When a few friends and I came to Florence last summer to study Italian for two weeks at a language school (perfect excuse for a holiday), one of the girls discovered this beautiful gelateria, just a few steps away from where we were studying. We loved it so much that we would often reminisce and wish that we could go back to Florence just for this!

Situated in one of Florence's most famous streets, via dei Neri (where Antico Vinaio is too, read about that more here), this family-run gelateria is the perfect place for a gelato after a long visit to some of Florence's most famous monuments and museums: the Palazzo Vecchio and la Galleria degli Uffizi.

They have such a wide range of flavours that you can really go crazy and pick whichever one you like - try a new one every day if you want. Whenever I want gelato i'm either in more of a creamy mood or more of a fruity one - and I can say that this place definitely delivers on both occasions. They have some more experimental flavours such as chocolate with pistachios and chilli or more simple ones such as hazelnut and salted caramel and everyone that I have brought here loves the place.



My favourites include hazelnut (nocciola) and their version of nutella. It is called moretto via dei Neri and is the creamiest, most delicious hazelnut-chocolate concoction. It isn't an ice cream consistency though so I often ask to only have a tiny bit of it to accompany my hazelnut which go together amazingly, otherwise it's a bit too sweet and overpowering. Now however they have created a pre-made mix which is perfect! Look for it when you go in and try - you won't be dissappointed.

As well as gelato they also have granita which is a typical Sicilian dessert made from fruit, water and sugar which is perfect for the hotter summer months which can be unbearable sometimes (trust me). My friend Marie was visiting me over summer and whilst I went for my classic hazelnut mix she went for the clementine granita which I had a taste of and it was so refreshing. Some other ones which I have tried are raspberry (lampone) and cookies which both also get two big thumbs up!


Starting at just €1,80 be sure to try out this one when you are in Florence (map below). Some of the flavours may not seem that appealing but for example the place only uses Sicilian pistachio's to make a more traditional pistachio flavour which means that the colour may seem a little more brown rather than the tourist traps which use bright green colourings (avoid).

Alexandra x

A couple of weekends ago I finally visited Milan, Italy's most populated city, for the first time. A couple of Italians that I know warned me about how the Milanese people can be (rude, snobby etc.) but one of my friends recently moved there so I thought that I would just check it out myself!
We kicked off the day with brunch (classic) after all,we needed energy for all of that sightseeing that we were going to be doing. We headed to the California Bakery which obviously wasn't super Italian. This is one of the things that everyone told me about Milan - it really is a metropolitan and a melting pot of all cultures. You can find everything here, unlike Florence which has some different restaurants here and there, however sticks with a main Italian theme of meat, pizza & pasta. There are a couple of these dotted around the city and they're fairly cheap too, check the menu out here.


The first stop on my tour of Milan (apart from the California bakery) was the cathedral aka il Duomo di Milano which is probably the most famous thing in Milan and one of the most well-known places in Italy. It is the largest church in Italy and the fifth largest in the world! Pretty impressive considering that it started being built in 1386 although it took almost 6 centuries to complete due to politics and lack of funds... Italian's take their time okay (I joke). Some more fun facts: there are 3,400 statues and 135 gargoyles that decorate it and there is a spot on the façade marked with a red light bulb which is said to be the spot where one of the nails of Jesus' crucifixion was placed. Who knows if it's true but it is pretty interesting nonetheless.

The beautiful building is made entirely out of marble from the Lake Maggiore (which is beautiful) although it originally had started being built from terracotta. I'm sure that everyone is glad that they changed their minds about this because I can't really imagine it any other way. We didn't end up going inside, but you don't have to in order to admire its grandeur. The piazza del Duomo (the square just outside of it) is pretty famous too, for having pigeons. There are literally so many and it's a great photo opportunity if you/your pigeon of choice can be brave enough to take a picture together. If you give up on trying to lure a pigeon into your hand there are a couple of guys who slyly sell you bird feed so it should make the process a little easier (ha!)


When Tim (my friend/local tour guide) asked me what I wanted to see in Milan all I said was the Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuale II because that was all that I had seen on instagram (lol). It's literally right next to the cathederal and full of designer shops. My erasmus money had just come in but could I really justify spending it all on a pair of shoes... not really. And it wasn't even enough to buy most of the designer handbags that they sell in there anyway #studentlife. Opened in 1877, the structure is one of the world's oldest shopping malls and was named after the first king of the Kingdom of Italy. For those of you who have studied Italian history and/or study the same course at university as me, you know that Italy's history and unification is not a simple story.


It's actually quite funny because apparently in 2012 McDonald's wasn't allowed to renew it's occupancy (it was the only "restaurant" that was denied the right) and so it sued the city of Milan (the landlord) for €24 million, claiming that they would lose €6 million in sales very year. It was then replaced by a second Prada store and they dropped the lawsuit when they were allowed to open in a nearby area. A similar thing happened in Florence actually - McDonalds wanted to open a store in the piazza del Duomo (in Florence), got rejected and then tried to sue. I understand it though, the Italians don't want some of the most beautiful areas/landmarks of their city polluted by a greasy, American fast-food chain (don't try the new nutella "sweety" burgers from there, not good - and how one can make something out of nutella taste bad i'm not quite sure, but McDonalds managed).

Before leaving we had to take part in one of the strangest traditions in Milan which is spinning on the bull's balls (sounds weird but see the picture below). Apparently the proper way to do it is to place your heel in the ground where the hole is and turn backwards three times. Some people have said that backwards is the only correct way, some say that it doesn't matter but i'm pretty sure that I went forwards oops. Tradition says that if you spin three times with your heel on the testicles of the bull from the Turin coat of arms (Turin is another city close by) then it will bring good luck! So hopefully I get my sprinkle of good luck even though I did it the wrong way, rookie mistake.


Our last stop on the tour before going shopping was the Parco Sempione which is a beautiful park! It felt so nice to be in a green space in Italy because in Florence there aren't many at all. You barely see any trees! Unfortunately though, it was raining. Why? I am half English and have lived in the UK for the last 4 years and haven't ever experienced this much rain.

When we entered the park there was this amphitheatre style structure and Tim started talking about how it was a Roman structure used for gladiator fights. Embarrassingly I actually believed him (like everyone does on his tours, apparently) and it was all "oh wow, incredible, amazing, interesting" when actually it's just a sports complex that was built in a neoclassical style to resemble a Roman amphitheatre (awkward times for me).



The park borders both the Castello Sforzesco aka Sforza Castle (15th Century) and the Arco della Pace aka Arch of Peace (19th Century) which creates a great photo opportunity for those who would like a snap with this famous landmark in the background. Loads of people obviously knew about this spot because ...


In general Milan is just such a different city to Florence or to anywhere else that I've been in Italy. Rome is obviously the capital but it doesn't have that metropolitan feel. Everything still seems oh so Italian (not that that's a bad thing, I love it!) but I think that to live, Milan would be a way more interesting, culturally diverse place - although you have to watch out for those people who, in true Milanese fashion, can come off as rude.

It does definitely feel less Italian, and it's a bit like any other big European city (maybe that's because the sky was a little grey hahaha). The metro is very well connected and reminded me of the tube in London, especially the part when over half of the people look like they hate life but you get more interesting bars (we went to one on the first night when I arrived which was unlike anything I had seen in Florence) and restaurants and the nightlife just doesn't compare. If you're looking to have a real Italian experience I wouldn't recommend Milan as one of your stops however it is a very beautiful city and it's not hard to see why the Milanese think they are so different than any other part of Italy!


Alexandra x

p.s. the blanket around my neck was a necessity, not a fashion choice as Milan was freezing.

Last month I told you about Tamerò, one of my favourite places to go for aperitivo here in Florence. Today I am going to let you all in on another little secret place: Caffè Letterario, Le Murate.

Beyond the Kale is hands-down one of my favourite places in Bath and when I went back to the UK for a couple of days it was definitely on the to-do list. They specialise in juices and smoothies but have so many different breakfast, lunch and dessert options too. Everything is plant based, as well as delicious, and I have brought several people here who are neither vegan or even vegetarian and they have all enjoyed it.

Yoga, great food & Tuscan countryside, what more could you want from an escape away from the city? A couple of weekends ago I went on my first yoga retreat weekend in the rolling Tuscan hills. The getaway was organised by one of my beautiful friends Shirley who made a life-changing decision to move to Florence a couple of years ago after falling in love with the place when she came on a yoga retreat herself - and it's not hard to see why!



I had never done yoga before so I was a little bit nervous as I am also the most un-flexible person and although I would like to think that one day I will be a little gym bunny it's probably never going to happen because I just hate sports. Hate. Them. I do not see the fun in running around and getting all tired and sweaty and hating life whilst doing it. Every fitness program I have ever started has shortly ended after a few awful weeks and although abs are nice, so are my morning lie ins and eating pizza so I thank the gods every day that I was blessed with fast metabolism. Anyway, yoga was a type of exercise which I had always thought about but never actually gotten into - it didn't seem as rigorous or heart-attack-inducing and has a bunch of other health benefits as well so I was excited to try it out!

Over the weekend we had two yoga sessions a day, each of them different, and it was so interesting to do. Shirley was such a wonderful teacher because although some of the practices were a little more advanced, she offered alternatives for the beginners (me lol) so that we didn't strain our bodies too much. By the end of the retreat my arms and glutes (as well everything else) were aching so much but this just meant that my body had been well-exercised. My favourite part of the sessions was the end part called shavasana which is where you get to lay down, with blankets, and relax afterwards. One of the sessions actually included a guided meditation which is where I fell asleep hahaha... but hey, I must have been really relaxed then right?

Although it was a yoga retreat, my favourite part of the trip was probably the food. Shirley had a chef there for us who cooked everything and it was honestly the most incredible food. All of it was vegetarian and most vegan. There were these phenomenal lentil "burgers" with guacamole and a quinoa salad with aubergine, courgette and carrots which I will definitely try to recreate and put on here. Besides all of the amazing food which was prepared for us, we also had an Italian cooking lesson, which involved lots and lots of vino rosso of course.


We learned how to make two types of fresh pasta: fettuccine and strozzapreti, which literally means strangle the priest. One had a simple tomato basil sauce and the other had the most wonderful creamy roasted pepper sauce. You need to have a machine to make them but it's actually surprisingly easy, just time consuming because you also have to wait for the dough to activate etc. etc.





We also learned how to make what we, English speakers, call biscotti, which actually just means cookies in Italian. They're called cantucci in Italian and are the best things ever. The ones that we made were wayyy better than the ones I used to buy in Starbucks back in England and we made two different kinds: one vegan version and one "traditional" version which uses eggs. To be honest I couldn't really tell the difference other than the fact that one had raisins and lemon zest and the other didn't so if you're vegan or don't have any eggs lying around you can easily substitute them with a plant-based milk & vegetable oil mix.





The smell of these wafting out of the oven was actually incredible and some of us couldn't wait to tuck into the cookies before they were even ready - you have to bake them twice, once when they're in rows and then after this once again when they're cut into individual pieces which is what gives them their distinctive texture.

The place that we stayed had breathtaking views of the Tuscan countryside. It's called Borgo Iesolana (i'll put a map down below) and the Bucine station in Tuscany is the closest one to it. They had beautiful vinyards, a lake, two swimming pools and a hammock which I would have quite happily spent all day in.





On the last day we decided to go for a little adventure to another Tuscan city, Siena which I already spoke a little bit about in one of my other blogposts: A Weekend in the Medieval City of Siena. We walked up the Facciatone for breathtaking views of the city (with our new local tour guide Tamara) which was a similar experience to walking up the Cupola in Florence, however it was less tight walk and there were less stairs to climb.







Tuscany is honestly so beautiful and if you're ever visiting you must go to the countryside. Florence is a nice place but you need to venture into rural Tuscany to really experience it - Chianti is much closer and it's the perfect excuse for a wine tour as well. The yoga was also really incredible and such a wonderful, eye-opening experience. Shirley hosts a couple of yoga retreats per year and I would definitely recommend going on one. It was so so relaxing and just what I needed, not to mention the fact that she is the most beautiful person inside and out. You can find more details of her retreats here - link!

Alexandra x