Last Updated on January 24, 2024 by Tori Pines
Today we spend our last day in Florence, soaking in all that the city has to offer. Continue reading my Italy Travel Journal to hear all about our adventures!
Cooking Class
Today was a very chill day for us. We started the day at 9am at our cooking class with Florencetown Cooking School also known as Diadema Cooking School. We booked this tour a few months ago on Viator. We first arrived and a very outgoing young man named Giovanni greeted us, and got us settled in. The kitchen was a very cute space with enough room for over 20 people to attend class in.
We ended up getting lucky to have a small group today, with only 7 people in our class including us. A family from San Francisco and a couple from Israel. Everyone was so friendly and honestly we had a blast together. By the end we were in inviting each other to all come and stay at our homes if we ever wanted to visit. We loved getting to know them.
The cooking class was a 5 hour pasta and Tiramisu class. We started right away with making the pasta sauces. A bolognese that would take 3 hours to simmer and a fresh tomato sauce. We then made the tiramisu so it would have time to chill in the fridge.
But the best part was making the pasta. We were given two ingredients, just 00 flour and an egg. We kneaded the dough until it was the right consistency and then wrapped it in plastic for about an hour. During our break we were served delicious appetizers of cheeses and focaccia and chatted with our new friends. There was even a 9 year old girl in the group who was so sweet and really enjoyed the cooking!
Once the pasta dough was ready we rolled it out, cut some for tagliatelle and the rest we made into ravioli. The chef cooked it and added the sauce and then it was lunch time!! Everything was amazing but the tagliatelle with bolognese sauce was genuinely the best pasta we had ever had in our lives…and we were the ones who made it!!!
They served us red wine throughout the whole class as well. The whole morning was the best experience and we were so so so glad to have done that class. I cannot recommend this experience enough, it was one of the best parts of our entire trip, and a great value for the cost. Be sure to book in advance!
Piazzale Michelangelo
After class we were yet again exhausted so we went shopping for a little while and then went back to the hotel for a nap. This evening we headed back out, shopped some more, each got a leather backpack and headed up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo, even though it was raining. We got sprinkled on the entire way and at the top the view was beautiful but very gray and dreary, but I was just glad to have done it despite the weather.
We walked back down and happened upon one of the well known gelato shops, La Strega Nocciola. Known for being extremely authentic and some of the best you can have in town. The people who say that are very right, it was divine.
Dinner at Gustapizza
We continued our walk through Oltrano to the also well known pizza place, Gustapizza. We picked up two small pizzas to go (for 14 euro total!!) and took them back to the hotel for dinner. They were the best pizzas yet, and such a good price! We hung out in the room eating pizza, drinking the rest of our bottle of wine from last night and packing up, since sadly we have to leave in the morning.
Florence was interesting. These are just my opinions, everyone has different preferences!! We personally thought that Florence (and Tuscany as a whole) has the best food so far hands down. There was no question about it. However, because it’s a much smaller city, we felt like people were much more on top of each other than in Rome. Most of the streets here and attractions were just packed, which made it less enjoyable.
We also found the buildings and architecture to be much more plain and simple than Rome. The city was beautiful but didn’t have the over the top gorgeousness that Rome had. We will be back though, we really did enjoy our time here.
Tomorrow we take on Venice! We have nothing booked for the next two days and can’t wait to just wander and take in all the beauty that is Venice. Have a wonderful evening! See you tomorrow!
Make sure you read the Day 7 Daily Journal next, and please be sure to read through all of my Italy travel resources to help you plan the perfect vacation.
