Finally Europe... Part II: Florence & Rome

In Italy, a tourist with an adequate budget starts dinner with the Antipasti / Appetizers which consist of Affettati misti (Assortment of cold cuts) or may choose the Piatti freddi / Cold dishes. This is followed by the Primi piatti / Pasta and Soups and the Secondi piatti / Meat or Fish. You may request some Contorni / Side dish like potatoes which may be followed with selection of formaggio (cheese) and dinner ends with the Dolci / Homemade Desserts.

Your favorite food columnist traveling with two friends always ate the typical Italian routine. One order of the antipasti, Primi piatti and the Secondi piatti and we share the food. Formaggio, dolci, fruits, cold cuts and wine we buy in the grocery and eaten in our hotel. A tourist with a limited budget lives on a choice between pizza, pasta, insalate (salad) and Panini (sandwich) or more pasta. Pasta…I mean pastilang pa-ita!

Florence was the first city we visited because of historical reasons. The dark ages ended when the Renaissance period began in this city. It was here that “cheques were written for the first time, letters of credit first began to be utilized – and banking as we know it came into being.” And everything seems to be within “walking distance.” And that is exactly what we did… walk the distance from Capitol to City Hall in the morning and back in the afternoon. So much walking that after two days in Europe, Efficascent Oil na!

Day one was a visit to Florence’s most famous square, Piazza della Signoria which includes the Florence’s town hall, the medieval Palazzo Vecchio and Il Duomo-Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore. Then we proceeded to the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) for the shops selling gold jewelry. At those prices, window shopping na lang then lunch at the Caffe Astra al Duomo for the taste of prodotti tipici tuscani (Tuscany foods) like the Pecorino di Pienza (cheese).

The next two days, we visited other tourist sites, shelling out more Euros, this time to climb the 463 steps to the top of the Duomo of the church. Caught in between a pack of young teens on the stairs, pretend na lang everything was cool even though my legs were ready to crumble.             The sculpture of David, Michelangelo’s finest work of art was top in my list to photograph so we went to the Galleria dell’ Accademia for the original statue; then the frustration because no picture taking is allowed. (Very discretely, I took pictures.)

Final destination in Italy was Rome and we met Filipinos in every street corner. First was the element of surprise that we were there, excuse me, as tourists (no wonder, very strict the Schengen Visa) then a bit of advise to be careful of the pickpockets. Well, there are always angels and demons in every city.

Walk na pud, this time to visit the Colosseo, Spanish Steps, Piazza di Spagna and Trevi Fountain. However, a visit to Rome is incomplete without a visit to the Vatican City and hundreds of tourists seem to have the same line of thought. After a three-hour wait, I was finally inside the Basilica of Saint Peter. As a Roman Catholic, I felt some sort of moral rejuvenation and spiritual cleansing.

Back to the business of Italian cuisine, I finally found that in Rome, a bottle of wine (1.99 Euro) is cheaper than bottled water (2 Euro), so wine na lang. My beloved readers know of my personal restriction with regards to alcohol consumption… only after the sun sets. But in Rome, even at 9 p.m., the sun is still up so compromise at 6 p.m.