An evening in the Oltrarno

Well after a nap of a couple of hours I was functioning but not yet hitting on all eight so I considered blowing the evening event of but wine and cheese in Tuscany I ultimately asked myself “are you nuts?”

So first was a fifteen minute walk to Piazza di Santo Spirito where we met Katrina, our guide. This in a way a pub crawl with food which started with a glass of sparkling wine. (Not Prosecco if it’s not from Prosecco it can’t be called Prosecco ) but it sure tasted like Prosecco lol.

In a way this was kind of like a progressive dinner, so of course the first course was an antipasto of meats and cheeses. The owner is known as the King of Cheese in the Oltrarno. We learned a bit about Prosciutto and Pecorino (sheep’s milk) both of which were tasty.

From there it was on to the wine window.

At one point there were over 150 wine windows in Florence. People were limited on the number of bottles of wine they could produce but not the number of glasses they could sell, so the wine window in Medici time was away to unload excess production and away for the landed gentry to earn a little more income from the wine they produced.

The wine window we drew from gained some fame when Stanley Tucci came by during a searching for Italy segment. The wine was good. Well Duh! It’s Italy all the wine is good 😂😂. Our next stop was a wine cellar for some more charcuterie.

The interesting item presented here was “formaggio tartar” which is diced aged pecorino mixed with fig jam and served on raddicio leaves. Very tasty and, again, an outstanding Tuscany red blend.

Our next to last venue was the prima e secondi corsi with a very nice Ribollita (Tuscan bread soup, vegetable) and pasta with a wild boar ragù. With our final venue being a gelato shop wear I had a combination of pistachio and caramelle gelatos (Sorry, no pics of those, guess I was hungry)

The stroll back was lovely crossing the Arno River by way of the Ponte Santa Trinità which allowed for a nice shot of the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge)

With ample food wine and gelato on board I sauntered back to the hotel and fell asleep with visions of the truffle hunting to come dancing in my head.

Next we get back on the time line and begin to drink from the fire hose with a tour of the Duomo. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. Ciao