Saveur - April-May 2017

35

4

Everyone can be

a buongustaio

this may be the birthplace of gold

florins and financial geniuses like the

Medici, but many of the best dishes here,

eaten by beggars and bankers alike, fall into

the category of piatti poveri, poor-person

food. Here, truly, anyone can be a buon-

gustaio—a food lover who enjoys fine things.

Stale bread is a key ingredient in many

Florentine dishes from panzanella to

pappa al pomodoro. At Trattoria Gozzi

Sergio, an early 20th-century, lunch-only

establishment near the Medici Chapel,

you can join elder statesmen and poli-

ticians to feast on a six-euro lunch of

ribollita, the hearty bare-bones stew star-

ring Tuscan kale and stock-softened,

over-the-hill bread.

And bread is the base for any evening

spent drinking. After a day at their classi-

cal academy, my broke art-student friends

do what every Florentine does to unwind:

They head to the enoteca. Their spot is

Alla Sosta dei Papi, a cramped wine dun-

geon near the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio

that sells cheap vermentino out of large

stainless-steel vats. Crostini—topped

with paté di fegatini, salumi, or chopped

pomodoro—are complimentary alongside

the three-euro bicchieri (glasses). This

Opposite: A salsa

verde and hot chile–

spiked lampredotto

sandwich at Flor-

ence’s Mercato

Centrale. Clockwise

from top left: Drunken

spaghetti, a red wine–

soaked pasta from Os-

teria de’ Benci; a line

forms daily in front

of one of Florence’s

many classic sand-

wich stands; Gianni

Migliorini, proprietor

of Casa del Vino.

Artigianale, on the Via dei Neri), I’d take

Giubbe Rosse’s simple one-euro espresso

over a pourover any day. Drink it standing

up. Lounge with a newspaper if you want.

Impeccably dressed, gray-haired regulars

add to an atmosphere that feels meant for

modernist poets and intellectuals.