Florence Is Your Food Heaven

After studying abroad in Florence for a full semester, I am pretty sure I could write a whole book on how amazing the food in Florence is. You will never ever have a bad meal here - as long as you stay away from the typical tourist areas. My biggest piece of food advice is to eat where the locals eat; you know the place will be authentic if all you hear around you is Italian.

During my four months in Florence, TripAdvisor became my best friend. It is such an awesome tool and I loved being able to read people's reviews on each restaurant to see what to order or what the atmosphere was like. One of my top favorite places I went to for dinner was called La Fettunta (close to the Uffizi). My boyfriend and I went here for a late night dinner - it was packed! We ended up waiting a little over 30 minutes, but it was more than worth the wait. We were no doubt the only two people in the whole place speaking English. We noticed people around us were only ordering one small plate of food, but come on, we're Americans, we wanted more than that. This is one of those places where you want to order different things, so you can try everything. We ended up ordering the porcenta - which is a must-try in Italy. It is a deliciously seasoned pork that tastes good warm or cold. I highly recommend trying it on a sandwich as well! Another must to try at La Fettuna is the pappardelle pasta with bolognese sauce. The noodles were SO good (homemade, too!), you'll be dreaming about them forever. The atmosphere also made this place one of my favorites. The menu was simple, the food was cheap, and the place was the perfect Italian, family-owned feel restaurant.

You can't go to Italy and not get pizza. Let me tell you, I tried my fair share of pizza while abroad and O'Vesuvio had to be favorite. It was recently see on Jersey Shore, where the cast worked, but don't let that stop you because their pizza is to die for. If you're going on a weekend night, I would call to make a reservation because it gets super busy and they stop taking reservations once they get full. They have lots of options for types of pizza, but the thing that makes this place the best is the ricotta stuff crust you can add to any pizza. If I could eat it for the rest of my life, I would. You can finish off your meal with a nutella pizza covered in powered sugar -it is a MUST!

At one point or another you will crave an American breakfast. My absolutely favorite breakfast spot is Le Vespe. Their breakfast still has me drooling. The place is super small, but the decor makes it unique and special. Everything on the menu sounds amazing. Trust me I was never disappointed and I was there a numerous amount of times. My top two recommendations would be the breakfast burrito or the scrambled eggs with spinach and feta. They have lots of speciality drinks including flavored iced coffees and healthy smoothies. Le Vespe is owned by a Canadian woman and all the workers speak English, so don't be intimidated the first time you go in! This place gets super busy on the weekends, so I would beat the hungover Americans by going before ten or going on a week day!

Finally, Italy is known for their gelato. Florence definitely lives up to their expectations, but I went through a lot of different places to find my top favorites. Two of my favorite places were across the river, but more than worth the walk. Gelateria La Carraia and Gelateria Santa Trinita were the places I visited most when I was abroad. I also got the caramel at both places, but you truly can't go wrong with any flavor. Another one of favorites would be Gelateria dei Neri, where you HAVE to get the salted caramel. I am a huge salted caramel lover, so this place definitely agreed with my taste buds. Finally, the last place I recommend visiting is Marco Ottaviano Il Gelato Gourmet and no surprise - I found this place on TripAdvisor. It is owned by an Italian couple who make their gelato right there in their shop. They have a frequent visitor reward card where you will receive a free gelato after a certain amount of visits, which you will for sure fill up during your abroad trip.The gelato addiction is a real thing. Eat as much as you can and don't feel guilty about it because you will miss it.

Florence has some of the best food I have ever tasted, so don't miss out and always treat yourself because you never know when you'll be back!