Looking Back: Italy
In April last year, me and Pin went to Italy and travelled up from Rome, through Florence and Bologna, to Venice. It was truly amazing and hopefully the start of many exciting trips. I've finally got round to writing about it and with having so much to possibly talk about have decided to give an attempted brief round-up of the places we feel are definitely worth a visit. They are, in true fashion of this blog, mostly food related except...
The Beehive, Rome
Coming highly recommended, this was our accommodation of choice in Rome. It was very affordable, very close to the train station, clean, modern and an all-round sanctuary for the evenings in a busy city. Everything about this place was loveable- the rooms, the art in the halls, the people who worked there, the breakfasts (oh my gosh, the breakfasts), the family photo laden sofa and computer room...just everything. The perfect place to find for a home away from home on your travels
http://www.the-beehive.com/home.html
Mondo Arancina, Rome
One of the big highlights of going to Italy is, of course, the pizza. I love pizza. Even more so I love pizza in Italy. And even more than that, I love pizza from Mondo Arancina. Everything we got from here was pure heaven, especially the Pizza Bufala and Pizza Patate; both without tomato sauce, the first simply just with some garlicy buttery stuff and ripped pieces of mozzarella on top while the latter was topped with this delicious rosemaryish potato stuff. Words cannot describe, not even my own made up ones. And not wanting to stop there, they make the best Arancina i found in Italy. A filled riceball coated in breadcrumbs and fried. My personal favourite was mozzarella and spinach.
http://www.mondoarancina.it/
Pizzeria Da Baffetto, Rome
In very stark contrast to Mondo Arancina’s quite plump pizza slices cut to measure and takeaway are Pizzeria Da Baffetto’s family run sit-down pizzeria solely specialising in their roman style pizza. Right from the off, this place is an amazing experience. Queuing to get in is almost guaranteed until it is your turn to be beckoned in according to how many seats are free. And that is quite literally just the seats- we were a group of two sat down on a table of four, so had two lovely teachers on a school trip to chat to over dinner! While some people might find this a bit odd, i though it just added to the charm of the place. Then came the food. Pizza here is taken seriously, and the chaps who were making them were churning out perfect pizza after pizza tirelessly for hours on end and were experts. We were lucky to be sat right next to the pizza making area and could watch the process in its full glory. The precision of it was just phenomenal, and being able to watch my pizza come from creation to the plate in front of me and then dig in to it was amazing. Pin went for zucchini and i went for quattro formaggi. And it was a damn good pizza.
http://www.pizzeriabaffetto.it/index.asp
Forno, Rome
We found this place by accident while strolling around a bit lost and it was quite the treasure. They make all things doughy from breads to panettone and pizza to cakes. We had some delicious pizza (another potato, a ham and possibly margherita) cut to the length you want and priced by the weight, as well as a scrumptious custard-rice tart. What was really nice too was the fact it was a local haunt; a beautiful building from the 1800’s located alongside a market and full of Romans. A wonderful experience for anyone who wants to get a feel of the real Rome.
http://www.fornocampodefiori.com/
Grom, Florence and Bologna
This particular photo is of Grom in Florence, but we found one in Bologna and one was soon opening in Venice. The setting was modern and clean with the servers being trained to serve and present the ice cream in a particular Grom way. Plus, there were some nice unique and different flavours which all just divine. Between the two shops we tried such things as caramello al sale, pompelmo, torroncino, fior di latte and crema di grom. I hope they one day branch out to England!
http://www.grom.it/eng/index.php
Gelateria Dei Neri, Florence
Gelateria Dei Neri was a lovely little place packed with delicious treats. Gelato, sorbetti and semi-freddo lined a few freezers while there were cannoli stacked high and cones of various sizes and types lined along the counter. As with all the best ice cream in Italy, everything was homemade and i fell in love with their cioccolato messicano- chocolate, pistachio and chilli ice cream. YUM.
Vestri, Florence
Vestri was another little gem- part gelateria, part shop where they sell their homemade chocolates. I very nearly came away with some gorgeous looking chilli hot chocolate (still wish i had!). What i particularly loved was how snug it was. Cramped isn’t the right word, mainly because it has negative connotation, but as you go in to the ice cream serving area there is just about enough room for two people to pass each other. There are shelves up to the roof stacked with little sweet delights and something to see everywhere. Then the shop next door is quite a contrast; glass shelving lines just the walls while the back wall is completely mirror and the front is completely glass, giving an open and airy feeling. And, of course, the ice cream was delish!
http://www.vestri.it/
L’Osteria Di Giovanni, Florence
We ate her on our final night in Florence and it was quite the treat. Our waiter was fabulous and appreciated our attempts at Italian, as well as giving us recommendations and bringing us little tasters. All of the food was fabulous, fresh and very filling but the highlight was their starter; Giovanni’s Antipasto. It consisted of proscuittio, artisanal salami’s, crostini with liver pate, lard from colonnata, ricotta and a spelt salad. With bread, of course! The setting was sleek while being quite traditional and felt quite sophisticated. All in all, a lovely find.
http://www.osteriadigiovanni.com/
Venchi, Bologna
Entering Venchi felt like walking into a high end chocolate shop, very glamourous, stylish and somewhat sexy! With a theme of chocolate browns running throughout you immediately feel peckish, so it’s a good job they’ve got their range of chocolates and ice cream to choose from right in front of you! Similarly to Grom, they had some of their own unique flavours such as ‘brutto ma buono latte’ and ‘unico caramel’. Naughty and moreish, these ice creams are proper scrummy.
http://www.venchi.it/
La Sorbetteria Castiglione, Bologna
This is the god amongst men of gelaterias. It is mind-blowingly good. The old cliché ‘better than sex’ comes to mind. Alongside the more ‘normal’ flavours are their trademark named flavours:
Crema Michelangelo – almond with toasted almonds
Cremino Ludovico – praline with cocoa butter
Dolce Karin – white chocolate with caramelised nuts
Crema Edoardo –mascarpone with pine kernels
Dolce Emma – ricotta with dried figs and honey
Cremino Guglielmo – mascarpone with coffee and cocoa nibs
Dolce Contagio – pine nut and caramelised walnut
Dolce Mu – Dulce De leche
Alongside a few of the other flavours we tried all of these in the space of two days. Some twice. Easily the best ice cream we had in Italy and, while we didn’t go to relatively many places, we did try close to 90 flavours! Just AMAZING. And i haven’t even talked about the chocolate chip brioche bun that they used to house four scoops of ice cream...
http://www.lasorbetteria.it/index_eng.php
Gelateria il Sogno di Walter, Bologna
Compared to the grandeur of Castiglione, this place is quite small and simple. However, the flavour packed into their ice cream doesn’t fall far below. With not being quite so big, the chap who runs the place was really happy to talk to us and explain a few things about the flavours and give us recommendations. A really friendly place to sit and enjoy a great tasting ice cream. Or two. Or three. Of particular deliciousness was their signature flavour ‘Sogno Di Walter’.
Osteria Ae Sconte, Venice
We found this place while haplessly walking around the small back streets of Venice, which i was useless at navigating. A charming place, again, with great service. We had the choice to sit inside or out in the small square that it fronted onto; we chose the latter. Quite magical, really. The food was local, fresh, delicious and reasonable. Plus the wine was perfect, which i put down to their good selection and our good taste!
http://www.osteriaaesconte.it/
Suso, Venice
For us, Suso was our saving grace for ice cream in Venice. We tried a few places and compared what we’d become accustom to in terms of quality, we just couldn’t find it in Venice. Then, after our meal at Osteria Ae Sconte (and having quaffed a fair bit of wine) we were once again walking around the streets of Venice, somewhat lost, when we found Suso. Not the best we’d found through Italy but certainly the best in Venice (maybe that is until Grom opens though). With some really refreshing flavours, like green tea, and a couple of real winners in both their self-named creation and ‘noce e fico’, I’d recommend heading here if you’re going to Venice.
The Beehive, Rome
Coming highly recommended, this was our accommodation of choice in Rome. It was very affordable, very close to the train station, clean, modern and an all-round sanctuary for the evenings in a busy city. Everything about this place was loveable- the rooms, the art in the halls, the people who worked there, the breakfasts (oh my gosh, the breakfasts), the family photo laden sofa and computer room...just everything. The perfect place to find for a home away from home on your travels
http://www.the-beehive.com/home.html
Mondo Arancina, Rome
One of the big highlights of going to Italy is, of course, the pizza. I love pizza. Even more so I love pizza in Italy. And even more than that, I love pizza from Mondo Arancina. Everything we got from here was pure heaven, especially the Pizza Bufala and Pizza Patate; both without tomato sauce, the first simply just with some garlicy buttery stuff and ripped pieces of mozzarella on top while the latter was topped with this delicious rosemaryish potato stuff. Words cannot describe, not even my own made up ones. And not wanting to stop there, they make the best Arancina i found in Italy. A filled riceball coated in breadcrumbs and fried. My personal favourite was mozzarella and spinach.
http://www.mondoarancina.it/
Pizzeria Da Baffetto, Rome
In very stark contrast to Mondo Arancina’s quite plump pizza slices cut to measure and takeaway are Pizzeria Da Baffetto’s family run sit-down pizzeria solely specialising in their roman style pizza. Right from the off, this place is an amazing experience. Queuing to get in is almost guaranteed until it is your turn to be beckoned in according to how many seats are free. And that is quite literally just the seats- we were a group of two sat down on a table of four, so had two lovely teachers on a school trip to chat to over dinner! While some people might find this a bit odd, i though it just added to the charm of the place. Then came the food. Pizza here is taken seriously, and the chaps who were making them were churning out perfect pizza after pizza tirelessly for hours on end and were experts. We were lucky to be sat right next to the pizza making area and could watch the process in its full glory. The precision of it was just phenomenal, and being able to watch my pizza come from creation to the plate in front of me and then dig in to it was amazing. Pin went for zucchini and i went for quattro formaggi. And it was a damn good pizza.
http://www.pizzeriabaffetto.it/index.asp
Forno, Rome
We found this place by accident while strolling around a bit lost and it was quite the treasure. They make all things doughy from breads to panettone and pizza to cakes. We had some delicious pizza (another potato, a ham and possibly margherita) cut to the length you want and priced by the weight, as well as a scrumptious custard-rice tart. What was really nice too was the fact it was a local haunt; a beautiful building from the 1800’s located alongside a market and full of Romans. A wonderful experience for anyone who wants to get a feel of the real Rome.
http://www.fornocampodefiori.com/
Grom, Florence and Bologna
This particular photo is of Grom in Florence, but we found one in Bologna and one was soon opening in Venice. The setting was modern and clean with the servers being trained to serve and present the ice cream in a particular Grom way. Plus, there were some nice unique and different flavours which all just divine. Between the two shops we tried such things as caramello al sale, pompelmo, torroncino, fior di latte and crema di grom. I hope they one day branch out to England!
http://www.grom.it/eng/index.php
Gelateria Dei Neri, Florence
Gelateria Dei Neri was a lovely little place packed with delicious treats. Gelato, sorbetti and semi-freddo lined a few freezers while there were cannoli stacked high and cones of various sizes and types lined along the counter. As with all the best ice cream in Italy, everything was homemade and i fell in love with their cioccolato messicano- chocolate, pistachio and chilli ice cream. YUM.
Vestri, Florence
Vestri was another little gem- part gelateria, part shop where they sell their homemade chocolates. I very nearly came away with some gorgeous looking chilli hot chocolate (still wish i had!). What i particularly loved was how snug it was. Cramped isn’t the right word, mainly because it has negative connotation, but as you go in to the ice cream serving area there is just about enough room for two people to pass each other. There are shelves up to the roof stacked with little sweet delights and something to see everywhere. Then the shop next door is quite a contrast; glass shelving lines just the walls while the back wall is completely mirror and the front is completely glass, giving an open and airy feeling. And, of course, the ice cream was delish!
http://www.vestri.it/
L’Osteria Di Giovanni, Florence
We ate her on our final night in Florence and it was quite the treat. Our waiter was fabulous and appreciated our attempts at Italian, as well as giving us recommendations and bringing us little tasters. All of the food was fabulous, fresh and very filling but the highlight was their starter; Giovanni’s Antipasto. It consisted of proscuittio, artisanal salami’s, crostini with liver pate, lard from colonnata, ricotta and a spelt salad. With bread, of course! The setting was sleek while being quite traditional and felt quite sophisticated. All in all, a lovely find.
http://www.osteriadigiovanni.com/
Venchi, Bologna
Entering Venchi felt like walking into a high end chocolate shop, very glamourous, stylish and somewhat sexy! With a theme of chocolate browns running throughout you immediately feel peckish, so it’s a good job they’ve got their range of chocolates and ice cream to choose from right in front of you! Similarly to Grom, they had some of their own unique flavours such as ‘brutto ma buono latte’ and ‘unico caramel’. Naughty and moreish, these ice creams are proper scrummy.
http://www.venchi.it/
La Sorbetteria Castiglione, Bologna
This is the god amongst men of gelaterias. It is mind-blowingly good. The old cliché ‘better than sex’ comes to mind. Alongside the more ‘normal’ flavours are their trademark named flavours:
Crema Michelangelo – almond with toasted almonds
Cremino Ludovico – praline with cocoa butter
Dolce Karin – white chocolate with caramelised nuts
Crema Edoardo –mascarpone with pine kernels
Dolce Emma – ricotta with dried figs and honey
Cremino Guglielmo – mascarpone with coffee and cocoa nibs
Dolce Contagio – pine nut and caramelised walnut
Dolce Mu – Dulce De leche
Alongside a few of the other flavours we tried all of these in the space of two days. Some twice. Easily the best ice cream we had in Italy and, while we didn’t go to relatively many places, we did try close to 90 flavours! Just AMAZING. And i haven’t even talked about the chocolate chip brioche bun that they used to house four scoops of ice cream...
http://www.lasorbetteria.it/index_eng.php
Gelateria il Sogno di Walter, Bologna
Compared to the grandeur of Castiglione, this place is quite small and simple. However, the flavour packed into their ice cream doesn’t fall far below. With not being quite so big, the chap who runs the place was really happy to talk to us and explain a few things about the flavours and give us recommendations. A really friendly place to sit and enjoy a great tasting ice cream. Or two. Or three. Of particular deliciousness was their signature flavour ‘Sogno Di Walter’.
Osteria Ae Sconte, Venice
We found this place while haplessly walking around the small back streets of Venice, which i was useless at navigating. A charming place, again, with great service. We had the choice to sit inside or out in the small square that it fronted onto; we chose the latter. Quite magical, really. The food was local, fresh, delicious and reasonable. Plus the wine was perfect, which i put down to their good selection and our good taste!
http://www.osteriaaesconte.it/
Suso, Venice
For us, Suso was our saving grace for ice cream in Venice. We tried a few places and compared what we’d become accustom to in terms of quality, we just couldn’t find it in Venice. Then, after our meal at Osteria Ae Sconte (and having quaffed a fair bit of wine) we were once again walking around the streets of Venice, somewhat lost, when we found Suso. Not the best we’d found through Italy but certainly the best in Venice (maybe that is until Grom opens though). With some really refreshing flavours, like green tea, and a couple of real winners in both their self-named creation and ‘noce e fico’, I’d recommend heading here if you’re going to Venice.
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