Florence is one of the main tourist centers in Italy and attracts millions of visitors from all over the world every year. Quite rightly, because there is really much to see. Not only the Venus by Botticelli in the Uffizi and Michelangelo's David in the Accademia, the Cathedral and the Baptistery with its bronze doors by Brunelleschi or the Ponte Vecchio with its goldsmith shops.  There are also many hidden treasures such as the frescoes of Fra Angelico in San Marco or the Giardini Baldini.

The question is, where you can find good and affordable food. Here are our personal tips.

Olive oil is the "liquid gold" of Umbria, a high-quality and healthy food, that should not be missing in any kitchen. The olive harvest begins in mid October. Everywhere the nets get spread out under the trees. The pickers pick the olives from the trees by hand or with shaking sticks, then the olives they are taken to the oil mill. Read here how the olives finally become olive oil.

Hearing of the Italian region of "Tuscany" one immediately thinks of feasting with good food and wine: Bruschetta appetizers and Chianti wine, Acquacotta soup and wild boar ham, Cantucci cookies and Vin Santo. When travelling in Tuscany you can be pretty sure to get something delicious to eat whereever you go. However, there are differences, and the best places to eat are often hidden. And they are not necessarily where most the most tourists go.
In the last 15 years many a trip with guests or with the family  has led us to  neighboring Southern Tuscany.  So we do not want to withhold our tastiest culinary discoveries.

On Friday November 20 we took the last load of olives to the oil mill and got our delicious, deep green, new olive oil. The mild November wheather has blessed the olive pickers with days full of sunshine. Of course it is much more fun to pick olives or to take a rest on the mint scented meadows under the trees when the sun is shining. But already a day later the winter came to Umbria ...