Going for a random weekend to Florence is one of the reasons I live in London. I want to take every advantage to do so and am privileged to have done a weekend jaunt with my youngest sister this summer.
I met Jamie and Katie right off of Santo Espirito square, a place that was familiar because I stayed in the same neighborhood with my mom when we visited Florence about four years ago.
Massive slow clap for Katie! I very much appreciated that she does deep dives into food locations and had them located on a google map already– a girl after my own heart! Our Gustapizza lunch was fantastic! We caught up about their travels thus far, particularly Rome. All of us felt that it’s a lot to be in Rome, but when in Rome, you do all the things.
Florence is a different pace. We finished our pizza and returned for a mini siesta before going out to the Gucci Garden. The installation reminded me of Yayoi Kusama’s fixation with mirrors but instead of twinkling lights or polka dots in the reflection, the Gucci purses were the infinity focal point.
We wandered through the leather market, and then started looking for a wine window. These are small little windows established during the plague so that people could still have a daily glass while being socially distanced. That sounds familiar, right? There are apparently 150 wine windows in Florence! We found one that was surrounded by tourists so didn’t partake but it definitely made wandering the streets even more fun, trying to spy more windows as we walked. We had a glass of wine on a random plaza but the pigeons were too friendly so we left in search of another aperitivo spot across the Arno.
We stumbled upon Acquisto when looking for a cheese plate but decided to stay because of this was Jamie’s chance for a Florentine steak. This did not disappoint! The yummy red wine and sharing plates were fodder for late night convos.
At Santo Espirito square we joined Gen Z for their night out (I barely know how to use the phrase ‘Gen Z’ in a sentence btw. It was Jamie and Katie’s observation of who was patronizing the square that inspired me to include this ‘Gen Z’ note). I just took in the summer evening without any toddlers in sight. From there, Jamie and I found a more relaxed spot a few blocks off the square. We shared whiskey while sitting on the sidewalk and ended up closing down the bar.
Sunday we slept in, missed the waking tour but found a little espresso and Sunday market. Katie and I knew Jamie needed to see the city cathedral so we prioritized that before coming back to the square for the truffle four cheese gnocci at Osteria Santo Espirito. And the legume soup was a good as I’d remembered with my mom!
We took a took another siesta and then had gelato at a spot with dairy free dark chocolate scoops (Gelateria La Carraia). I was a happy clam even though my time in Florence was coming to an end.
It’s a magical thing that I was able to join for a short part of Jamie’s trip in Italy and make great memories in just 24 hours.
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