10 Most Memorable Meals of My Life - Florence

Since Bethany provided the photos below, I will provide the story behind what was for me our most memorable meal in Florence.

Of course, Florence is known for fancy, expensive restaurants... but some of the best food we had there we got from a cafeteria! Just down the street from the Duomo is a place called Ristorante Leonardo. We read about it in our Rick Steves book and thought we would check it out since Rick said it was cheap and quick. We weren't expecting a cafeteria setting where you grab a tray and head down the line and point out to the person behind the counter what you want.

The book said that "Lucciano runs the place with great enthusiasm" and it didn't take us long to figure out who Lucciano was. He was a very kind and vibrant gentleman who dished up the food while a clean-cut kid in his early 20's worked the register. They were the only employees we saw that night, even though the place could probably seat over a hundred people. That night they were serving lasagna (we hadn't had any yet in Italy and I LOVE lasagna). But Lucciano was very well...enthusiastic about the osso bucco. I didn't even know what it was at the time and it seemed strange ordering such an exotic dish in a cafeteria style restaurant, but Lucciano was not to be denied. So we got that too. Both were really really good. And really really cheap. By the time we left the restaurant, I had concocted this backstory that made sense to me: Lucciano was a world-class chef who could be working at any 5-star restaurant in Italy, but he was at heart a man of the people who just wanted to serve the best food at rock-bottom prices, so he opened his own cafeteria in the middle of Florence. Until I hear different, that is what I am going to believe about Lucciano and Ristorante Leonardo.

We wound up going back for lunch another day, the only restaurant we ate at twice in Italy. This was partially due to how affordable it was, as well as how tasty and centrally located it is. If you're ever in Florence on a budget, you gotta go eat there at least once.