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‘Ooh, McDonald’s,’ Bridget sighed as they passed the most tastefully displayed golden arches she’d ever seen, set into the natural golden arches of Florence’s back streets.
Stella threw Bridget a look. ‘You have got to be kidding me. We come to one of the greatest cities in the world, stuffed with glorious food and you want a Big Mac?’ Stella laughed.
Bridget shrugged. ‘I’m hung-over. Don’t judge me.’
‘I promise you, where we’re going you will never want to eat one of those again,’ said Lucy, airily.
‘Hang on, you’ve already got a plan, haven’t you?’ Stella eyed her organised cousin.
‘Might have.’ Lucy grinned at them. ‘I published a book with a really brilliant cook recently and she told me about a place in this market that sells a meat sandwich that, she says, literally changed her life.’
‘Wow, that’s a big claim.’ Stella pushed her sunglasses on to her head. ‘What’s so special about it?’
‘Apparently, the secret is in the salting of the brisket before it’s cooked. Then they cook it slow and low for a long time before serving it in a bun with salsa verde and something else… chilli oil, I think. And if we ask nicely, they’ll dip the bun in the broth before we eat it.’
Stella’s stomach rumbled just thinking about it. ‘OK, I’m sold.’
‘But ice cream later, yes?’ said Sarah, hopefully.
‘You sound like the girls.’ Stella thought of the twins, even though she knew they’d currently be having the time of their life with their beloved aunt.
They walked on, following Lucy down more narrow streets before turning a corner, and there in front of them, hiding part of the Duomo in the distance, stood the Central Market, an imposing two-storey building surrounded with arches and, sitting on the top, a huge cast-iron and glass box.
‘It looks like an Italian Smithfields with a French twist,’ said Sarah.
‘Now, I’m not entirely sure where the sandwich place is, but I’m sure we’ll find it if we wander around for a bit.’ Lucy led them up the steps into the building to be met with the sight and smells of seemingly endless food stalls. They walked past counters covered in cheese, meats, vegetables, bread, olives, pasta, fish, wine and more cheese. There were whole stalls devoted to mushrooms piled so high, they could barely see anyone behind.
Above them, another floor of tables sat under yet more cast-iron arches. The market was busy but not crowded and after admiring various displays of vegetables so beautiful they looked more like painted porcelain than actual vegetables, they found what they’d come for. There, on a corner, stood a stall with the name Lucy was looking for, Da Nerbone, painted in large gold letters on the green wooden board above.
Lucy pointed. ‘Bingo.’
They dutifully joined the queue, eyeing the handwritten menus stuck to the wall behind the counter as a team of people worked fast behind it, shouting instructions to one another behind clouds of rising steam from various pots and pans. When it came to their turn to order, while the others squinted at the menus, Lucy went ahead and ordered four panino bollito with all the sauces.
After a few moments, the women stood, each with a hot bun wrapped in paper in their hands, having watched as each one was filled, slathered in sauce and finally dipped in the broth. Gripping their goodies, they walked back outside and headed to a spot on the stone steps outside the building. Sitting side by side, they peeled back the paper and bit into their lunch. For a split second, none of them made a sound as the flavours of the salted meat, the juice-soaked bun and the zing of the sauces hit their taste buds.
‘Oh my god,’ Sarah was the first to exclaim through a mouthful.
‘You were right.’ Bridget turned to Lucy. ‘That definitely beats a Big Mac.’
‘So good,’ sighed Stella, licking her fingers.
Lucy smiled at her cousin. ‘Glad you like it.’
They sat for a few minutes, savouring every mouthful and licking their fingers once they’d finished.
Sarah screwed up the paper in her hand and tossed it into a nearby bin. ‘That was absolutely delicious, just what I needed. Right, where next?’
‘How about we head back across the river via the Palazzo Vecchio where I was this morning, we could have a look at the Cinquecento and then on to the Boboli Gardens. They can’t be that far from here.’ Stella stood up and brushed the crumbs from her front.
Bridget tapped at her phone. ‘Not far at all. Bit more culture, then a little lie in the sun.’
‘Sounds good to me.’ Lucy offered her hand to Sarah and pulled her up.
They set off back towards the general direction of the river, passing through piazzas and crossing car-free streets towards the imposing tower of the Palazzo Vecchio. They took in the glory of the Hall of the Five Hundred, the enormous paintings covering the walls and ceilings almost too much for the naked eye to manage. Bridget’s attention was briefly stolen by the tiles on the floor, and she wondered aloud whether she might find anything similar in the Fired Earth shop back home. Stella and Sarah laughed, Lucy simply rolled her eyes.
Once they’d seen enough, they headed along the Piazzale degli Uffizi, booking tickets for a tour early the next morning at a small kiosk, before joining the stream of visitors crossing the Ponte Vecchio. Up ahead lay the vast Pitti Palace, behind which sat their destination, the Boboli Gardens.
By now, the sun was high in the sky. Together, the four friends walked into the gardens through an amphitheatre-shaped entrance, past a tall stone obelisk and up towards the top of a gently sloping hill, statues gazing back at them wherever they looked. On they went, up the hill towards a lake with a huge bronze figure sitting atop an elaborate carved stone base in the middle of the bright green water.
