Florence Pizza to rival Naples?

Pizza in Florence to rival Naples

I have eaten pizza in Naples several times and left shocked by the knowledge that the pizza in New Jersey could not compare.                               Story:  Pizza by the slice.

So when during an interview,  Rachel told me about the best pizza in Florence I was eager to try it but did not expect any comparison to the pizza I sampled in Naples with Tina my Discover Naples Destinations expert. 

                   

  Pizza at Mamma Napoli, near the San Lorenzo Market is as if you are in Naples...

Individual pizzas you eat with a knife and fork are often a surprise for Italian Americans going      Home to Italy.   We have been trained on pizza by the slice, but this was a wonderful change and a taste so intense and flavorful.    But perhaps all of this is overshadowed by the warm and friendly treatment by the owner and staff.

Photo thanks to Rachel

The restaurant owner Signore Nicole and his wife Melina serve an extensive number of Italian dishes in addition to a great pizza.  While waiting for our pizza Nicole showed me their photo album of the countless kinds of pizza, pasta and fish dishes available!     There is a special section just for deserts and I hope to return just to sample a few of these.

Pizzeria Mamma Napoli   Piazza del Mercato Centrale 17 rosso, 50123 Florence, Italy
http://www.mammanapolibvc   +39 055 211131   

                                         The young pizza 'chef' won the 2014 award.

                              I had a quick lesson in pizza creation and a surprise fact that a particular flour is      used for pizza and not the dough you would use for 'demonstrations" of tossing a disk of dough into the air.    Demonstration dough needs to be more elastic.


The huge wood fired oven cooks a pizza quickly with wonderful crispy edges

Why I liked the Pizza at Mamma Napoli:

• In addition to the great food at Mamma Napoli was the friendly attention.  No one tried to rush me, I probably could have sat comfortably for an hour without any suggestion that I should 'leave' because the table would be needed soon
• The food was served hot.   Since I had left the table to take photo and annoy the chef with questions I was asked if they could heat it again......how thoughtful but i didn't want to wait to 'dig in' since the smell was very inviting.                                                                                                        
• The restaurant offers outdoor seating as well as several large interior rooms.
• The convenient location right behind the San Marco food and out door market.   Take a break from selecting scarves, leather bags or souvenirs and enjoy one of the many Neapolitan favorites.

   

Please tell the owner your read about him here at Home to Italy.

Thanks to Rachel for this great suggestions.   I hope she will become a regular feature on Home to Italy. giving us more information on the unique shops and restaurants I discover on my trips home.



Rachel and my host 

https://thelostfasano.wordpress.com/

Art Historian, Italian-American living in Florence, Italy

Thank you Rachel for translating during lunch and photos.

Italy's Friday the 13th

I should have know today was a special day.    Mercolode dice sette is the equivalent  to Friday the  13th in the USA.

Nothing seemed to go right:

1. found I had NO ticket for my flight to Brindisi due to an error in the spelling of my name on the reservation.  To correct this I had to call the airlines.
2.  no answer at the Vueling web site on any of their 3 telephone numbers:  Spain, London, Italy
3.  The web site clearly states "No one will be allowed to fly if the ID does not match your ticket"

I have no respect for Expedia who would NOT help since the ticket was purchased via British Air who was code sharing with Vueling.

Solution:  buy a second ticket at twice the cost of the first ticket!

So all is well………….no, no, no…………..that would be too easy

Staff at check in says ‘it should be no problem to use the ticket with the wrong name’ and issues me a boarding pass
Adding more horror to the events, they give me a middle seat and ‘cant change it because you checked in’ (with the ticket with the wrong name)

I have 3 or 4 more check points to test the ability to fly with a name NOT on your passport

Never got past checking my luggage before the name error is noted.
At this point I give up and ask to use the new ticket with the CORRECT name and get on with it.

With my new boarding pass with my old correct name I stand in line at security for 1/2 hour and set off the alarm when passing through..

At 5 foot 3 I ONLY have 1.5 inches before I hit the seat back

What else can and will go wrong?

Plane is delayed.
Water at the airport is $2.50 a bottle
Food on the plane and water are for sale
Plane is dirty and some strange stains on the wall I won't go near
My seat does not recline because it is broken but at least the plastic armrest is not torn and a hazard for cuts as are the other two seats in my row.
the leg room is LESS than Delta and I am short

How is the passenger in the middle to every get out of this small space

I have NO idea what the passenger left in the seat pocket but NO one cleaned the plane

But the Staff are very pretty women with a pleasant attitudes and the plane is not full


Can not wait to see what Friday the 17th will continue to give me

Returning to the Taurino Olive Farm: Puglia

Pulgia, Italy

Taurino's Olive Farm

After my first visit to Taurino's Olive farm I adopted a 1,000 year old tree.    This visit was at the end of the harvest when the tress were still heavy with olives and the lush green of the acres upon acres of trees was  a stark contrast to the days I had spent in the cities of  Florence and Rome.

An invitation to view the process of oil production was only possible on both trips via arrangement by Yle Sambati the CEO of Yltour.com.      The previous visit was a detailed description on oil production and the 'correct' way to taste oil.   see http://hometoitaly.blogspot.com/2013/02/1000-year-old-olive-tree-at-taurinos.html

Olive picking is an art..  When you have thousands of trees this is not a quick process, but a careful one so that the 'fruit' is not damaged.

Mr Taurino through our interpreter explained to our large group how the picking process is done.     Ground cover is placed under each tree so that the olives can be easily gathered

Our large group was given an opportunity to 'rake' the olives by hand.   It is a very slow process and very hard work.  

Collected olives are brought to the processing room to be washed, sorted and the crushing.

The temperature controlled lower level has enormous metal vats that will hold the oil until bottling and shipping.   see details on the process at http://hometoitaly.blogspot.com/2012/12/learning-to-taste-olive-oil.html

A large showroom adjacent to the pressing facility offers a wonderful selection of oils, olive spreads and many other snacks and treats.