Florence,
Tuscany,
Italy
Friday, May 23, 2008
May 23 - We get up and leave at 7 a.m., before the Fagiolari breakfast, which starts at 8, for a day-long road trip to Firenze (Florence) about 40 km north of here. Florence is another magnificent Italian city with a glorious past. We visit the Uffizi Gallery with its collection of famous Primitive and Renaissance paintings and sculptures including original works by Leonardo Di Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many others. Bonnie had made reservations on line more than a month before so we did not have to stand in long lines and take a chance on whether we would get in, although G & B report that the lines are much longer in the summer. We also visited the Galleria dell' Academia, which is most famous for Michelangelo's statue of David, and also houses the museum of musical instruments. Academia also requires advance reservations to get in. There were large crowds at both museums but I understand they are even larger on weekends and during the summer months. We also visit the Boboli Gardens, the grounds of the Pitti Palace which was at one time the residence of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany and later the King of Italy. We return from Florence and go to dinner at a fairly new restaurant in Panzano called Solociccia, which means "nothing but fat" or "nothing but meat" depending on who is translating. It is owned by a butcher and features a meal with lots of meat dishes and no pasta, unlike most Italian restaurants, which serve meat but the vast majority of the menu items do not include meat. They have two seatings per evening, 7 and 9, and when we arrive for our 9 o'clock reservation the 7 o'clock people are still inside and seem to be having a great time. The information in the waiting area says they're not really a restaurant, just a family butcher shop that likes to share. They don't have a menu to choose from; the four of us were seated at a table with 12 other diners and they started bringing out food family style in big bowls. They also brought out carafes of red wine and kept them coming as our table emptied them. Nearly everything they served was delicious. I lost count but I would guess we had 10 different meat dishes. (I've since been corrected that there were only 6 meat dishes but probably 10 courses to the meal.) We also had a couple of desserts and then some pretty strong liqueurs and Grappa, which, as near as I can tell, is distilled from the leftover fermented grapes used to make wine. We got to know the other people at our end of the table, a young US Navy officer stationed in Naples along with his wife and her sister, who was visiting, and two guys who currently live in Austria. Everyone had a great time and ate too much. When we return from dinner around midnight we can't get one of the exterior doors to unlock, and Giuletta seems to be pretty angry that we are apparently too stupid to unlock the door and that she has to get out of bed to let us in. Lynnette and I are embarrassed and pretty mad at this stupid lock system.
This is the information posted at the entrance to Solociccia:
This is not a restaurant. It is the home of a butcher.
All that you will eat is the fruit of my work and that of my family.
You will not choose from a menu, though you will be treated well, and with great respect, if you return the favor.
You will it at a communal table, together in "convivio".
There will be six meat courses, chosen at my discretion, with seasonal vegetables, white beans with olive oil, focaccia bread wine cake coffee and after dinner liqueurs.
All of the above is to be had for 30 euro, which nearly two hours at our table, at the end of which you will turn over your seat to the next guests.
Feel free to bring your own wine without corkage fee. We do not serve steak.
In closing, please be aware that everything: the food the wine the space and we ourselves are for better or worse... thoroughly Tuscan.
Welcome. (if you dare!)
Via Chiantigiana 5, ingresso da via XX luglio
Panzano in Chianti Firenze tel.055-852727
macelleriacecchini@tin.it
http://www.solociccia.it/solocicciaing.htm
