While Florence’s rich artistic history makes it one of the world’s greatest cultural landmarks, I think I can say with absolute certainty that what stands out to me the most about this city is its coffee: it’s cheap, it’s delicious, and it’s everywhere. You can’t walk a block in any direction without passing a café or a pasticceria, each with its own assortment of strong espresso beverages and freshly baked pastries (and each incredibly affordable—take note, NYC). Surprisingly, my favorite café so far is NYU’s on-campus café. I have yet to find a cappuccino anywhere else that matches the ones made by Fernando, the café’s wonderful barista.
My friend Annie and I have our Italian Opera class at nine a.m. Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and to make getting up early bearable, we’ve made it tradition to take the 8:15 bus up to campus to have some extra time to relax and enjoy ourselves in the café before class. We get either a cappuccino or a caffe latte (which you have to order by its full Italian name—if you ask for a latte like you would in America, you’re just asking for milk) along with a cornetto con Nutella, a pastry so exquisite that I find myself looking forward to it all week. Its messy, flaky crust and gooey Nutella center are absolute perfection, and when we order them first thing in the morning, they’re still fresh and warm from the oven. One particular morning we went to campus extra early to print out some homework before class, and we arrived at the café before it even opened. We could smell the morning’s pastries baking before we even walked in. It was heaven, and the cornetti we got a few minutes later were the best we’d ever had.
Today, Annie and I ventured over to a part of the city we’d never explored before and went to a bakery called Docli e Dolcezze. A friend of ours had posted pictures of the desserts he’d eaten there on Instagram, and after seeing them we had to go. Dolci e Dolcezze was the cutest, tiniest little place filled with the prettiest looking cakes and pastries. We ordered some cappuccinos (they were just ok) and these miniature chocolate cakes that they’re apparently known for. The cakes were tiny but so rich that they practically melted in my mouth. Their small size ended up being more than enough; nothing beats the decadence of Italian chocolate.