I love to cook - I'm not an expert, but if I know what's in the pantry and frig, I'll improvise. Our first evening in Florence, we chose to indulge at an osteria down the street. I found it mentioned in all 3 of our guide books. Real Naples pizza with muzzerella. The host/owner reminds me of an Italian pirate, just give him a parrot and an eye patch (see him in the background?) We picked bruschetta, pizza, and fusilli with ricotta and pomodoro sauce. Oh my! The whole meal was better than we encountered in Rome (which was fabulous!). The fusilli pasta was long strands of corkscrews and creamy with the ricotta. The wood fired pizza had puffed crust with thin center, covered in sausage and muzzerella. We went back our second week. Our pizza choice was Diavola - prosciutto, olives, and peperoni (peppers). Heaven. Though some BBQ chicken pizza sounds good, too. Like most stores and restaurants in Italy, it closes for August, so we'll try to visit several more times before then.
Nerbone in Central Market serves delicious cheap food up to workers, shoppers, and exhausted tourist. We wandered around the central market and decided their pasta looked scrumptious. Mom had rigatoni with boar meat sauce and I went for the parsley pesto farfalle. Both were superb.
