Italian Eats!
July 28th, 2008 @ 2:24 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I’ve had a few inquiries about where we ate in Italy, so I decided to write a post ALL about FOOD. Yum! Unfortunately, the number of pictures representing each restaurant here is not an indicator of how good the food is - most likely, it’s only an indicator of how much wine we drank before our food came or how hungry we were when it came.
Let’s start with the restaurants from Venice:
On our very first night in Italy, our hotel recommended us to eat at La Feluca, a restaurant close by our hotel (in the San Marco area). Since it was our very first night of our honeymoon, we remembered to take pictures! While the whole meal was delicious, the highlight of our meal was probably this deluxe appetizer that our waiter convinced us to order:
I don’t actually remember what I ate here…
but it was all seafood, and YUMMALICIOUS.
Here, we have a plate of pasta carbonara, and farther a plate of gnocchi with seafood.
Mmm… homemade pasta is the best!!
La Feluca Ristorante
Calle della Mandola
San Marco, 3648
Venezia
Tel: 041.5235678
Another night in Venice, we opted for a more simple meal, and our hotel recommended a local wine bar, Vino Vino.
Here we ordered more simple pasta plates. Mr. Toucan a plate of pasta marinara.
And me… the special of the day. (I don’t even remember what it was - I just remember it tasting good. 
)
Vino Vino
San Marco 2007/A
30124 VENICE - ITALY
(between La Fenice Opera House and via XXII Marzo)
Tel. (+39) - 041 2417688
Next stop - Florence:I think that Florence was my favorite stop food wise, which may have been because our hotel was so good at giving us great recommendations! Our first night we went to Munaciello. The menu there was so huge, Mr. Toucan and I decided to order 2 things, and have them split them for us.
Mrs. Toucan with the “first” course - some kind of spicy pasta dish.
Mr. Toucan attacks!
Munaciello is actually known for their pizza, which was also very good! We ordered pizza for our “second” course, but for some reason, we didn’t take any pictures of it.
Munaciello
Via Maffia 31R
Firenze
Tel: 055.287198
www.munaciello.it
Another night, we went to a restaurant recommended to us not only by our hotel, but also Fodor’s. Unfortunately, we took no pictures inside Trattoria 4 Leoni. Here, we had a little trouble with the menu because it was all in Italian, but our waiter kindly interpreted the menu for us and gave us great recommendations on what to order.
Trattoria 4 Leoni
Piazza della Passera
Via dei Vellutini 1/r
Tel: 055.218562
50125 Firenze
www.4leoni.com
At Club Culinario Toscano da Osvaldo, we decided to order the Florentine special - Bistecca alla Fiorentina. This t-bone steak is cooked rare/medium rare and meant to feed at least 2 people (it’s approximately 2.5 lbs!), and all I have to say is… yum!
I got the T-bone part - and I cleaned my plate. Mrs. Toucan = piggy!
Note wine glass in hand: Our waiter paired our wine fantastically with our meal!
Mr. Toucan, who normally eats his steak well done, wanted some visual proof to show friends and family back home that he ate a rare steak - and enjoyed it!
Club Culinario Toscano da Osvaldo
Piazza dei Peruzzi, 3r (angolo Via dei Benci)
50122 Firenze
Tel: 055.217919
Our last Florentine restaurant, L’Osteria di Giovanni, was perhaps my favorite because the service was spectacular! When seated, every guest gets complimentary glasses of champagne, and instead of bread (which surprisingly in every other restaurant tastes incredibly bland), we got a basket of little fried pieces of dough. The food was also pretty stellar, and looking at the pictures, it looks like Mr. Toucan and I decided to color coordinate our meals with what we were wearing!
Me with my plate of pasta with truffles!
P.S. I realize in almost all my pictures I’m wearing the same brown cardigan! I promise I did change! The nights were a little bit cooler, so I was glad that I had my cardigan to cover up!
Mr. Toucan with his asparagus pasta with pecorino cheese.
(To be honest, I liked Mr. Toucan’s meal better than mine!)
L’Osteria di Giovanni
Via del Mora, 22
50123 Firenze
Tel: 055.284897
And finally, last stop - Rome!
For some reason, we were really terrible about taking pictures of our food in Rome. I’m not really sure why. Perhaps, it was because of the 4 nights, we only ate dinner “out” twice. One of the nights, we ate at La Buvette. Again, we ordered 2 meals and asked them to split it for us (like a first and second course). I’m not sure if the kitchen got confused with our order or not, but it felt like we each got 2 full meals! The portions were so large! I’m pretty sure we rolled out of there…
La Buvette
Via Vittoria, 44/47
00187 Roma
Tel: 06 6790384
The other night we ate out, we went to Gusto. This restaurant has 2 parts - one that is simpler pizzeria, and one that is a little bit more upscale. We dined at the latter. We ordered delicious seafood and pasta dishes, and a fantastic octopus salad as an appetizer (unfortunately, we have no photos!). What we did randomly take a picture of… dessert!
Yummy tiramisu!
Mmm… check out that goodness…
We tried not to eat “fancy” meals every night on our honeymoon. On some nights we opted for simple “street food.”
I like pizza.
On those days we also usually snacked during the day. Sometimes we had pizza during the day too!
This place in Rome had fantastic flat bread pizza. Instead of paying by the slice or by pizza, you actually pay by weight! Mr. Toucan and I loved their potato and rosemary pizza! (If you can’t see their address in the picture, it’s on Via della Croce, 17/18 in Rome)
Other times, we snacked on sweets!
(okay, you saw my gelato collage before… I had it everyday! ) Can you guess which cone is mine, and which one is Mr. Toucan’s? 
This post has totally made me hungry. Do you have any good recommendations for Italian eats? Please share with the Hive!
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16 Responses to “Italian Eats!”
Wow! That looks super yummy and made me super hungry!
This post made me very hungry! Thank goodness we’re having macaroni for dinner
Just a little random bit of trivia that I have knocking around in my head: the reason the bread throughout Tuscany (and therefore in Florence) tastes “bland” is that it’s made without salt. This goes back to way, waaaaay back in the day when I salt was levied on tax and therefore bread was made without it.
I noticed the blandness of the bread when I was there too and when I learned this fact part way through my trip it all suddenly made sense.
All the food looks incredible…I think I need to have a snack now!
haha I love that your honeymoon recap is all about the food! I personally think that’s one of the best reasons for traveling — yummy new eats! I’m glad you had a good time in venice. I went there with my FH last year, and I thought it totally sucked (IE disneyland for rich people -blegh). Plus FH had been to other parts of italy before (less touristy parts) and said the food in venice was crap (and WAY overpriced) in comparison. Did you remember to pick up an authentic italian cookbook?? Or take a cooking course?? That way, when you cook yummy italian food, you can always remember your honeymoon
@hergreenapples: ah-ha! That’s what it was… no salt! Good to know. Thanks! haha!
I am so jealous! I studied abroad in Florence in college and have been dying to go back! So glad you are enjoying your honeymoon:)
what a great post
I am having my wedding in Italy and honeymooning there too, so these are great suggestions that I will eagerly keep in mind!
Yay for honeymoons! you and your hubby look so happy. =o)
ACS, I have been to Acqua al Due (visiting a friend in Florence) AND ate the blueberry filet. The best meal ever!
I have to skip your post right now because I just ate a gross sub at the airport, and I don’t want to get angry. But I promise I’ll devour (har har) it later.
mmm…. food pr0n. I love love Italian food.
good thing I just ate lunch or these pics would have made me hungry! yum yum.
Mmmmfooood! If anyone is going to Sorrento, Davide Gelato has the best gelato in the WORLD. And I have eaten a LOT of gelato, so I’d say I’m pretty much an expert
the bread in florence IS very bland because back when italy was made up of many city-states, florence was at war with whom ever was supposed to supply their salt… so, to this day, they make their bread without salt. however, if you dip it in a bit of their fantastic olive oil and vinegar, it tastes great.
ahh, i miss the food in italy.
@ ACS and pammietee: i spent five weeks in florence, and never got the chance to go to acqua al due (i tried many times, but they were booked for the whole night every time. i hadn’t even heard of it then, but it was next to my friends’ apartment and we REALLY wanted to go.) but, i live in san diego, so i have gone to the one here since. the menus are identical, and i agree, the blueberry steak is probably the most amazing thing i’ve ever eaten.
you’re making me drool and it’s 7:30 in the morning and i’m still rubbing sleep out of my eyes. it was so cute when you said you color coordinated your shirts to your meals
Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
I lived in Italy and have to share with the hive the most AMAZING restaurant. It is called Acqua al Due and it is located in Florence (it was so popular with Americans that they even opened one in San Diego =)). Anyway, its fairly cheap and romantic and boy the food is good. I know it sounds unappetizing but you must order the blueberry or balsamic steaks which are their specialties and absolutely fantastic!!