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Trying to make Florence a home from home Thanksgiving to Christmas
[Susan Glasspool]
Christmas, one of the nicest festivals of all, is almost upon us and many families are busy discussing how and where to enjoy it. If you are here on your own, away from home, you will presumably spend it with your fellow students, unless of course you are invited by some Italian acquaintance. If instead you have family visiting then no doubt you are already making arrangements for spending the festivities with them. You also have to keep a slot open for the Thanksgiving celebrations on November 24th, which is really only celebrated in Italy by the Americans and considered here as a sort of pre-Christmas festivity. Not many Italians realise that it was really a sort of harvest festival celebrated nearly a year after their arrival in America by the Pilgrim Fathers and the Indians who helped them. What I really want to say is, you will certainly want to be celebrating between November, December and the New Year! Tourists staying in Florence are of course housed in comfortable hotels where expert chefs will offer them a wide choice of exquisite and refined menus, especially at this time of the year. You instead are probably living in a rented flat or room that is lacking in most of the facilities or space required for complicated celebrations. You can easily get over the problem by eating out - students will probably go Dutch - but, if the parents are here, well, Dad pays though we can’t guarantee pumpkin pie!
However from October onwards, the Florentines are already experimenting richer menus to combat the colder weather. This comes to a climax at Christmas and the New Year when tables are laden with every imaginable gastronomic delicacy to attract gluttons and ensure the ruin of all well intentioned dieters!
The city streets are already alive with a Christmassy atmosphere. People rush about laden with brightly coloured packages, stoop off in the bars for hot chocolate or coffee, munch at bags of hot chestnuts and drop a few coins in the buskers’ hats. The haunting sound of the Italian style bagpipes - called zampogna - penetrates the brisk cold air and follows you back home. Food almost becomes a pagan rite. The restaurants and wine bars offer exotic meals and wines, the stores sell beautifully wrapped food baskets, containing anything from a complete meal to gastronomic treats (after all, diets start after the New Year)! Every family organises a series of magnificent spreads to entertain friends and relations and perhaps outdo their hospitality of the previous year.
Christmas “treats” can include almost anything rich, filling, irresistible and not nessarily traditional, from caviar to oysters, venison to eels, a complete fish menu or capon to wild boar! And our own traditional turkey features on many menus as well...! Certainly, this year, the most popular dish will be the Florentine T-bone steak now that it has been allowed to return to our tables. Sweet traitors to dieters include panettone (a well risen saffron sponge stuffed with raisins, currants and candied fruit), pandoro (similar but without the fruit), panforte (a fruity Sienese specality), ricciarelli (small soft almond biscuits) and torrone (almond nougat), plus plenty of mouthwatering variations.
We have selected a few restaurants from among our clients who can offer some, if not all, of just the right atmosphere and food for your own Thanksgiving or pre-Christmas dining. Try them, we are sure you will come away completely “satisfied”!
Central B.Gallo stands in a really enviable position in Piazza del Duomo 1 (Tel. 055.219251). Although off the beaten track of the main tourist drag, it is special because it manages to combine good food, tastings and a view, hardly surprising if we consider the chef’s imaginative programme of specialities with new theme first courses every day, alongside typical Tuscan platters.
If you want to celebrate with beer and snacks, spend and evening at The Lion’s Fountain in Borgo Albizi 34r (Tel. 055.2344412) or at The Old Stove in Via Pellicceria 2/4r (Tel. 055.284640). They are both traditional pubs right in the heart of the city centre and, apart from beer, serve traditional Irish food, music and desserts.
Rex Cafè is in the same area in characteristic Via Fiesolana, 25r (Tel. 055.2480331). Open daily from 6.30pm until late with buffet, aperitif and long drinks, plus video sessions, concerts, monologues, poetry readings and dance shows from 10pm, it is just the place to organise a celebration get-together among friends.
You can not only eat and drink at The Fiddler’s Elbow, one of the oldest pubs in Italy, in Piazza Santa Maria Novella 7r (tel. 055.215056), for it also organizes parties, disco nights and live concerts which create the festive atmosphere around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It also provides free internet access, a pool table and darts. Open daily from 12am to 2am.
Looking for somewhere to go with all your pals for a celebration pizza?
Grotta di Leo on Via della Scala, 41/43r (tel. 055.219265) is the place, serving mouthwatering traditional Tuscan and Mediterranean foods and delicious pizzas throughout the day from 11am to 1am. Warm and friendly, for many clients it is a home from home.
Succulent variations on traditional Tuscan menus make for a perfect party atmosphere at the O!O Bar con Cucina in Piazza Piattellina 7r (Tel. 055.212917) again in San Frediano. A blend of Tuscan dishes and Mediterranean influences give its meals and snacks a unique flavour with an exotic touch.
Dolce Vita in Piazza del Carmine, 6r (tel. 055.284595), is a classy trend bar offering an imaginative cocktail service throughout the day and until late at night. Sit down and relax over your aperitifs and drinks, admire the regularly changing exhibitions on the walls, and then try some of the delicious lunchtime or dinner snacks accompanied by serenades of jazz or classical music.
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