Pian dei Giullari

After two abandoned plans, one being to take a 3-hour train-ride to visit Ravenna (on the east coast) and the other to rent a car with a couple of guys and for me to drive (!) to Pienza (this has been rescheduled to tomorrow to include a friend who has his own car here), I asked K-Bravo if, on his last weekend in Florence, he would be willing to take a small trip with me to Pian dei Giullari. Our teacher recommended this spot in the same hills that house the Piazzale Michelangelo. When he told us what the normal bus schedule is like, I found it strange that he said we'd only need an hour. I realized later that he was totally correct. There is nothing to do in this tiny town other than eat and take a few pictures of panorama. So that is what we did.

Porta Romana and Piazza della Calza

First things first: Italy functioning the strange way it is, there is no fixed bus schedule to get here. Instead they have this phone number you call to reserve a bus. Tell me where the efficiency is in that?! I had checked Google Maps for their transit schedule yesterday and "luckily" the time they gave me and the actual sort-of-bus-schedule were only 30 minutes apart. The bus ride only took about 10-15 minutes.

It wasn't hard to find the restaurant since there is only one main street. We arrived at Trattoria Omero and had high expectations since it was recommended by both my aunt and my teacher. We just didn't realize how expensive it was until our bill came (maybe I shouldn't have ordered that 10€ dessert!), and after having some time to reflect about it I'm not sure if the panorama, though beautiful, was worth the price we paid. Maybe you can be the judge.

The view from Trattoria Omero

We decided to share an appetizer and each get a pasta. When I saw culatello on the menu I was instantly sold--culatello is a special type of prosciutto crudo which should, in theory, taste better. So why the milly leaf did it taste worse than some prosciutti I have had in the past? And by the way, the small crostino with the white stuff on it was nasty. It tasted seafoody and brainy altogether. I never asked the waiter what it was.

Culatello

Luckily the pasta tasted much, much better. I had fresh pappardelle pasta with tomatoes, basil, pine nuts, and smoked provolone cheese. K-Bravo had his first ravioli ever!

Pappardelle fresche con pomodoro, basilico, pinoli, e provolone affumicato

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce

I was reasonably satisfied but, as always, was curious with what the dessert menu had to offer. When I saw that they had a sort of chocolate lava cake made with ricotta cheese I knew what had to be done. Order! K-Bravo, on the other hand, was still hungry so he ordered a very good (and surprisingly large) dish of french fries and fried vegetables, including zucchini flowers.

Tortino con cioccolato e ricotta

After lunch we decided to walk back to the city centre via the Piazzale Michelangelo since we missed the last bus that our driver had told us about (and he didn't have his colleague's schedule who would be taking over the route). On the way we found one great spot for pictures. 

Mmm jasmine! I can never tire of your smell...

After descending we walked to the high-fashion shopping district (near Via Tornabuoni) for coffee at Caffè Giacosa, Roberto Cavalli's caffè situated right next to his shop. My teacher goes here every morning and said that they have really good and cheap lunches there too (but only if you eat inside). I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but in Italy there is usually a huge price difference between drinking your coffee at the counter and sitting at a table. If the place is in an expensive part of town and has a patio, you can expect even higher prices there. I just had a latte macchiato.

To end our action-packed day (which, as is usual with my outings with K-Bravo or most friends in general, centred around food), we headed to the church of San Lorenzo (no photos allowed) since it was one of the last places of must-sees on my list. My former roomie Leni from Berlin had raved about the Italian guided tour that was included in the price of the ticket so I was looking forward to my visit; however, after asking several staff when the next tour would start, being told that the guide would return in 5 minutes, and subsequently waiting almost an hour, I asked again and was told that there were no more tours. WTML?! Only in Italy.

So I did the unGiosian thing and talked to the ticket office, insisting they let me return another day without paying again for the ticket since I had only come to partake in the tour. After a bit of back and forth she consented, taking my ticket and simply writing "OK" on the back. Whether or not this will actually work when I return is another story. I have a feeling that it won't.

Today's word of the day is servizio a chiamata, meaning "service by call". Don't believe this can exist instead of a bus schedule? Look here.