Have you heard of appertivos? I haven’t, but gosh do I like them! We did our now ‘usual’ walk into town, and after passing the glorious watchtower that dominates the area day or night, decided to follow our intuition to the side street where many locals seemed headed. Once we got there we saw several small restaurants with outdoor seating areas filled w the stylish people, old and young, you’d expect to find in fashionable Florence. One place called ‘Negroni’ caught my eye bc it was hopping, and, I Love the apertif called Negroni! (gin and Campari w an orange- amazing! Just keep it to one, two max!)
We sat at a table outside and a bobbed and banged girl wearing head to toe black came over to see what we wanted to drink. She explained that it would be 20 euros total for both of is to have the appertivos (sort of a help yourself spread of snacks and light fare) and a drink each. (It would have been two euros less if we stood. Italians are funny about their tables like this!) Well, our first appertivos experience was great! The fresh bread and many dips were delicious, except for the grey-green one which we think featured anchovies. Maybe if you like super fishy it’s good? Fresh pastas (several choices) and sautéed dishes with sausage or shrimp and red peppers and eggplant were thrilling. Later on one of the staff came around offering pizza, every 20 min or so, always a different kind. The one with thinly sliced and barely cooked potatoes was unique and tasty. We weren’t hungry for dinner after this even though it’s meant to be pre-dinner snack.
The best part of this place was that we were certainly the only Americans there and it was really fun to get a feel of the local flavor 🙂