and restaurants, but the same cannot be said for Mexican. In Florence there seems to be a sad lack of burritos/tacos. My favorite is called Los Chicos, but you can also find Mexican at Tijuana, Eby’s, and I was surprised to see recently, at the American Diner on Via Nazionale. Otherwise you will have to find or make your own tortillas and sauces as best you can. Like the Asian section at the Esselunga I frequent, there is a small Mexican section with enchilada sauce, sour cream (it’s not refrigerated, I’m scared), corn and flour tortillas, and other miscellaneous. They recently stopped stocking the refried beans and that makes me sad. Coop also has a small Mexican food section, with refried beans! Otherwise Vivimarket even has a small Mexican food section.

• Molasses - Melassa

  I have tried to ask at Coop and Esselunga for Molasses with varying responses. One lady was convinced they carried it only to find they don’t, and the other lady just looked at me like I was crazy. I am happy to report that it can be found at some specialty stores, for sure at NaturaSi. They are the WholeFoods of Italy, high prices and all, but a good place to check out for natural products and specialty items the mainstream stores might not carry!

• Peanut Butter - Burro di Arachidi

  The main stores usually carry just Skippy, which costs almost 5 euro for a small bottle, or Calvé, a less expensive Dutch (?) brand. I’m happy to report, that after living in Italy for 5 years, I’ve found a natural peanut butter I truly like. It’s called “Fiorentini” and you can find it at Coop for 2.25 for a 350g jar. It has just peanuts, sunflower oil, and salt. Otherwise, the Chinese markets or Arab butchers, which carry more than just meat, have the Calvé or other brands you probably haven’t heard of but for much more manageable prices. If you’re interested in other nut butters, check out NaturaSi which has almond butter, peanut butter, and possibly some others. Pricey, but probably your best bet if you don’t want to grind your own.

• Pecans - Noci Pecan

  I thought for a long time these were non-existent here, but they just like to hide. They are usually not with the other nuts like walnuts and almonds, but if your local grocery store carries them they might be by the “party aisle,” or near the soft drinks, drink mixes, peanuts, and party nut mixes. But be warned, an 80g bag will run you between 3 and 5 euro a bag. I splurged once and made a pecan pie for Thanksgiving….I spent 12euro just on the 2 cups (240g) of pecans. Ayayay.

• Pinto Beans - Fagioli di pinto (?)

  Pinto beans aren’t to be found here, hence why I don’t even know what they’d be called. Not even in a special spot in the grocery store, like sometimes the black beans are. Nope. However, there is a variety of bean you can buy called “fagioli borlotti” that make a wonderful substitute for pinto beans. They are creamy colored and speckled with red, but cook up to be brown like pinto beans. More importantly, they are creamy and buttery, just like pinto beans, which make them wonderful to smash for refried beans or eat as is!

• Pretzels - Salatini

  Similar to marshmallows, pretzels are available and stale tasting. These I did eat once, and haven’t again since. I bought them to make a pretzel crust for a pie, but after twirling around in my food processor for too long without breaking down, I realized these were not your ordinary pretzels. These are special stale pretzels best not used for crusts.

• Salad Dressings - Condimenti per Insalata

  Salads here are dressed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and sometimes balsamic vinegar. I’ve never turned back, it’s so simple and good. There are a select few salad dressing you can find in stores, like caeser, tzatziki, and some others, but you’re not going to find Italian (haha), thousand Island, Ranch, raspberry poppyseed, or any of those others. Just bring it with you if it’s important to you or make it from scratch. I never would’ve thought of this but I do have some friends that Ranch was CRUCIAL for.

• Sour Cream - Panna Acida

  I haven’t tried this yet, I don’t normally eat sour cream and I’ve been won over to using plain yogurt as a healthier substitute. At Esselunga you may only find it if they have the non-refrigerated kind in the Mexican section. Otherwise Coop has some normal looking refrigerated sour cream.

• Spices - Spezie

  Let’s talk about spices. When you think of Italian cooking, you can probably make a guess of which spices they will for sure have. Garlic, onion, parsley, oregano, basil, sage, bay leaf, cumin, turmeric, thyme, rosemary, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, marjoram, coriander, curry, and saffron are everywhere. Then there are whole cloves but no ground cloves. The first time I went to make a pumpkin pie I was trying to grate cloves with a cheese grater…kids, don’t try this at home. Other spices like adobe chili, or smoked chilis, or any ethnic spices that aren’t mainstream you will probably have to import yourself. Spices you can find, even if you have to hunt a bit, would include cardamom, garam masala, smoked paprika, and ground mustard. Mint you can find at the Arab butcher shops if you can’t find it at your local store.

• Sweet Potatoes - Patate Dolci

  Sometimes I can find these at the grocery store, sometimes not. In more recent years it’s been more hit than miss, which is nice! A sure bet would be Vivimarket, which has them every time I have gone, and are usually grown in the US, yeah!

• Vanilla Extract - Estratto di Vaniglia

  The REAL stuff, not imitation or vanillin like you find in every dessert here. And no, the real stuff doesn’t exist here. Either bring it with you or make your own! I usually bring a bottle with me to use while my homemade stuff is aging, it takes a minimum of 3 months for best flavor.
  

Always remember, even when you’re missing your creature comfort food, that it’s not so bad eating food like this…

Food in Florence: A Complete Guide to the Best Gelato

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March is coming to a close, the weather has taken a turn for the warmer, the sun is making a regular appearance and so are the tourists, and most importantly, the gelato shops have reawakened from their winter slumber. I ate my first gelato of the season/2019 a couple weeks ago, and it was…good. I mean, it was amazing to eat gelato again, but it only ranked “good” because the actual gelato was a bit on the icy side. I’ve had gelato from that shop before and it was really good, we’ll just say they were having an off day. It’s possible my tongue is out of practice of eating gelato, I mean, you don’t become a sommelier by drinking wine “occasionally.” In the few weeks that have passed since that first gelato, I think it’s safe to say my tongue is back in practice.

In celebration of gelato and sunshine, I have compiled a list of some of the best gelaterie (gelato shops) in and around the Florence city center. The list is quite extensive but includes all of the gelato shops worth eating at. I’ll name some of my favorites, as well as favorites from various expat friends and locals, which will be noted with an asterisk (*). As you will see, taste in gelato can vary and very few people will nominate the same gelato shop as “Best in Florence,” hence the inclusive list with pointers to help you locate gelato that sounds interesting to you, whether it’s your first gelato ever or you are just looking to expand your gelato resumé! If you’ve had great gelato in Florence and think it should be on this list, let me know in the comments below!

Nota Bene: Anytime you see mountains of colorful gelato in the display case it is TO BE AVOIDED. At all costs. These places are meant to fool poor, unsuspecting tourists and line their owners’ pockets with money when they are essentially selling you sugary, artificially colored ice, lies, and sadness. You will find them grouped mainly around main attraction points; in Florence there are many near the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio and in between. This bears repeating because these shops are still open, which means people are buying their “gelato,” and this makes me very sad. Also to avoid is the overpriced gelato, again, usually found near tourist areas. Even if the gelato is decent, I wouldn’t pay more than 3ish euro for the smallest size, no matter the city. At that point they are just capitalizing on your naiveté. The only gelato above 3euro on this list is Venchi, starting at 3.20, but they are a well known chocolatier and can get away with it I guess. Good gelato is often, but not always, in metal tubs with lids so that you can’t see any of the flavors, just the little signs placed by each lid. I say not all because just less than half of the gelaterie listed below keep their gelato in these tubs.

First Things First

Cup or cone? Small or extra large? Milkshake? All good things to have decided before hand so you can walk in and focus on what flavors you would like. A standard small cup or cone will get you 2 flavors, and sometimes you can choose up to 5 for extra large sizes! You can ask to try the flavors, if you are feeling absolutely stumped. I almost always go for a cone, and I will tell you why, besides being delicious. There is nothing to throw away at the end except for a napkin, therefore being more economically-friendly. You save using a cup and the little plastic spoon, although some places will stick a spoon in your cone, too. You could always tell them a spoon isn’t necessary, if you catch them in time. Bonus: If you sample a flavor, keep your spoon to use with your cone or cup! Also, if you don’t eat gluten, ask about the cones as some places use gluten-free cones. At the bottom you can find a glossary for gelato shop lingo and common flavors.

The best gelato in Florence in no particular order:

1. Gelateria dei Neri*

   One of my all time favorites, if you’ve read about any gelato in any guidebooks or blogs, you’ve probably seen Gelateria dei Neri pop up. And for good reason, it’s one of the best! They have a wide variety of flavors and also granita. There can be a line out the door at busy times, but no worries, it moves fast.

   Price: Starting at 1.80 for cup or cone

   Location: Via dei Neri 9, - City center, very close to the Church of Santa Croce

   Flavor to Try: Cremino alla nocciola (Think vanilla gelato with copious amounts of Nutella swirled in, a very rich flavor), Cremino al Pistacchio (similar to the Cremino alla Nocciola, but with a pistachio cream), Limone (lemon), or Burro di Caramello Salato (salted caramel).

2. MySugar*

   Winner of the Gelato Festival in Florence in 2016, this is the new kid on the block, only open since 2015 and quickly winning over hearts. This is also one of my favorites and the favorite of my friend Madeline. I would say that they have the absolute best consistency of all gelato I have tried in Florence. Their assortment of flavors is somewhat modest, but what they do, they do with excellence.

   Price: Starting at 2.00 for a cup, 2.50 for a cone

   Location: Via de’ Ginori 49r, - City center, around the corner from the Mercato Centrale

   Flavor to try: Arachidi (peanut) or Limone

3. La Carraia*

   I was introduced to this gelateria by my language partner as one of her favorites, and it quickly became one of mine as well. They have a great assortment of flavors.

   Price: Starting at 1.00 for a “taste” cone, standard cup or cone from 1.80

   Locations: Piazza Nazario Sauro 25r, at the end of the Carraia bridge, and Via de’ Benci 24r, very close to the Church of Santa Croce.

4. Sangelato*

   This is the gelateria I go to most because it’s in my neighborhood! Still a 30 minute walk there, but that way you earn it, right? They have a selection of vegan flavors. Also to try are the crepes or Sicilian brioche stuffed with gelato! They have a great stracciatella (chocolate chip) and pistacchio!!

   Price: Starting at 1.90 for cup or cone

   Location: Via Marco Minghetti 17r, a bit out of the way on the east side of the city center, about a 15 minute bus ride from the center. Take the number 14A or 14B bus. This is very convenient if you have an airbnb on this side of town or staying at the Firenze Camping in Town, it’s on the way!

5. Perché No*

   All-natural gelato and to boot they have several mousse flavors. Need I say more? This was the gelato shop of choice for my friend Hannah and I during our 2015 trip.

   Price: Starting at 2.50 for cup or cone

   Location: Via dei Tavolini 19r, between Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo, right by the church of Orsanmichele.

6. Grom

   By now Grom has become a recognizable international gelateria with locations well beyond its origin of Italy, including the USA, France, Japan, China, and more. I prefer to support small businesses when I can, not to mention the extra touch of love and care when the founder of a small business is present, but hey, Grom is delicious!

   Price: Starting at 2.60 for cup or cone

   Location: Via del Campanile 2, two steps away from the Duomo

7. Cantina del Gelato

   This is the only gelateria where I have found a successful pumpkin flavor. A seasonal flavor to be sure, but their other flavors are often creative and delicious as well!

   Price: Starting at 1.00 for a one-flavor kiddy cone, 2.00 for standard cup or cone

   Location: There are two locations, one in Via de’ Bardi 31 on the south side of the Arno river very close to Ponte Vecchio, and the other near Piazza Beccaria in Borgo La Croce 30r on the east side of the city center.

8. La Strega Nocciola

   I wasn’t originally a fan of this gelateria because their name means the hazelnut witch and their prices are on the more expensive end of gelato, 2.80 for a small. But good gelato is good gelato, and La Strega Nocciola has very good gelato, not to mention some unusual flavors: lavendar, white chocolate and cinnamon, etc.

   Price: Starting at 2.80 for cup or cone

   Location: There are 4 locations, the first in Via Ricasoli 16r, near the Duomo, the second in Via de’ Bardi 51r, on the south side of the Arno river very near to Ponte Vecchio, the third in Via dell’Olivuzzo 118, southwest of the city center near the Isolotto neighborhood, and the fourth in Piazza Giuseppe di Vittorio 3, even further southwest in Scandicci.

9. Il Gelato di Filo*

   This gelateria will always hold a dear spot in my memory. It is conveniently located at the bottom of Piazzale Michelangelo, ya know, one of the most beautiful piazzas in Florence with its stunning vista of the city and also a sweat-inducing hike up to it? Yes. That one. This became the favorite gelato of my family and I when we visited in 2014, frequenting the shop multiple times in our 6 day tenure in Florence. We even had nicknames for the brother and sister who worked there. (We don’t actually know if they were related, but hey, it is part of our working theory.) We recommend either getting a gelato as an energy boost before you go up, or as a reward when you make it back down. Or, both before and after, because even that view will take it out of you. They also have some of the cheapest cones in Florence!

   Price: Starting at 1.50 for a cone, 2.00 for a cup.

   Location: Via San Miniato 5r, at the bottom of the side stairs (not the zig zag way up the front) up to Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato.

10. Badiani*

    Badiani won the title in 2015 for the best gelato in Europe, and a year after opened a shop in London. Favorite shop of my friends the Pethtels, and lucky them, they live nearby! For the location being outside the city center I’d say they are a bit expensive, but they have a larger shop and indoor/outdoor seating, which is always a bonus.

    Price: Starting at 2.00 for a cup, 3.00 for a cone

    Location: Viale dei Mille 20r, outside the city center in the Campo di Marte neighborhood; about a 5 minute walk from the stadium or 10 minutes from the Campo di Marte train station.

11. Venchi

    One of the best known Italian chocolate stores in Florence also has really yummy gelato! Their stores are generally a bit hectic, but busy because they are known and conveniently located. Their gelato is expensive, but worth the splurge for special occasions.

    Price: Starting at 3.20 for cup or cone. Prices may vary by location.

    Location: There are three locations, one at Piazza della Stazione 1 in the Santa Maria Novella train station, the second in Via Calzaiuoli 65r near the Duomo, and the third in Via Calimaruzza 18 near to Piazza della Signoria.

12. Gelateria de’ Medici

    This gelateria has a wide selection of flavors and is open late, until midnight or 12:30am on Friday and Saturday.

    Price: Starting at 2.00 for a cone, 3.00 for a cup

    Location: There are two locations, one in Piazza Cesare Beccaria 7r on the eastern outskirts of the city center, and the second in Via dello Statuto 3/5r northwest of the city center.

13. Il Procopio*

    This place is best suited to those who like “fantastic” flavors; those with lots of condiments such as chocolate and sauces and chunks of cake/cookies, etc. They have very few “pure” flavors, but I always see people walking around with the mango flavor, so it must be good! One of the favorites of the American blogger GirlinFlorence.

    Price: Starting from 2.20 for cup or cone

    Location: Via Pietrapiana 60/62r, not too far from the Church of Santa Croce; across from the Loggia del Pesce.

14. Il Gelato di Cristian Beduschi

    On the first floor of the Mercato Centrale there is a wonderful gelato. They don’t have the widest selection of flavors, but you can also get chocolates, other desserts like tiramisù, and hot chocolate.

    Price: Starting at 2.80 for cup or cone

    Location: First floor ( aka second floor for Americans) of the Mercato Centrale on the same side as the pizza and pasta booths.

15. Edoardo*

    Famous for their homemade cones and the scent that drifts well beyond their doors, Edoardo is the favorite gelateria of my friend Rachel. They are on the expensive side, but their gelato is organic and they have a good selection of vegan gelato and sorbet. Most of their flavors are beyond delicious, even if sometimes their menu can seem simple, but they have on occasion missed the mark with flavors and iciness. Beware, they often have a line, and in recent days they have implemented a number system. If you forget or don’t know to take a number, as was my experience, they may refuse to serve you. I waited 10 minutes in line and then they told me they can’t serve me unless I have a number, I wanted to make a humiliated beeline to the exit but my husband stood up for me and the customer whose turn it was graciously let me order anyway. I heard from other people after this incident that they still didn’t know about taking a number, so it very well may depend on if there’s a line and who’s working that day if they decide to implement the number system. Which is very…Italian. Anyway, you can find the numbers outside the door.

    Price: Starting from 2.80 for a cup, 3.50 for a cone, cash only

    Location: Piazza del Duomo 45r, two steps from the Duomo

    Flavor to try: Zabaione

16. Vivoli

    Heralded as a historic gelateria and one of the most famous in Florence, Vivoli delivers delicious gelato and a cute locale. However, because of their fame they tend to have lines and are on the expensive side, not to mention no cones.

    Price: Starting at 2.00 for cup

    Location: Via Isole delle Stinche 7r, near to the Church of Santa Croce

17. Sottozero

    Gelato places like these won’t usually find themselves in guidebooks or on blog reviews because they are not in the city center and don’t get the foot traffic of tourists. This one is popular with students because it’s very near the university and dorm housing, and should be with you too if you have an airbnb nearby!

    Price: Starting from 1.80 for cup or cone

    Location: Via Anton Francesco Doni 47r, west of the city center in the neighborhood of Novoli

    Flavor to try: Yogurt (sweetened with stevia!)

18. Rivareno

    Gelato sourced from all-natural ingredients with interesting flavor combos.

    Price: Starting at 2.30 for cup or cone

    Location: Via Borgo degli Albizi 46r, not to far from the Duomo.

19. Carapina

    This used to be one of my regular locations when I lived nearby, alas, no more.

    Price: Starting at 2.00 for a cone with one flavor, 2.50 for cup or cone with two flavors

    Location: Piazza Oberdan 2r, just east of the city center, but in the summer they also have a food truck down by the Arno!

20. La Gelateria Il Sorriso

    Generous portions and lots of flavors, I believe this is also one of the few places that lets you put 3 flavors even in the smallest size cone or cup! Win.

    Price: Starting at 2.20 for cup or cone

    Location: Via Erbosa 70, a bit out of the way in the neighborhood of Gavinana southeast of the city center, but if you are staying in the area or just want to experience an Italian neighborhood with zero tourists, head on down there. Take the bus numbers 8, 23, 31, or 32 to get there from Piazza San Marco, about 20 minutes.

21. La Caminia

    This gelateria really surprised me with their gelato. I walk by every once in awhile but had never gone in due to the generally bright color themes that usually denote a tourist trap. Then they made a special flavor in honor of the 200th(?) anniversary of the US consulate mission to Florence and I had to go try it. In doing so I discovered a wonderful new gelato stop with many flavors to choose from with even the simplest bursting with creamy flavor.

    Price: Starting at around 2.00 for cup or cone (I need to double check this)

    Location: Like Gelateria Il Sorriso above, La Caminia is found in the Gavinana neighborhood not far from the large Coop supermarket.

22. Gelateria Santa Trinita

    Due to its location and overall appearance this place can sometimes be mistaken for “tourist” gelato. Fret not, not only is it uber-creamy, but it is decently priced with generous portions!

    Price: Starting at 2.20 for cup or cone

    Location: Piazza dei Frescobaldi, 8r, at the end of the Ponte Santa Trinita; one bridge over from Ponte Vecchio.

    Flavor to Try: They are known for their Sesamo Nero (Black Sesame), it’s subtle and nutty and mysterious.

23. Gelateria della Passera

    Recommended especially for those who love fruit flavors!

    Price: Starting at 2.00 for two-flavor cup or cone

    Location: Via Toscanella 15r, on the south side of the Arno in the Santo Spirito neighborhood; very close to the Palazzo Pitti.

24. Donamalina Cure Cioccolateria - Gelateria

    Another place a bit outside of the city center, but we have to cover all bases, don’t we? They have chocolate and confections, too!

    Price: Starting at 2.00 for cup or cone

    Location: Via Antonio Pacinotti 30r, bit north of the city center in the neighborhood of Le Cure.

25. Le Botteghe di Leonardo*

    Natural gelato with a good selection of dairy-free, but their milk-based flavors are pretty great! Some even use latte di bufala, that is, water buffalo milk, and it’s extra creamy. Favorite of my friend, Brianna!

    Price: Starting at 2.60 for cup or cone

    Location: Via de’ Ginori 21r, very close to the Mercato Centrale.

    Flavor to try: Kabana (kiwi and banana), stracciatella

Gelato Lingo

Alright, here is a simple formula for you if you’re feeling adventerous. First, pick what you would like, the size, and then decide which flavors you want. Most people working in gelato shops speak English, so if you have further questions feel free to ask! In fact, you might order in Italian but they will often reply back in English.

“I would like a…” “vorrei un/a…”

Cono = cone Coppetta = cup Frappé = milkshake Granita = type of slushy

Piccolo/a = small Medio/a = medium Grande = large

“With…and…” “Con…e…”

Cioccolato = chocolate Fondente = dark chocolate Stracciatella = chocolate chip

Nocciola = hazelnut Pistacchio = pistachio Arachidi = peanut

Gianduja = chocolate/hazelnut Crema = cream with eggs, similar to a custard

Fior di Latte = A creamy gelato base, the equivalent of vanilla in America, except it’s no vanilla

Zabaione = custard with wine, usually sweet marsala

Caffé = coffee Cocco = coconut Cocomero = watermelon Fragola = strawberry Limone = lemon

Arancia = orange Lampone = raspberry Melone = melon Mora = blackberry Pesca = peach

Pera = pear Pompelmo = grapefruit Amarena = sour cherry Frutti di Bosco = mixed berry

Example: “Buongiorno! Vorrei un cono piccolo con nocciola e pistacchio, grazie.” (Good morning/afternoon! I would like a small cone with hazelnut and pistachio, thank you.)

Or, “Buonasera, vorrei una coppetta media con limone e fragola.” (Good evening, I would like a medium cup with lemon and strawberry.)

Happy Gelato-ing!!!

Buying International Plane Tickets and Booking Accommodation

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Airplane Tickets

Buy them on a Tuesday before 12pm EST, on a freshly restarted PC with your Google cookies wiped, a credit card that expires in no less than 2 years, in your pajamas, facing north. Just kidding.

I’m going to make this easy on you: There is no magic trick or gimmick for these things. There is a lot of information floating around about when to buy airline tickets.  Some true, some false.  For example, I've read that airlines put tickets on sale Monday evening, therefore you should buy tickets on Tuesday.  At least for international tickets, I've never seen that happen. I have noticed that flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday seems to be the cheapest, but that’s not the same thing and not always consistent.  A lot depends on timing, such as season and fuel prices, but it seems most is unpredictable and seemingly random. Then again, if it was predictable, I probably wouldn’t have been googling this subject myself once upon time, now would I?

Don’t despair, however, there are plenty of things you can do to find the best options out there, just keep in mind that “best” is relative. And, just as there is more than one way to frost a cake, what follows is one method of many for hunting down that cheap(ish) ticket. (If you want to know how crazy I can get about plane tickets, read this overly long blog post.)

First, some obvious things to keep in mind:

1. Flying off season will usually yield cheaper results, sometimes significantly. But not always! It never hurts to check.

2. Off season may vary depending on location. For example, traveling during the summer to Europe is going to be peak season, but that doesn’t mean Jun-Aug is the busiest the whole world round.

3. The more flexible you are with your dates, the more likely you will be to find a cheaper ticket. Same goes with flexible departure/arrival airports. The only problem is, you can end up spending hours upon hours searching date and location possibilities. But hey, you’ll know you found the best combo!

4. Watch out for overnight layovers. You might find cheaper flights that way, but in my experience I’d rather pay the few bucks more to avoid it. Anyway, if you keep looking, you can usually find the same or similar flight price without overnight layovers.

5. Booking through third parties (i.e. Expedia rather than Delta) may yield cheaper results, but if you run into any problems, they have been known to be extremely unhelpful. (I also have never been able to do the 24 hour check-in online when I bought a ticket through a third party. I checked-in at the airport the day of and everything was fine, but still. Being told there was an error or your ticket can’t be found is not reassuring.) In fact, recently third parties are about the same price, if not more expensive, anyway.

Now that we’ve got those reminders down, here’s how I go about finding tickets:

About 4 months before your desired departure choose a site like Kayak.com where you can look at multiple prices at once (choose the +/- 3 days for both the departure and return dates, so you can see a whole week’s worth of prices around both dates).  Make a note of the dates and prices that work best for you, then check back about once a week to see how the prices are rising or dropping.  Kayak, among many other sites, allow you to create free notifications of certain travel dates. You’ll get an email if the prices drop, go up, or even if they’re holding steady. I would never trust completely to these notifications and still check manually, but they’re a helpful tool.

At 2-3 months before desired departure you should have a good idea of what the prices for your dates are doing, and what airlines are cheapest. Chances are the prices haven’t moved significantly, but if they have, especially up, don't worry. There's a good chance they'll drop again, just keep checking back. When you feel ready to buy (I think 2 months* before is a good balance), go ahead and check Kayak again and then go to the website of the airline with the best deal. If everything looks good, buy!

*It is possible to buy tickets sometimes even up to a week before departure with decent prices, but I bet you they were cheaper two months ago. It also makes me very nervous to wait that long, knowing the prices can go up very high.

Tada! There you have it. Nothing magical. But with this method I always feel confidant I got the best prices.

Other helpful hints:

1. As of circa January 2018, the lowest fares between Europe and North America no longer include the first checked bag. The first checked bag is $50 each way, or you can pay a more expensive fare, such as $80 more total, and get the first bag free along with several other perks, like choosing your seat and being able to change your ticket. Not cool, you guys. Not cool.

2. azair.eu is a helpful site for flights within Europe or Asia, with lots of filters so you can hone in on what you’re looking for.

3. I advise against using the app “Hopper.” I added several of my upcoming flights over a period of time so it could keep track of them, letting me know the best time to buy. However, in all the flights and different locations and dates I added, I could find a much cheaper plane ticket myself every single time they notified me of the “best price", go ahead and buy. So, if you still like the app, just keep in mind you’re probably not actually getting the best price.

4. CheapFareGuru.com used to be one of my go to sites. They were always the cheapest by a good bit. Their site is a bit sketchy looking, but I’ve bought tickets through them a couple times and never had problems (other than not being able to check-in online). I say “used to” because their flights don’t load for me anymore. I dunno.

Accommodation

As for hotels and airbnbs, all the cute and affordable ones book up quickly, so I would start looking at least 4 months in advance, especially for popular tourist destinations such as Rome, Paris, London, ya know, all the places you want to go.  

Hotels vs. airbnb? Totally depends on what you’re looking for. I think booking an airbnb is much simpler, but I don’t think it’s always cheaper. Hotels need to stay in business and thus prices seem to have become more competent, so I would recommend looking at some hotel sites and compare them with airbnb before making a final decision.

A tip for lodging, especially if you are staying in an airbnb type place, before moving or touching anything, take pictures of the whole apartment.  That way, if your host decides to blame a broken outlet (or worse) on you after you've gone, you have proof to show them and the third party (such as airbnb) that that is how it was when you arrived.  

Do you have any tips or tricks for finding good plane tickets and accommodation? I’d love to hear them, share in the comments below!