I decided to split the posts up into to mainly because of how long it was getting, and this post deserving to have a dedicated page. Our favorite memory of Florence will probably end up being the chocolate festival we stumbled upon. The festival had chocolate companies from all over, but mainly from Sicily All in the course of an hour I had the best milk chocolate I have ever tasted, and the best cannoli known to man. There were around 30 tents each with their own unique specialty. We ended up tasting something from almost every tent. We also had a few tastes of lindt truffles in the lindt store.
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| We thought Chris and Colleen would like this one. |
And on to the festival!
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| Jazz in her self proclaimed heaven |
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| Chocolate heels |
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| Chocolate iphone cases |
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| The festival |
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| Chocolate tools |
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| Candies |
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| fruit and chocolate spreads |
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| cakes |
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| Hot chocolate |
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| Chocolate shot glasses, with baileys and chocolate shots |
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| prepared and ready to go |
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| Action shot |
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| Success |
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| More cake, we are not quite sure what the writing on all of the cakes mean, but we assume its the company name |
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| Chocolate covered mangos |
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| bakery area |
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| more bakery and chocolate covered waffles |
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| the church at the head of the piazza |
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| doughnuts |
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| Packed |
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| Sweet cheese filled pastry |
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| Candied fruit filled with their original insides |
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| "Futbol" cleats as they would say |
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| The best cannoli of all time |
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| Truffles |
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| One of the many truffles we tried (coconut) |
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| More tools |
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| Chocolate on sticks |
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| Finished chocolate "kebab" |
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| Man preparing our chocolate kebab |
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| Chocolate and other flavored liquors. We tried a few of the flavors but did not leave with a bottle |
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| White chocolate |
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| Sticks prepared for dipping |
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| chocolate covered waffle on a stick, with sweetened coconut on top. |
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| Next up dark chocolate covered strawberries |
And last but certainly not least in the food category. The best sandwich I have ever eaten. Spit roasted pork on crunchy toasted bread. This one is with mushrooms, but mine was with onions (I just ate it too quickly to take a picture). The stands specialty was tripe but we were not feeling quite that adventurous.
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| The stand it was served at |
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| water fountain that dispenses sparkling water on left, and natural water on right |
The antique market that we came upon on the last day was pretty special for me. I collect interesting coins here and there (an interest my grandpa shared with me) and I left with coins from early Soviet Union, and other soviet bloc countries (which I had never seen before). But in the end I always have loved learning about WW2 history and I found the best station. Covering the table was WW2 era hemlets, gas masks, and other artifacts. I left with a Nazi SS sterling silver ring, and a Nazi SS stamper.
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| antique market that we came upon |
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| SS ring |
All in all Florence was well worth the time and money, We spent 3 nights there and it really felt like a week. We enjoyed every minute and cannot wait until the day we eventually get to go back.
