Ann's Italy Food Journal - Part Two

On to Firenze

Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiori, Firenze, Italia

We traveled to Florence by train in coach from the Termini train station in Rome on the Trenitalia which we had booked and paid for online prior to our arrival in Italy.  See www.trenitalia.com. We had also booked our accommodations online at a two star establishment called The Piccolo Hotel, Via San Gallo, 51.  We ate our lunch and evening meals in restaurants and the hotel room charge included a lovely breakfast - Italian style - with espresso, cappuccino, and a self-service buffet of savory and sweet pastries, fresh juices, fresh fruits, cereal and yogurt. The communal breakfast room with the buffet is shown here:

This charming small (piccolo means small) hotel is owned by a lovely woman - Silvia Angeloni. Silvia was on duty the second morning serving espresso and cappuccino to guests upon arriving in the breakfast room.

 Thinking that she was one of the employees and not knowing at the time that she was the owner I asked her to pass on my compliments to the management about the delicious blood orange juice (see the pitcher on the table) that I had that morning - she was very gracious and thanked me and we continued our conversation which inevitably led to talking about Italian food and cooking. It was at that point in our conversation that I learned Silvia was the proprietor!

When I mentioned to Silvia the joy of having found the tomato vendor stand at the Testaccio Market in Rome and all of the varieties of tomato we had eaten, she asked if I had eaten any fresh San Marzano tomatoes from Campania http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campania  (they are similar in shape to what we know as Roma or Plum tomatoes but are a bit longer and thinner - see the photo).  "Alas, no", I said, "I can only imagine what a sauce made with fresh San Marzano tomatoes would taste like."  I immediately made a  mental note to search them out when we returned to Rome.