Off the trail: Florence, Italy

We had arrived in Florence after a week on the relatively peaceful Liguria Coast, where we hiked the mountains around Cinque Terre. Sure the quaint villages were bustling with people but it never felt overly crowded.

But, any relative peace we had experienced was left behind in Portovenere once we stepped off the train in Florence. Florence was busy. Very busy. Throngs of tourists and cruise ship groups filled the narrow streets and piazzas. 

Having been to Florence seven years ago, I had sweet memories of walking the maze of streets undeterred by crowds as it was October and the summer season was long over. So, for me, I knew that if I wanted to truly enjoy the city and experience all the magical moments it has to offer (again), I had to find ways to escape the masses to enjoy the pulsing heart of Tuscany and started searching for hidden gems.

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How I spent two & a half days in Florence while avoiding the crowds

Getting off the beaten track, away from the undulating waves of tourists, offered us a truly lovely time in Florence and that made it feel like the quaint, beautiful city it is.

WHERE TO EAT

Tuscany is all about food. You can't go to Florence and eat mediocre food - that would be a great travesty. Tuscan food is also all about meat, which I don't eat. This meant we had to dig a little deeper to find restaurants that had other yummy options for me. And we did. They all had meat on the menu but had vegetarian options so bonus.

While travelling we follow a general rule when it comes to finding a restaurant - never choose a restaurant that has pictures of the food on the menu - that screams tourist place and that's what we want to avoid. You won't find pictures on the menus of the restaurants listed below. My other recommendation is to go beyond the restaurants encircling the Duomo and into the side streets. The further out you go, the better the restaurants.

For Lunch:

Amblé
Piazzetta dei del Bene, 7a
Tucked in an alley not far from the bustling streets leading to Ponte Vechio, you'll find Amblé. This is a true local find serving healthy, locally-sourced food. We had sandwiches and fries and beer and it was all very yummy. This is a true hidden gem of Florence. Highly recommend it as you'll find a quiet patio with ultra cool furniture. Cool vibes, great food. A definite must if you want to experience Florence like a local.
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For Breakfast, Lunch and/or Dinner:

Eataly
Via De Martelli 22 R
If you're lucky enough to have an Eataly where you live, then you know how amazing it is - like a little miniature village of all the best Italian foods. Now just imagine if that Eataly was in Florence and you get the very best of all Italian foods. I can honestly say that the pizza I had at Eataly was the best I had of the whole trip. I had no idea that fried crispy sage complemented a tomato and burrato pizza so incredibly but it was delicious. If you don't want to venture too far from the Duomo, Eataly is your best bet. You also can beat the market if you're looking for Italian treats to bring home.
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For Dinner:

BaccoMatto EnoBristrot
Via dè Neri, 39 R
This cozy Tuscan bistro, BaccoMatto offered us one of the best meals of our whole trip. There is no outdoor seating so you might miss it's narrow entrance and there are only 10 or so tables so it's not about volume but more about the experience of the food, which is fresh, seasonal and local, and made in the traditional Tuscan ideology quality and authenticity. The service was wonderful, food was rich and bursting with flavour. It also has a wall of wine, which is simply divine if you ask me. Be sure to treat yourself to a dessert accompanied by a dessert wine. You heart and tummy will thank you.

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Risotteria Melotti
Via dei Servi 65 R
I am a huge fan of risotto and if you come to mine for dinner, chances are I'll serve a risotto as it's one of my specialities. So you can imagine my absolute delight when we came across Risotteria Melotti - a restaurant specializing in, yep, risotto. The family behind the restaurant have been rice farmers since 1986​. There was no way I was passing up a chance to eat authentic risotto and it did not disappoint. Mine was a rosemary with creamy cheese (currently not listed on their menu) and it was decadent. It also boasts to be gluten free so this is an excellent restaurant for those with gluten sensitivities, especially in a sea of pizza and pasta places. And bonus - they sell all kinds of family-farm grown rice perfect for making risotto at home, so you betcha I bought a bag!

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WHAT TO DO

There is a lot to see in Florence and you could easily spend all your time waiting in lines to get into the largest, more popular attractions like the Duomo or the Galleria dell'Accademia to see David) and if that's your thing, cool. But if you're indifferent to missing some of those things and prefer venturing off into less crowded territory, as we did, here are a few suggestions.​

Take a food & wine tour
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Dalle Nostre Mani - Farm Tour 
I highly recommend seeing the city and Tuscany through its food and wine. We opted to get out of Florence and into Tuscany. Yes it seems odd to go to Florence only to leave the city but you'd miss exploring the incredible countryside around it and the historical towns (Sienna, San Gimignano, for example). Having visited the traditional Tuscan sight-seeing towns before, we chose one a little more off the beaten path.

​We found a Farm Tour that satisfied our love of wine, cooking, and organic farming - highly recommend it. The tour picks you up in Florence and drives you to the farm where you are met with refreshments. Your guide then takes you around the farm introducing you to all sorts of herbs and plants and also Paco, the resident grumpy pig. Then you step foot among the vineyards where you learn about the four different wines they make. This all lead to the wine tasting, which brings together the scents of the garden herbs and plants and the flavour of the different grapes. There's a lot of heart and soul and passion and knowledge that goes into their wine making and so it made it hard to pick   a favourite wine as they were all really good. We also got entertained by our tour guide who happens to be a professional opera singer - bonus! Then we headed to the kitchen and made ravioli, which we then ate sitting on their beautiful garden terrace with some of the wine produced right there. Can't get a more authentic Tuscan experience than that!

While time didn't allow, the same company offers pasta cooking classes in Florence and if our experience on the Farm was any indication, the classes would be fun.
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Visit a (lesser known) museum

Museo di Palazzo Davanzati
Via Porta Rossa 13
You can easily walk by this museum and not know what's behind the arched doorways but if you do, you'd miss an extraordinary gem. Visiting the Palazzo Davanzati​ is like stepping back in time. It's a 14th century palace built by a wealthy family and sold to another wealthy family a hundred years later, the Davazati's, whose family lived in the palace for close to 300 years (that is extraordinary in itself!). While there have been many incarnations of the building over the centuries, in the last century it was painstakingly restored to reflect a Florentine home from the time it was built. Painted walls reflecting scenes of life and times of the 1300s, to sheer sizes of the rooms, to the bedroom ensuites - having an indoor toilets was a rarity in palatial homes at the time - and that the one and only kitchen was on the top floor of the house because fire was an ever present risk are some of the fascinating things about this house. It's one of the few remaining buildings from that time.

The bonus of this museum is that for a large portion of our visit we were the only ones there and it was like our own private tour. Go early and you'll feel like they opened the museum just for you. It's an extraordinary experience to walk through the rooms of houses where people live, slept, ate, congregated and entertained. In essence you feel like a time traveller walking into a room that the residents just left. While I do appreciate art, I love stepping back in history.​ If you love history, you won't want to miss the Palazzo Davanzati.

Get lost, literally

Explore the winding narrow streets
The streets of Florence are narrow and full of shops and cafes and you can spend hours meandering through them. Guaranteed you will get lost but that's half the fun. How to make the most of getting lost:

• Have a croissant and cappuccino in the morning, a gelato and/or espresso in the afternoon, finesse the fine art of the aperitivo with an Aperol spritz - you can't get anymore local than that.
• Listen to the artists playing classical music or singing opera.
• Stroll through Piazza della Signoria and see a replica David any time (no lines!).
• Stroll across Ponte Vecchio to the Oltrarno neighborhood and meander through the winding streets (there are some great restaurants in this area too) before crossing back over on Ponte Santa Trinita to get a photo looking back on Ponte Vecchio (Random fact: Ponte Vecchio was once known as slaughter bridge and the Medici family built a 'tunnel' above Ponte Vecchio so they didn't have to walk by the slaughter of animals - yup, ew, gross)
• And, one of my favourite activities -  browse the many shoe stores that proudly sell made-in-Italy shoes that will make you wish you had extra space in your suitcase.

Florence is a city that is waiting for your to discover its hidden gems.