I love how Florence is a city, with everything that a city can offer, but at the same time it maintains that neighborly feel that we have lost in so many urban environments. In Florence you can still buy most of what you need in open-air markets located within the city center: whether it's fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and eggs, clothes, or even furniture that you're looking for, you can be sure to find it just a few blocks away from home. This adds so much value to living within the city, and makes for such lovely routines!
Imagine: you can wake up, walk out of your home, stop for a light, healthy breakfast in one of the numerous bars, and just a few blocks away you can enjoy a morning stroll amidst colourful market stands. The vibrant tones of fresh produce, the enticing odours of cheeses, warm baked bread, amazing dishes, will accompany you as you choose what to bring back home with you. Most vendors will let you have a small taste of their delicacies so you can decide what to purchase (...and they might even give you an extra bite just for niceness!).
One of my favourite routines involves the Market of Sant'Ambrogio in the central location of Piazza Ghiberti.
This market is open Monday through Saturday from early morning to 2 PM, and is perhaps the most beautiful one in the city: an old building with cheese, meat, fish and prepared dishes stands is sorrounded by a covered area with fresh produce stands where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables, but also organic eggs, honey, cheese and other delicacies. One thing that I love about this market is that you can actually buy everything from local contadini - farmers that grow their own produce in the outskirts of Florence and every morning bring their goods to us city dwellers.
On one corner outside there's always a little old man with a small, odd setup: almost a little cart with wheels, where he displays on small shelves baskets of fresh eggs, honey, propolis, and sometimes even fresh juice in small glass bottles (my favourite is the blueberry - so good for your eyes!). He even has little bottles of a special remedy for a sore throat - so in those first chilly autumn days (like now!) I always make sure to stop by and stock up with all his amazing goodies.
My Sant'Ambrogio routine usually involves getting up early (no fresh eggs past 1030!), walking to the Market area, and stopping for breakfast at Teatro del Sale in in Via de' Macci 111r. If you've never heard of this place, you're in for a treat!
Imagine walking in a real theatre, with a small beautiful stage, tall ceilings with stunning woodden- beams, elegant red-velved chairs, artwork on the walls...and be served a ten course breakfast with freshly baked torte (cakes), hot coffee and tea, yogurt with honey and cereal, and their signature dish: the best schiacciata (focaccia bread) you'll ever have, steaming hot, cut in little strips, and served with mortadella. Enough to convince you? It will be the best and most beautiful breakfast of your life!
After such a meal, you will have all the energy you need to carry around your bags full of fruits and vegetables! Remember to bring with you a cloth-shopping bag: it is the best way to carry a lot of weight. The market vendors put most of their produce in small, breakable, plastic bags; if you don't bring your own big cloth bag, you'll end up with six or seven little ones that are difficult to carry (they really cut through your fingers!). A cloth bag is not only the most sensible choice to make, it's also the most sensitive: Italy has banned plastic bags for ecological reasons, but it seems that shops and markets aren't yet equipped with the ecological alternative of cloth bags or bags made of recycled materials.
You can purchase a cloth bag at most grocery stores for an euro or two at most, and they last a really long time. I have one that I love very much, and that I received as a gift from a market vendor at the other amazing city market: San Lorenzo. I'll tell you all about it in my next post.
Until then, enjoy your new Florentine morning routines and adventures!
Ciao!
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