IN THE ANCIENT TAVERNS
We find taverns mentioned for the first time in ancient Florentine documents from 1065. However, the taverns of Florence
have always received special acclaim throughout Europe, an acclaim that continues
today thanks to the genuineness and
character of the dishes prepared here.
Pievano Arlotto was also fond of stopping off in the taverns, so much so that the
Archbishop of Florence, S.Antonino invited him to the table of the archbishopric in order to induce him to eat more frugally.
However, seeing that Pievano Arlotto was always in the habit of inviting an increasing number of friends to come and join him
at this table, the most holy Archbishop was forced to let Pievano go and eat and drink where he pleased.
Lorenzo Panciatichi,
in his verses praising the frying pan and fried food, tells how it was a Florentine host who first cooked the famous dish of granelli,
ram's testicles, and claims that Marsilio Strozzi took this dish to Bologna.
Panciatichi also mentions that Stefano Battori,
King of Poland said he always regretted four things: of having besieged Danzica with so few troops, of having invested the
Marquis of Brandenburg with Prussia, of having an old wife, and of never having eaten granelli in Florence.
And once he had eaten granelli, he decided that the three things that delighted him most were music, the fact of having eaten
granelli, and hollow swords.
And once again it was a Florentine host who first cooked this dish in Turkey, an extremely difficult
task due to being contrary to the religion of that country which prohibited frying with lard.
Other sought-after dishes in the
Florentine taverns were tomaselle, fried meat balls made with a sugary paste, carbonata, pork grilled over charcoal or fried in
a pan, goose stuffed with heads of garlic, veal sweetmeats, boiled partridge, and stewed sardelle.
Then the desserts: pinocchiate, morselletti, candied pumpkin, berlingozzi, pane pepato, savore, sapa and fanfalucche.
For first
courses there were pancakes, ravioli, egg pies and above all, erbolato with herbs, root vegetables, eggs and cheese.
These taverns,
which we could define as the ancestors of our present-day restaurants, underwent a natural transformation over the years, that
did not however change their tradition, and closer to our own times they became more appreciated and sought after, not only
by foreigners, but also by the Florentines themselves who loved alternating home cooking with a meal prepared in the public eating
houses.
If amongst its other claims to fame Florence can also boast of being a city where you eat well, this is due to the originality of
its eating houses and their de'cor, as well as to the specialities of the cuisine and the cellar.
Nowadays, in a beautiful environment
in the medieval quarter filled with historic buildings, rising over the ruins of an ancient roman amphitheatre is the Restaurant
Leo in Santa Croce, where you can enjoy all the genuine Florentine specialties.
