The hidden MUST sees of Florence [Part 2]

Last week I gave you four must see, "can't miss", sites in the city of Florence. But there is so much to see in this city, how is there only four places to see? Of course there is so much more! While living in this fabulous place, I challenged myself to explore a new part of the city every week. This would change each week, whether it be a new corner of the city, rich in history, or a new hole-in-the-wall restaurant. [*Side note: keeping a travel journal while in different cities is my biggest suggestion, so that you can remember each place you went, and when.*] Here are just a few of my favorites.

Visarno the Hippodrome: This gem my boyfriend and I found while walking down the arno (river) in Florence. We had heard there was a large park a ways down from where my apartment was, so we decided one day to take a long stroll, and check it out. When we walked up to what we thought was an abandoned park, we found this massive horse race track. It was just our luck that there was a race happening, when we walked up. We walked through the entrance of the track, where a nice security man told us it was two euro for men, and free entry for women. The arena had a bar/restaurant and an area to place bets on the horses. With the sun shining, crowds loudly cheering, and a Corona in our hands, it was quite the afternoon!

La Menagere: This beautiful cafe I visited almost every morning after my 8 AM class. After opening the huge glass doors of the cafe, you enter this extraordinary cafe, restaurant, lounge, open-mic stage, and more. There are small tables along the cafe counter when you can order your cappuccino and croissant, and enjoy your morning reading. If you walk around the thick cement wall of the cafe, you come across long wooden tables with vases filled with flowers, place sets for your meal, and more. There are two parts to the restaurant side. The front, where there are these long, wooden tables, and the back where there are individual two or four person tables, amongst an enormous piano, and flowers and vines hanging from the ceiling. As you walk toward the bathrooms in the back of the place, you come across a set of stairs that will take you downstairs to the lounge. You are able to order cocktails and entrees here, while enjoying the dim-lit atmosphere, filled with live music.

Every morning I would enjoy my americano and an omelet, after my morning class, and just people watch. I could of spent hours sitting with my coffee, just observing all the local people, and hearing the Italian language being spoken around me. In these moments, I would journal about how blessed I was to be able to travel somewhere so rich of culture, fashion, and history, and how this piece of heaven would never leave my memory.

Il Paiolo: This hidden restaurant is most well-known for their pesto gnocchi. [*Side note: some places in Florence allow you to make a reservation. At this place, it is best to do so, as the maximum capacity is about 50 people.*] I first went to this restaurant with my roommates. The place sort of feels mysterious on the outside, as there is a man that is in charge of letting people come in and out of the restaurant. He hands you flutes of champagne while you wait for your table. The customer service is spectacular, as you feel as though you are treated so special even while you may have to wait a half hour for your table for dinner.

On each table, there are taper candles (the long, skinny candles for formal events/dinner), that provide light for the table. Soft music plays in the background during your entire stay. There are only a few servers in the establishment, however, you feel as though all of them are paying attention to you the entire time. By this I mean, one waiter may approach the table to pour water and bring you bread. The next waiter may be the one taking your drink and dinner order. And then both of them will continuously check in on you the whole night. You can easily spend 2 hours of your time here, enjoying your meal and company.

I’d have to say that the restaurants and service within, were absolutely wonderful in Florence. I learned here that when you are seated at a table with your friends, family, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., it is the most special time to sit back and relax. Once seated, you shouldn’t be thinking about what you have to do after dinner, and not stressing about all the work you have to do tomorrow. You should be really taking in all this time with your company, and enjoy the conversations that lead you to staying at the table until midnight. [*Fun fact: my boyfriend and I went on our first date to this place, and we stayed for three hours, talking, enjoying wine, and falling for each other.]

The Secret Bakery: Only if you are lucky will you be able to find this. And unfortunately, as much as I would love to share the location with you, the fun of it is discovering it yourself. This little bakery is only open to the public between 2 AM and 5 AM. One night after going out with my roommates, we decided to wander the streets in search of this bakery. We heard through other friends the general location of this bakery, but we were not sure exactly where it was. As we approached these last two streets in the area it was supposed to be, we inhaled this intense smell of chocolate. That smell that it stuck in your memory from when you were a child, and your mom was making brownies, and the smell went throughout the whole house. Yeah, that kind of amazing smell.

We approached the street where the chocolate smell was the most intense, wandered down the street, expecting to see a bakery sign. Little did we know, the chocolate smell was coming from this large glass door, with a metal door pulled down on the inside. Unsure how to get inside the bakery, we knocked on the glass door. Within seconds, the metal inside door flew up, the baker slid this metal table in front of the glass doors and opened one of them. He said Ciao! In Italian he asked what do we wanted, and flustered we did not know what to say. We managed to get out the word chocolate, and he walked to the large tables behind him, piled with pastries, croissants, and more, and brought back three chocolate croissants for us. One croissant was one euro... I mean come on, what a freaking deal! We walked back down the street, to our apartment, smiling and inhaling our chocolatey goodness.

These four places are just some more of my hidden favorites, and I would love nothing more for you to go, and tell me all about your experience. I have such vivid memories of each place, and often have dreams where I am back watching the horses race, eating pesto gnocchi, and even asking the baker's man for another piece of chocolate heaven.

The hidden gems is what I live for. It's what makes traveling more fun, more lively, and more heart warming, to experience things off the beaten path that no one else has ever seen. So have fun my loves, and take it all in.

-with all my love - SB