The Chicken in the Butter - Florence, Italy - Day 4

We had 2 full days in Florence before we were booked to exchange the crowds for vineyards and olive groves at our country-side rental beginning on Saturday. So after checking into the charming attic at The Fiorentino, we woke up Thursday morning and approached Florence with all the enthusiasm of a PBS special, even following Rick Steves' "Florence in Three Days (or More)" itinerary. Of course, we weren't as well-planned as Rick Steves so we also went into the birthplace of the Renaissance with patience, ready to stand in line wherever need be since we failed to make reservations (that are highly recommended) for anything. Our plan of attack was to see the big stuff in two days and since our vacation rental is located only 5 kilometes from Florence and we would be renting a car, we would then come back whenever we felt like it over the next nine days to finish up the sights. This turned out to be an excellent plan as Florence, although small and completely walkable, is packed full of sights (along with every piece of Renaissance art in existence I think) and it would be completely impossible to see it all in it's entirety in two to three days.

During this first day we took in the Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore from it's piazza (saving the trip up it's duomo for the following day. We also hit the Accademia Galleria which is famous for Michaelangelo's "David", the Basilica di Santa Croce that's famous for who's buried there, the Museo Gucci (yes, that's the Gucci Museum, as in the purses....and yes, obviously not even on the same cultural level as "David" but this is Gucci's hometown, why not.) We also hit the Centrale Mercado to survey the leather good selection and discovered a restaurant that will never be matched. Possibly ever. 

Florence turned out to be much more "touristy" than I had expected. I'm not sure why I thought it'd be any less since some of the most famous works of art in the world hang there and tourism is what probably keeps the city alive. But it was none-the-less incredible; everything from the views to the food. We took a million pictures in the two days but for the sake of everyone's patience and time I'll only post some of the best.  Here's Day 1 in Florence!

Waking up in Florence, view of the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella from our room.

Our hotel and it's resident Golden Retriever.

The Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in the center of town.
The pictures don't capture the scale or the
unbelievable green and pink colors of the marble facade.

The Cathedral's bell tower and duomo in the background.

The Accadamia Galleria, home of David: the line on the left is for reservations
and the line on the right is for those without. We only had to wait about 25 minutes.
In 1784, the Grand Duke of Tuscany converted the friary of San Matteo and
the convent of San Niccolo di Cafaggio to house the Gallery so students of the adjoining
Accademia delle Belle Arti (Fine Arts Academy) could study the great works of the past.
The museum also houses five other Michelangelo sculptures --
the four unfinished "Prisoners of St. Matthew" -- and a collection of Gothic and Renaissance
paintings that were once in the Medici collections. 

And there's the man of the house.
Sorry for the slight blurriness, I had to sneak shots amongst the wandering guards...
yelling "No photo! No photo!"
Among the other works housed in the Accademia are Botticelli's "Madonna and Child"
and "Madonna of the Sea". There is also an extensive collection of plaster models
from the 18th century as well as early 13th century religious works.
Recently, musical instruments have been added to the collection.

David's slightly less famous, blond brother out in the courtyard...
Pink is a good color for him.

At the recommendation of Town and Country Magazine, a visit to the Museo Gucci.
Not that popular with the tourists (we were the only ones there)
but interesting, with very pretty things to look at :)

And the wine keeps flowing...even at lunch.

The Church of Santa Maria Croce The Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross)
is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the
Roman Catholic Church.  It is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians,
such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile and Rossini,
thus it is known also as the Temple of the Italian Glories (Tempio dell'Itale Glorie).

Insides the church's courtyards.

Welcome to Palazzo Peterson.

Pinnochio was written by Tuscan writer Carlo Lorenzin (who was born in Florence).
He wrote it under the pen name of C. Collodi and it was first published in Rome in 1881. 

Yes, that large cup of gelato is 10 Euros...or $15.00.
Definitely priced for the tourists.

The super peak season in July and August but high season begins in the Spring.

Some Florentine piglets...outside of a meat market.

Trattoria Sostanza.
We found this hole in the wall on Trip Advisor where the reviews were out of this world.
They only have two seating times, 7:30 and 9:00 and you have to make a reservation.
We called half an hour before and got in.
Recommended dishes were the steak and chicken in butter.
The couple seated in the pic ended up being seated next to us...we became fast friends
over dinner as they were Korean American's from Brooklyn Heights.
We ended up hanging out after dinner which was a blast. 

It was tiny and had been there forever....

you are seated family style, with people you don't know if you are a small group...and it's all locals.
The menu is hand written, the dishes straight forward and simple...

We were told by Adriano that we must have steak in Florence and this is how they do it....
they're all this size, medium rare, more on the rare side...
I usually won't touch anything rare but this was incredible.

And this is the "chicken in butter"....and that's literally what it's sizzling in....
pure, who-knows-how-many sticks of hot butter.
I can't even describe how amazing it was...and of course I soaked up every drop
of butter with my bread, even after the chicken was gone.

Why not....I just drank a small pan of butter.
I also must note that our appetizer was pasta in an incredible meat sauce...
not a drop of green the whole dinner. So awesome.