When we arrived in Florence and were given our first taste of the city, of course we were going to find something to eat. First impressions are important, anyone will tell you that. Thankfully, to a little restaurant next to the train station, my first impression of Florence was a good one.

 

The first thing I heard was the owner of the restaurant say “momma” to get his mothers attention to wait on us. I knew then it was a family owned restaurant. That to me was heart warming. The mother could barely speak English, but was so sweet and helpful. She knew we wanted pizza but did not understand much else. The owner however, was good at speaking English and very friendly. This was refreshing after experiencing a lot of people in Rome who were not so nice and willing to help.

 

We got our pizza to go, and grabbed some cute fruity drinks to try. The drinks were full of sugar, but tasty! The pizza was also delicious. It was a perfect snack to go, from a perfect family owned restaurant. I like to remember that for my first impression of Florence, it was a homey comfortable feeling; which the rest of Florence has also proven to be too.

 

So the story of this little restaurant in Italy continues because we decided to go back for lunch one day. The owner and his mother were so welcoming, and it was just what we needed after our struggle trying to buy train tickets to Venice (everything worked out in the end no worries). We got some ravioli and it was amazing, just like any pasta you get in Italy really. We found out though that they change the menu everyday and hand make the pasta of the day every morning; which just made this place officially my favorite place to eat in Florence.

After lunch we went up to pay, and the owner thanked us for coming back a second time and gave us little cookies to say thank you. His mother also thanked us and walked us out the door. It’s places like these that will make my trip here in Italy so great and memorable.

 

I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. Just look for a little place on the corner near the train station with a friendly owner and his “momma.”