The Wold Cup
The World Cup is upon us, and honestly is there a better place to watch soccer than in Italy? Italians love to watch soccer, and since the weather is so nice why not watch outside? The city of Florence is going to turn into one big watch party with giant screens located in many piazzas. Here's a list of where to watch: http://www.
Solving the Mystery of the SITA Airport Bus
Living in fear
of flying in and out of the Florence airport? Hate spending 20 euro each way
on a cab? Tired of your cab charging you for each bag they touch? This post is
for you! I spent most of my time in Florence avoiding flying in and out of the
Florence airport like the plague. Even though the Pisa airport is an hour (and
a train and bus ride) away, it always seemed so much easier to fly out of Pisa
and not have to pay 20 euro each way for a cab. Adding 50 euro to an already
expensive weekend trip is not ideal, so I figured there had to be a better and
cheaper way to get to the airport.
This is where my
gingery friend came to my rescue. Briar couldn’t believe that I didn’t know about the simple and cheap way to get to the Florence
airport. There’s actually
a BUS that goes there with a flat rate ticket no matter how many suitcases you
have! One 6 euro ticket gets you on the bus and dropped off right at the
airport entrance. The bus station is really easy to find if you know where
the train station, Santa Maria Novella, is located. Instead of going straight
towards the train station from the church, continue down the sidewalk to your
left. The bus station will be across the street and has a blue sign. Once
inside, look for the biglietteria and ask for ‘un biglietto per l’aereporto.’ After that go to binary 1
where the sign will say aeroporto. The ride takes about 20 minutes depending on
traffic. The bus from the airport is even simpler. When you exit the
airport, walk to your right and cross the street at the crosswalk (past the
taxi station) to a covered bus waiting area. Unlike at the station, you do not
have to buy tickets in advance! I asked in the airport where the ticket
stand was and the woman looked at my like I was a moron, you’re welcome for helping you
avoid this humiliation.
Some caveats:
while the schedule claims the buses run every 10-15 minutes, I have found that
in reality they run every 20-30 minutes. Sometimes this is due to heavy
traffic, but also consider the country you’re in. After 2 panic-attack inducing times of sitting at the
bus stop wondering if the bus was every going to come/if I had any chance of
making my flight I realized that it’s
smart to budget for about an hour at the bus station. This will limit your
chance of having a minor meltdown and wanting to yell at the station employees.
Now Florence Airport can be on your list of possibilities and you don’t have to live in fear of
spending 50 euro on a cab. Happy travels!
“I Don’t Recognize Any of These
Products…” Tips
to Surviving Florentine Grocery Stores, Pharmacies, and more
The first time I
walked into Conad I cried. No, I’m not kidding, I had a meltdown like a
2 year old because none of the food looked familiar to me. Grocery shopping in
the United States usually meant me stocking up on Velveeta mac and cheese,
frozen pizzas, and doritos. But as you I’m sure have (or
will) notice, either those things do not exist or are very, very different.
Finding products that are similar to the ones we have at home can be a bit of a
challenge, and some things really take some getting used to. But I promise you
that if you make yourself branch out a bit you’ll find things you
really like!
Grocery Stores
Conad
Oh Conad, the
bane of my existence. Some ground rules for Conad: never, EVER go any time
between about 5 and 8. The line will be wrapped around the store and you’ll get frustrated to no end.
Once you figure out the layout of Conad things get a lot easier. At some the
registers are easy to find and the store isn’t organized like a maze. If you live near one of these…you’re lucky. The Conad by the Pone Vecchio is a bit different,
and it requires some strategizing. When you enter you immediately walk into the
produce section. Some of my favorite things to get are broccoli, Romana
(Romaine) lettuce (they also have iceberg like at home!), tomatoes, and red or
yellow peppers. All of these ingredients can be used to make really simple,
healthy meals. I also like to get apples, go for the big 1 euro bag, or
bananas. As you wind around you can find salad dressing (it took me 7 months to
figure this out…) and
salad toppings such as croutons. As you go further in Conad actually has bags
of homemade pasta. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS! It’s a bit more expensive but oh so worth it! Make your way
through the pasta and you’ll
find things that look a bit more familiar: cheese, cereal, dairy products, and
different pasta sauces. There’s
even a small Mexican section to satisfy those cravings. One of the last
sections is the meat section. My advice for this is to look up the Italian
names of meat before you enter Conad in order to avoid confusion. In some cases
different cuts of beef/chicken/or pork can be called different things and it
can get confusing. Conad also has an awesome spice selection, but also look
these names up in order to make sure you know what you’re getting. The very last section (basically as you’re standing in line) is the
frozen section, drink section, and candy/snack food/etc. It’s ok to put these things off
until you’re in line but
please for the love of God make sure you get back in time to move your basket
if the line moves, people will cut you. I repeat, people WILL cut you in
line, especially old ladies. Last advice for
Conad: bring re-usable bags to make sure your bags don’t break on the way home. Yup, that’s happened to me, too.
Esselungha
Esselungha
is more of an “American-type” superstore. They carry more
familiar products such as chicken nuggets, heinz ketchup in big bottles, and
familiar brands of chips (if you’re
lucky they’ll have salt
and vinegar chips and it’s
basically the best day ever). There are two caveats to Esselungha, however. The
first is that Esselungha is generally far away and buses are hard to figure
out. That means you’re
going to be walking long distances with very heavy bags. The walks back to
Santo Spirito from the Esselungha near us are some of the worst memories I have
from Florence. I would get back to the Palazzo feeling like I had just run a
marathon. To avoid this, exercise self control. If you really need heavy items,
Esselungha delivers and this is something that’s worthwhile to check into. Just know that you may not get
exactly the same brand/size you ordered. Secondly, because Esselungha offers so
much expect your bill to be A LOT more. My average Conad bill is usually around
15-30 euro depending, my average Esselungha bill was in the neighborhood of 60
euro. Don’t ask me what I
was buying, I don’t even
know. Clearly I have no self control. My advice would be to do most of your
shopping at Conad and just go to Esselungha for the special stuff like chicken
nuggets and salt and vinegar chips.
Pharmacies
Pharmacies can
be a bit challenging, mostly because the names, information, and directions are
all in Italian. Like with Conad, make sure to look up exactly what you need
before going. The pharmacists are usually pretty good at speaking English, but
specific questions are sometimes hard to get across and get answers to, so to
avoid this do your research. Two things: the first is: if you get a
prescription from the doctor ask him about dosage and frequency or use. I
didn’t do this and got the prescription and realized everything
was in Italian and I didn’t know how many pills to take per day,
when to take them, if I needed to take them with food, etc. Two hours of
googling later and I still couldn’t find specific information and was
pretty sure I was going to overdose or make myself sick. The second point
concerns girls and our lovely feminine products: THEY SUCK IN ITALY. If
you remember one thing from this blog it needs to be this: BRING TAMPONS FROM
HOME. I’ll spare you the details but please, please trust me on this
one. Everything else from shampoo to soaps and vitamins should look pretty
familiar and is easy to navigate. You can even find American brands such as
Crest, Listerine, and Herbal Essences which is nice.
Quick note on
going to the doctor: if your school didn’t provide this information, there is an AWESOME British
doctor located near the Ponte Vecchio and H&M. He (obviously) speaks
perfect English and usually can squeeze you in the same day as you make the
appointment. Also, there’s
a great pharmacy right next door to him. Both times I had to see him I was in
and out with a prescription in hand in less than an hour.
Good luck and happy shopping!
Vorrei gelato, per favore!
Who doesn’t
love gelato? Clearly that’s a rhetorical question, because you’d
have to be out of your mind not to love the stuff. Lucky for you, Florence
boasts some awesome gelaterias on both sides of the river. However, knowing
legitimate gelaterias from the impostors can be a bit of a challenge. There are
a few rules of thumb.
1. If the
gelateria sells anything else, pizza, sandwhiches, pasta it is probably not
that good.
2. If they want
you to pay 4 euro for a small you’re probably in a touristy area and
again, the gelato
is going to be pretty crappy
3. stay away
from big landmarks such as the duomo, Piazza della Signoria, and Santa Croce when you’re
in search of gelato.
Now I’ll
tell you about 3 of my favorite gelaterias. The first is Santa Trinita, located
at the base of Ponte
Santa Trinita as you’re walking toward Piazza Santo
Spirito. This gelateria has excellent fruity flavors, a nice atmosphere, and
reasonable prices. The second is La Carraia, located a bridge down from the
Santa Trinita. This gelateria has my favorite flavor in the entire city: Yogurt
& Nutella. It’s amazing, try it ya’ll.
This gelateria has more chocolatey flavors and more unique flavors than Santa
Trinita. It’s also a bit cheaper, which is always a plus. The last
gelateria is highly regarded and many people’s favorite:
Gerlateria Vivoli. This is on the other side of the river near Santa Croce.
This one is great because they have really unique flavors such as Rice. I know,
weird right? But I tried it and it was INCREDIBLE. If you’re
looking for a bit more upscale experience this place is for you. The prices are
a bit higher, a small at La Carraia and Santa Trinita runs around 1.50 whereas
a small at Vivoli is 2 euro, but it’s worth the extra 50 cents. There are
of course other wonderful gelaterias in the city, and one of the best and most
fun things to do is to go explore!
The Secret of the Secret Bakeries
This may be one
of the more useless of my posts, but I swear I have a reason for it. There are
these bakeries in Florence that are only open between the hours of 12 and 2 or
3 am. They are little holes in the wall with no signs, no advertisements, and
usually are on backstreets where they are nearly impossible to locate. Their
menus are also kept secret, so when you do find one
asking for a cornetto con nutella is a safe bet, or just ask them to give you
whatever they have. In the spirit of the secret bakeries, I’m not going to tell you where
they are. Before you call me mean names and close your laptop let me explain.
Story time: one
of my favorite memories from Florence is the night my roommate and I found
secret bakery. We had heard whispers about it, and the night before one of our
midterms we decided to go find it (excellent timing, right?). In order to do
this I google “Secret
Bakery Florence” and found
3 addresses on different blogs and websites and then we set off. I’ll give you some hints: two are
located near Santa Croce, but still to this day we have not been able to find
them. If you do, kudos to you! The one we frequent is near Oibo bar and Bar
Vikktoria. We had essentially given up on finding secret bakeries after
wandering around the city to no avail. We started to walk back in the direction
of Santo Spirito when all of a sudden a sweet, confectionary scent hit our
noses and re-invigorated our search. We followed the scent down the creepiest
of creepy backstreets.I swear, if any of ya’ll watch Supernatural this street with us wandering down it
looked like the beginning of an episode. Right as we were about to turn around
and bolt we happened to look up and to the left and saw a tiny window: the
source of the delicious smell. We were ecstatic. As we turned the corner we
were confronted with a large glass door. I knocked twice and a few seconds
later a man in a chef’s
coat and hat emerge. He whispered to me to keep quiet and asked what I wanted.
Completely clueless, I shrugged and handed him two euro. A few minutes later he
returned with a bag that contained two pastries with nutella inside. Molly and
I couldn't believe that we had actually done it, we found the secret bakery.
On the walk home
as we got nutella all over us as we scarfed down our pastries we were walking
on air. The knowledge that we had actually done it, solved the mystery of
secret bakery, was awesome. It was also awesome to share such an experience
with my roommate who is now one of my closest friends. We still talk about the
night that we found secret bakery as one of our best nights here in Florence.
During the wandering we had the chance to really get to know each other. We
also both got an A on the final the next morning…all I’m
saying is, don’t doubt the
magic of secret bakery.
What is this ‘aperitivo’ you speak of?
Aperitivo is a
magical creation by the Italians, where you can purchase a drink (beer, wine,
or even cocktails depending on the place) for between 6 and 9 euro and get a
free buffet dinner along with it. Aperitivo food can range from finger-food
appetizers to full on dinner dishes like lasagne, different paste, and salads.
For a full
dinner: Volume, located in Piazza Santo Spirito, offers an awesome aperitivo
and a unique experience. The place has limited seating, so they let you take
your drinks and food and sit on the steps of Chiesa Santo Spirito which is a really cool
experience. To put is simply: the food is amazing. Some typical dishes include
couscous with different vegetables and sometimes seafood, pork in this salty,
almost soy sauce tasting marinade, lasagne, and bruschetta. At different times
they’ve also had
meatballs, ravioli, and special seafood pasta. At volume you really feel like
you get a lot for your money, and it’s
really easy to leave feeling full.
Somewhere in
between: The Saloon. The Saloon’s
aperitivo is a bit more expensive, but they offer different types of cocktails
than regular aperitivo places and the place is a bit classier and offers tables
to sit at. Their food usually includes bruschetta, french fries (which are
amazing by the way), fried zucchini and other vegetables, and different pasta
such as spaghetti. They occasionally have little sandwiches or gnocchi, too.
The Saloon has a really cool feel to it, and the bartenders there are friendly,
fun to hang out with, and like to put on a show for customers. Maybe eat a bit
before you go to The Saloon, but it’s
definitely worth a visit.
The last
aperitivo place is also located in Santo Spirito and is called Tameró. It has an awesome look and
atmosphere due to the fact that it is in an old, converted parking garage. Many
locals go to Tameró, so
you really feel like you’re
experiencing Italian culture. The only drawback is that their aperitivo
selection was a bit lacking. When we went, they only had couscous, friend
vegetables, and bruschetta. They never changed the food out for different
dishes as many other places do (Volume being one of them), and it was a bit
confusing to figure out. Tameró is
a great place to hang out for a bit and enjoy the atmosphere, but I would
advise you to eat a full dinner either before or after.
Let’s
go to the beach, beach
There’s
a beach in Florence…don’t call me crazy.
Even though Florence is no where near water (yes I know the Arno is technically
water, but since I’m pretty sure that water could burn
your skin/be set on fire it doesn’t count) it still has a really great
sand beach. Right across from Piazzale Michelangelo and down a ramp you can
find an awesome sand beach complete with hammocks, lounge chairs, two beach
bars, and a volleyball court. This beach is great to go hang out at during a
nice summer day. You’re able to tan, have a cocktail or a
smoothie, and get a bite to eat all in one place. The Florence beach is also
one of the few places where Italians and Americans intermingle, so take
advantage of possibly getting to know some Italians.
The beach is
awesome, but there are some drawbacks. First, it gets hotter than hades down
there and there’s not water to cool off in. Because of
this, make sure to pack a few water bottles and try to reserve a place near
shade so you can go in and out. Don’t even think about getting in the
Arno/splashing some water on yourself because there are HUGE signs warning
against getting near the Arno. Remember that thing about it burning your skin?
I’m pretty sure it’s true. The other issue is that it’s
pretty hard to find a hammock/chair, especially if you arrive a bit later in
the day. To avoid complications always bring a beach towel or two. Finally, don’t
forget sunscreen. It doesn’t feel like a beach, but it really is
and you WILL burn. A few of us learned this the hard way. Enjoy and tan away!
Piazzale Michelangelo
Grab a bottle of
wine, some comfortable shoes, and a group of friends and head up to Piazzale
Michelangelo. This overlook, about a 15 minute walk from the Ponte Vecchio, has
the best view of the entire city. The Duomo and Santa Croce dominate the view
and rise majestically above the rest of the city. The Ponte Vecchio can also be
seen clearly, as can the beautiful city on the hill of Fiesole. Piazzale
Michelangelo can be enjoyed at any time of day, but I would argue that the best time is to go at
sunset or after dark when the buildings are illuminated. It is perfectly ok to
bring wine and food up to the Piazzale, and there are benches that you can sit
on and hang out. If the main area is busy, hike a bit up the road to the church
where the view is even better, and it’s a bit less crowded.
A bit about
going up to the Piazzale: it is a bit of a hike. You will be walking through
the woods on paths. You definitely don’t need hiking shoes, but heels or
other ‘fancier’ shoes aren’t advised. Also at
night time it isn’t advised to walk along, try to go in
big groups because you do walk through some dark areas. Other than those two
things its really accessible to get to, and worth the walk!
Notte Bianca
Picture this:
floating balls of light on the Arno, live rock music floating through the air
from every piazza, and wine and sandwich venders on every street corner. All of
this and more is what you will experience if you’re lucky enough to be in Florence for Notte Bianca (White
Night). Notte Bianca occurs in late May, and the purpose is to show off the
local culture in Florence. Throughout the night live music can be enjoyed near
the Duomo, Santa Croce, and Piazza Signoria. One of the funniest memories was
hearing an Italian cover of “Knocking
on Heaven’s Door” or as the lead singer was
signing it “Knocking Over
Heaven’s Door”…she tried. Even better than
the live music is that all of the museums in the city are open and have free
entry. This is definitely the time to go to the Uffizi, l’Accademia, or the Pitti Palace
if you haven’t gone yet.
One some buildings there are also really cool light shows and animated
projections.
The best way to
enjoy Notte Bianca is to just wander around the city with a group of friends. I
would suggest getting started early, as most of the excitement is over by 10 or
11 (in terms of museums being open and live music). A bit later in the night
Florence turns into one big block party. Most bars are filled with Italians and
Americans alike, and this is one of the few times where it’s easy to hang out with
Italians in Florence. If you’re
able to, take advantage of Notte Bianca and go out and experience some culture!
Florence Fashion Nights
Milan is
regarded as the fashion capital of Italy, but Florence surprisingly has a lot
to offer as well. Florence is regarded by many to be the birthplace of the
modern fashion industry. In addition to this, designers such as Salvatore
Ferragamo, Roberto Cavalli, and Emilio Pucci all call Florence home and have
chosen the city to host their
headquarters. Not too shabby, if you ask me. In order to celebrate the impact
of fashion on the city and the continued ties between Florence and fashion, two
fashion nights are hosted annually.
The first
fashion night takes place in early September, when the new fall lines are
coming out in stores. Fashion night, at least for me, was unlike anything I
have ever seen before.
