The Food Lover's Guide to Florence: With Culinary Excursions in Tuscany

I go to Italy three to five times a year (and I'm always hungry), and Florence is one of the best cities forrestaurants, pizzerias, wine bars, specialty shops and gorgeous markets piled with fresh produce. I have lots of scribbled notes and crumpled business cards, but this book does a much better job. If I've succeeded in whetting your appetite, then grab this book before you go on your own trip. Emily Wise Miller is a good writer and an outstanding guide to the gustatory city. She hits the high spots but doesn't neglect the little-known spots that aren't smack downtown; she knows the regional specialties (the unsalted bread, the magnificent lard); she also remembers that some amongst us are vegetarians and health-food devotees. And when she's got you positively salivating, she closes her book with chapters on cooking schools and culinary tours. All you really need to do is check the photo facing the introduction. It shows a newspaper headline that freely translates as "Delicatessen Clerk Condemned! Sold Prosciutto Different from the One the Customer Asked For!" That alone will give you an idea of how seriously Florentines take their food--and how well-tuned-in Emily Wise Miller is. (Bill Marsano is an award-winning writer on travel and wines and spirits.)


very good and helpful food guide for florence   October 18, 2005
B. Hoffman (Oakland, CA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

We brought this with us, along with several other more general food guides, on a recent 5 day stay in Florence. This was, by far, the most helpful of the guides, since it was devoted exclusively to florence (unlike any others that i am aware of, although there are several tuscan food guides). Because of this, it was far more detailed and afforded many more options than any other guide. As an added perk, it was very up to date, again, unlike several others. There will always be some disgreement when it comes to food recommendations, but I found this guide to be quite reliable. It is by far the most helpful eating guide for florence itself, so if you are traveling to florence for more than a day or two, and eating is at all important to you, I would recommend it very highly, despite the following caveats.

As another reviewer mentioned, the organization in this book leaves a lot to be desired. It is arranged by type of establishment (pizzeria, gelateria, restaurant by expense-category). Since most of one's stopping into gelateria, pastry shops and food markets (if not restaurants) is likely to occur semi-spontaneously as one is walking around, it is crucial to be able to quickly locate stores in your area. This would have been SO easy to address with either a numbered map (preferably) or an index/ list by area. The lack of area-organization combined with the sheer bulk of easily accessible eateries requires one to spend a cumbersome amount of time looking in the guide beforehand and planning stops, not necessarily how one wants to spend one's time. Quite often we realized later that we had walked right near or by a place of interest, which was frustrating. We discovered the last day that there was a highly interesting restaurant right around the corner from our hotel, but we hadn't put that together. So organization is my major complaint.

A few minor complaints: although she does lodge some criticisms, by and large the tone of the entries is a bit glowing. That's probably stylistic as well as a reflection of the quality of establishments that made the bar for inclusion in her list, but more notes on the negatives (not so good for vegetarians; can be very loud; reliable X, but not among the city's top 10, etc.) would have helped narrow down a sometimes undifferentiated list of similar sounding restaurants. She also has a thing for chocolate and seems to recommend almost exclusively chocolate desserts at restaurants. A few times the basic information (e.g., about hours) was wrong, though I think that is unavoidable in this kind of guide.

A final note: the author recommends reservations at restaurants. Although this was not always necessary, it usually was, so take note.


The book I'd have written myself   January 7, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

As a cook/food writer who's lived in Florence for a few years, I was getting frustrated with all of the half-witted, repetitive restaurant reviews that constantly recommended the same 6 places in Florence. I was fed up, and about to set out to write my own guide, talking about the places where the real Florentines go, and describing the way they order their bistecche and fagioli (and where they get their gelato, instead of the touristy, over-priced Vivoli), when a friend showed me Emily Miller's beautiful, all-encompassing, unpretentious book. Well, so much for writing my own book; I'd rather just try all of the places Emily talks about that I haven't been to yet. Whether you are traveling to Firenze, or already live here, this little pocket-gem is all you need to stay well-fed.


Don't eat in Florence without it!   November 28, 2005
Cusine Diva (Portland)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book was the only book we needed in Florence. Emily's reviews were spot on and we never had a bad meal. We were often the only "tourists" in the eating establishment and garnered some looks from locals as in "how did you find this place!" We walked 2 miles outside the city to have the best pizza we've ever tasted and then 4 miles to spend Sunday lunch with Italian families eating "Spaghetti della Casa." I am extremely picky about food (being Italian and a chef for 15 years) so I cannot rave about this book enough...it made our trip!


Brilliant foodie guide   July 8, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a great guide to Florentine restaurants - on a 5 day visit it was our bible. Her recommendations are spot on, with only one out of 7 restaurants we ate in being a dud. We wouldn't recommend I 13 Gobbi - they treat the locals differently from tourists so beware! Try instead some of the lovely, unspoilt restaurants in authentic Florence south of the river.