Originally Posted by
PWMTrav
Happy to help. I like Florence a lot
What hotel are you staying at? That might be a good starting point for more suggestions.
As a regular reader of this forum, this fact has not escaped my notice....
I am staying at the Hilton Metropole (I have my reasons for this) so probably not a good starting point.
Originally Posted by
Perche
Food in Italy is very regional. I don't really think that there are aperitivi or apericena in Florence. They are a Northwestern thing, mainly Torinese and Milanese. All cities have some version of food to tide you over from the 7 hour pause between lunch that ends around 2, and dinner that starts at 9. There are cichetti in Venice. Rome has a burgeoning scene of bars where light food is served at around six. In the USA there are many bars that out out food at 6:00 PM, calling it happy hour, even though happy hour and apericena are opposite things. As a purist, I don't think that just because a bar puts out food in the evening, that necessarily makes it apericena. It's not just bar food. I think you see the difference when you have apericena in Torino and Milan.
It was Milan that made me aware of the concept of apiritivo/apericena and I just assumed that Florence was north enough to also have the custom.