Day 18 - The Art of Pasta
July 9, 2023: I’m back, and feeling better. It was a little slow start to the day, but we headed out around lunchtime to go back to one of our favorite panini shops for lunch, All’Antico Vinaio. I took one bite and decided I better not risk it and decided to skip eating lunch. We had tickets to the Bargello National Museum. After the Uffizi Gallery, the Bargello museum is considered one of the most important museums in Florence. It is housed in the former Palazzo del Bargello, where Florence's city magistrate resided. It was built in 1255 by Di Cambio's father. The palace consists of several floors and a 54 meter high clock tower, which was to warn the Florentines in case of danger. In the 16th century, the building served as the seat of the council of justice and the police and as a prison until 1857. The museum mainly has sculptures by big names such as Michelangelo, Ghiberti and Donatello. In addition, you will find enamel and ivory artifacts as well as weapons, jewelry and tapestries. I have to admit, after going to so many museums in the past two weeks, it unfortunately loses some of it’s appeal, but the building was amazing and it was worth a walk through.
The temperature was close to 100 degrees, so after the museum, we headed back to our air conditioned apartment to cool off and I was exhausted so I took a little nap 😴. By late afternoon I was feeling much better.
In the evening we had booked a tour through Pasta Florence called “The Art of Pasta and Wine Tasting with a Sommelier”. It was by far one of our best experiences so far on this trip. The chef’s name was Marco and he as so personable with great English. He spent some time in the U.S. and various other countries honing his culinary skills, but he missed his nonna and decided to move back to Florence where he teamed up with a couple of friends to start Pasta Florence. We made three types of pasta; ravioli, tagliatelle and tagliolini. It was fun to learn how to make a simple pasta with your hands. So easy!! After finishing our pasta, we sat and learned about wine from Filippo, who is a master sommelier while Marco cooked and prepared our pasta with three different sauces. It was SO much food and the taste was incredible. Jimm liked it more than me only because there were mushrooms and olives in some of the dishes 😂. All in all was the perfect evening. We didn’t get back to our apartment until after midnight, which is very late for us! Now we head to Rome on another train.
Jimm’s rating for today: *****+