Angela Salazar

After a long journey from San Francisco, I happily arrived at my new Italian home, just a cobblestone’s throw from Il Duomo, Florence’s grand cathedral, and Michelangelo’s David, which resides in The Accademia Gallery. (More on those later!) I decided to spend my first full day in Florence on foot, exploring the city. This led me to (1.) cappuccino, (2.) gelato, and (3.) Mercato Centrale. Clearly, eating was my main priority after two days of airport food! Mercato Centrale is like a juiced up, Tuscan version the Farmer’s Market at The Grove in Los Angeles. Its entrances hide behind the rows of stalls at the San Lorenzo market, a sort of street fair with vendors selling mostly leather, paper, pottery—basically, souvenirs and designer knock-offs. You have to hunt around for a while until you find your way into Mercato Centrale but it’s well worth it. The market bursts with the rich colors of ripe produce, aisles of candied fruits, cured meats, wine, breads, oils and vinegars, cases of cheese, olives, freshly made pastas, and seafood (heads still on!), and macellaio, butchers preparing everything from pork sausage to wild game. To top it off, there’s an order-at-the-counter eatery wafting with the smells of hearty sauces and panino, with a line as long as the market itself. I picked up a bundle of flowers wrapped in colorful tissue paper to spruce up the new pad, and a bottle of limoncello because, well, when in Rome…or Florence. -A-