Hidden Gems

Going to Italy I did most of my research through the popular vacationing and tourist websites like TripAdvisor or Kayak. What I found when I got there where the biggest lines, and not quality customer experience. But then I realized I need to change my outlook, I wasn’t a tourist for that month, I was living and experiencing Florence, Italy. So, when I arrived in Italy I went to the best to figure out where do go. With my two professors, one being in the fashion industry and the other a wine expert I was lucky. My one professor told me the hidden clues to buying real, genuine leather, and where to get it at the best prices. Most people will shop at the white tents in the Mercato di San Lorenzo. This is because people find it to be the ‘best prices’ but when you walk in the store fronts behind the white carts, this is where you find the true leather. Really educating myself I was lucky enough for my professor who walked me to the proper shops showing me real and fake leather.

As my other professor was teaching me wine tasting and making in my Tuscany and its wine class, but she knew where I should buy my bottled wine to take home and cuddle with every night. What she suggested for me to do was go to a liquor store that closes for Siesta, because if they don’t close that’s not a true Italian and they’re looking for the tourist. Last but certainly not the least, the pizza parlors. I was lucky enough to get my apartment from school across the street from Gusta Pizza, the most raved pizza place in Florence, they would have a line down the block before they even opened. As I ate my weight in bread, sauce, cheese and spicy salami I was the first to say, “I’ve had better.” When we met a local in Florence he told us about Sud-La Pizzeria in Mercato Centrale. This was genuine Naples pizza from the creators of pizza. Even though they’re not as popular as Gusta they do deserve the rating of 5-stars. What I did enjoy about knowing these hidden gems is I felt so much closer to be a local. I feel like we want to keep these places quite and hidden for ourselves too be greedy that way, but I’m so blessed I had people to show me the way in Florence territory.

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