Making friends in Firenze - Part 1: The Florentines

Would You Be Friends With This Man?

Ask me what the Florentines are like and I'll tell you that I know as much about them as I do about the Milanese or Sicilians. Sure I've lived here for 10 months, but until I'm fluent in their language and actually get to talk to them at length, I'm never going to get a handle on what the people here are really like. And I am beginning to think that that is what they would like.

Florentines have a reputation for being 'closed' or insular. They apparently like to keep themselves to themselves. This is what I have read and this is what we have been told. By Florentines.

As our stay here comes to an end we can safely count on one hand the number of Florentine friends we have made. In fact we don't even need that one hand. We can actually count on no hands the number of Florentine friends we have made. Impressive huh?

How, you may ask, did we manage to be so popular during our stay in Florence? Well, we just don't know how we did it. Initially it was through putting in some actual effort. We invited people over for tea and for lunch. Dr B made a point of going to various meetings at the school and for dinner with the other mums in an attempt to 'socialise' with the locals. After these tentative steps we then waited to be invited over for a coffee or a glass of wine or something. And we waited. And the invites obviously got lost in the post.

Then we thought: oh well, just give it some time. Dan's Italian may improve a little, there will be kids' parties where he can chat to other parents and they can ask how we're getting on and whether they can help us navigate our way round this city. Or they could offer us a drink one night or maybe invite us out for a pizza.

Then we thought: well maybe when the weather gets better there'll be more opportunities; some nice walks out in the country or some visits to the park or...

Then we thought, maybe they just don't like us.

Then we thought, oh fuck it, it's almost time to go home now.

......

The last kids' party of the school term was on Friday and, after Dr B forced her way into conversation with some of the other parents, she listened to these people speculating on what foreigners must think when they come here because 'Florentines are so closed and unfriendly'. Yes, what must they think? they pondered before all turning to Dr B to get her opinion.

Though they didn't get to hear it, her unspoken answer was we think we're looking forward to going home.

8th July 2010 - An Update
- We got invited round to some Florentines appartment for dinner. That's two invites we have had in 10 months.
- Last week we were just packing to go on a camping trip when a man turned up with a letter in his hand. It turned out he is the cousin of our landlady and our only immediate next door neighbour. He had had to sign for a letter and he was delivering it. In the ten months we have been living here, this is the first time he has made any contact with us. And I expect it will be the last.

On Bread in Florence

Hello Kitty Handwich

Finding ourselves in Rome last weekend we went for a pizza in a swish steel and glass pizz'enorma'erria. Expectations were low but, soon after we got our drinks they brought us a basket of bread that was better than any bread I have eaten in Florence this year. Dense but holey, chewy and tasty bread with real flavour and a great crust. If anyone can find bread this good in Florence then please tell me where before we leave.

For those that do not know, Tuscan bread and hence the majority of Florentine bread is saltless. This is possibly due to punitive salt taxes in past centuries but, as I can now buy a kilo of sea salt in the supermarket for 11 cents, they don't have that excuse any more.

Saltless bread is an acquired taste. Though I am used to it now, it is not something I would choose to eat when offered a choice.  But the lack of salt is almost a side note, for what I have been yearning for whilst here in Florence is good bread full stop. Give me good Tuscan bread without salt if you want but just give me something that is not overly dry, light as a balloon, and that goes stale the day after you cut into it. Most importantly give me bread that actually tastes of something.

I come from England and in England we used to have a tradition of great baking. Industrialisation came along with their chorleywood process and knocked most artisanal bakers out of business. Now, finding good bread in England is not easy. It is available though and when it's good it's really good. However, we don't really expect good bread in England; expectations of food in England are, perhaps unfairly, different to those here in Italy.

At home I have a copy of Carol Fields' The Italian Baker and the cover of that book shows a wonderful display of handmade loaves, cakes, pizzas, breadsticks, and more. This was what I thought Italy would have to offer me when I got here. And in some bakeries I go into the display is wonderful. But so many of the actual loaves are a real disappointment. They look great on the shelf; all shapes and sizes covered in flour tempting me to buy them. But so many of them are lacking when eaten. They're fine for whipping up a pappa all pomodoro or a panzanella but for a bit of toast and jam, they're useless.

The one time that I really 'got' Tuscan bread was after we had finished picking grapes at the vendemmia last summer. Plates stacked high with panini were passed round as we stood drinking chianti from plastic cups. Those panini were bread with prosciutto or salami. No butter, no salad, nothing but bread and meat. And it worked. The salty pork combined with the saltless bread worked a treat.

That's a good food memory for me but, for all the wonderful things I have eaten in this year in Italy, Tuscan bread will play a very minor part in this years' gastrotour memories.

To help me recall in years to come and for anyone else who finds themselves in need, here is a little bit about the bread we buy and eat and where we buy it from:

Schiacciata
Schiacciata is basically what we would call focaccia back home in the UK except it is, of course, better than any focaccia I have eaten at home. That said, I live in Cambridge, which is a gastronomic wasteland. And I don't get out much.

Schiacciata is basically a bread made from whatever dough is at hand. It is thrown or rolled out into a flat rectangle shape, dimpled, then sloshed with oil and salt before baking. As most people round here bake saltless Tuscan bread most schiacciata dough is saltless.

There are two main types that I know of, the soft (morbida) type that is easier for the kids to eat and then the more 'rustic' and crusty type. The former tends to have smaller air holes in the dough and a thinner, softer crust. It is more like the focaccia that we know back home.

The other type is closer to the ciabbate we get back home. It has larger holes in it and a thicker crunchier crust; leading me to believe that the dough is much wetter than the other type.

Schiacciata also comes with toppings like pizza and with fillings for panini.

Most unavoidably though, it comes with salt. Huge amounts of salt. Tongue and lip burning quantities of the stuff. If you were worried where all the salt went for the Tuscan bread, worry not, it's here - on top of the schiacciata. So, when the ladies in the forno hand over a nice soft piece of schiacciata for your baby to munch on, you may want to think about cutting the top off before your child gets their week's dose of sodium in one hit.

Salt aside, this stuff is wonderful. Florence's equivalent of Rome's famous pizza bianca. Often served hot, greasy with olive oil and deliciously salty. Good on it's own, great with a filling. Most of the kids we know snack on it after school on the way to the park. If there are concerns about salt intake over here I haven't seen any signs of them.

So, I hear you ask, where to we get the best schiacciata in Florence? Well, I have no idea. Ask someone who actually knows this place. Then ask another.

If you are anywhere near Lucca, visit this forno.

As good as the schiacciata it is here, I am sorry to say I haven't had any as good as the focaccia in Lucca'a Forno Amadeo Giusti (an hour up the road for us). If I were able to, I would leave my family in Italy and fill my car with their focaccia so I could eat my way back to England.

Here is a run down on where we buy schiacciata in Florence. These places are listed as much for their geography (on the west of the city) as their schiacciata.

Forno  Coverciano:
This is the nearest forno to us. It's a small, busy bakery staffed by some friendly ladies with nice white hats on. I don't bother buying their Tuscan bread because I don't like it. As authentic as it may be. May be because it is authentic.

What I do buy is their pizzicotto and their schiacciata. They do two types of schiacciata: one is made, I assume, with a softer flour and hence has a cakier texture. The other is more traditional. Very crunchy and crisp with big air holes. Obviously using a wetter dough. The former has the very slightly sour taste that makes me drool for Lucca's focaccia.

I've never bought it hot from here but it's good at any temperature.

Pugi
Pugi is listed in the Food Lover's Guide to Florence as being the Florentines' favourite schiacciata bakery. It is good, really good. And the turnover is such that you can usually get it hot. They also do really good pastries and cakes too. As well as pizza by the slice. And the staff are very nice and friendly.

Piazza San Marco, where they have an outlet, is fortunately where my bus into town stops, so I have had ample opportunity this year to plough my way through a few hundred Euros worth of baked goods here. San Marco is not the most attractive place to sit and eat your oily pickings but whatever you buy won't last long I can assure you. And the convent opposite is a wonder and the accademia is round the corner for David.

My Italian teacher told me that the original Pugi on Viale dei Amicis is better. I've been there once and couldn't tell the difference. It was still good. [It's worth noting that Pizza Man have an outlet a couple of doors up from this Pugi. Their Neopolitan pizza crust is really something to behold - almost like sourdough pizza. A good stopping point for dough boys and girls].

In Central Florence, I really like the panini from a hole in the wall (see picture above) in, I think, Via del Presto next to the Casa di Dante. They fill schiacciata for you with a an array of Tuscan fillings.Yum.
Forno Sartoni, behind Coin, on Via de' Cerchi is in the book and does great schiacciata, pizze and pastries. Their bread is good too.
Pane Olio & Pizza, on the corner of Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti and Via della Mattonaia, just behind the mercato sant'ambrogio. These guys do really good schiacciata, great pizza, and good bread. I always spend a fortune in here. Maybe it's expensive....
In the piazza sant'ambrogio there is also another good forno.
Forno in Via dell' Ariento opposite the mercato centrale is good from what I remember but it's too small for me to fit the buggy in so I don't go often!
There is also plenty available in both of the main markets.


Tuscan and non-Tuscan Bread
Hmmm. Where to buy your loaf of bread? Well, I don't really have a favourite place to buy bread as I don't really have a favourite bread here in Florence.

At Forno Coverciano I buy pizzicotto, it's halfway between schiacciata and Tuscan bread. It's plumpy and soft (not too soft) dense and good for toast. That's as much as I know about it. It tastes good too of course despite the lack of salt and is pretty well my default bread choice here in Florence.

Down town, I  may buy a Pugliese (with salt!) near Mercato Sant'Ambrogio and the bread at Forno Sartori is pretty good too.

In the Co-op I can get a Pane Mughello (a region of Northern Tuscany known for its farming and agriculture) which is a great dense sourish loaf. At EsseLunga I get supermarket baked crusty white loaves not dissimilar to those I get back in England.

The best Tuscan saltless bread I have eaten was at Da Sergio's Trattoria and from Forno Sartori.

If there is a great bakery making good artisanal bread with or without salt in Florence then let me know and I'll try and find it before we head home. If anywhere makes anything as good as that Roman bread I ate I'd be very surprised. And very happy too.

Firenze Gelato Festival - Next Year, Go and Visit It.

We were planning to go to Rome on the Friday but, then news of the Firenze Gelato Festival came and I made the point to the family that it would be foolish not to go. We've been in Florence for 9 months now and I've hardly eaten any gelato. Ahem.

So, I headed down with fellow gelato friend, Laura, baby N's best friend P. For €4 we got a ticket that gave us 5 tastes. A taste being equivalent to the one 'scoop' you get as part of your standard two flavour gelato. Good value and good gealto. At various points round the city were stands housing 5 or 6 artisanal gelaterias from in and around Florence.

Notably, few if any of the stands I visited were on my gelato map of Firenze. Most I hadn't heard of. This isn't just bad scholarship on my part it is in part that Firenze is a big place with many gelaterias, most out of site of us guidebook led oafs.

This photo lists the ones from Pizza Santissima Annunziata stand:

Here I tried: Madagascan chocolate, pear and parmesan ('molto particolare' as the guy serving it said), rice pudding, fig and walnut, strawberry. All were excellent but I think I enjoyed the fig and wlanut best. A quick cup or two of the free drinking water and we headed off to the Duomo where, behind the baptistery another stand was set up.

Here I ate orange, Persiana (rose water and white chocolate), and tasted the frankly awful riso con funghi porcini.

Though I didn't really get as stuck into the festival as I could have - I didn't watch any demonstrations nor visit anywhere but the two stands mentioned - I thought it was a great festival. Well staffed, plenty of gelato and good fun. If I didn't have a baby that needed putting to bed and kids that needed picking up from school. I would have stayed for a lot more.

I also got interviewed for Italian TV. In Italian. I doubt it made it on to telly though. Maybe it'll be used for a piece on how foreigners can't speak Italian properly, or something.