Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part Two


Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

While in Florence, we decided it would be fun to take a bus tour around Tuscany for a day.  We started in Siena, where this weekday farmer's market was going on. I desperately wanted to peel off from the tour and explore the market!


For lunch, we went to an organic farm and winery, Fattoria Poggio Alloro. Let's be real - this was the best part of the tour! Our tour guide went around the bus, checking on dietary needs, and gluten-free was no problem. We started with an olive oil tasting - bread for everyone else, and gluten-free crackers for me. The farm's olive oil was incredible, and I had to resist the urge to drink it straight out of the bottle.

The second course was pasta (gluten-free for us) with a light ragu sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was amazing too.


With each course came a new wine tasting - a whole bottle of wine for every four people! We quickly became friends with the people sitting around us as the wine flowed. After the pasta course was salad (with more olive oil), meats, and cheeses. I could just taste how fresh the salad greens were, and the meat and cheese were so good that we eagerly scooped up seconds when they came around.


The dessert course was cookies dunked in the farm's dessert wine, which really tasted more like liquor than any dessert wine I've ever had. The cookies had nuts in them, so I had to pass on that, but Mike said they were very good.


I hated to leave Fattoria Poggio Alloro, but I did manage to take little pieces of it with me: some olive oil and a bottle of their white wine, which was my favorite.

Next week: the best gluten-free pizza we've ever had!

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