We found it. The most amazing pizza in all of Italy if not the world (Note: Yes, I realize this is a big claim but I do have a corroborating endorsement from a couple of Americans traveling Italy on a mission to find the best pizza. Their verdict was that this beat anything they had found so far).
The day started with the idea of visiting the Children's Museum at Palazzo Vecchio. On the way we past the Uffizi Museum and the statues, including a replica of David, in Piazza della Signoria.
Unfortunately there were no kids activities at the museum that day so we decided to skip the museum and walk to Piazza San Croce. The kids brought their Easter chalk and as J put it "started defacing the treasures of Florence". There was more pigeon chasing too.
From there we decided to walk up the hill again but this time to visit
Forte di Belevedere, a Medici fortress high above the city overlooking Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. It was another steep walk, only to find once we
arrived that the Fort was closed indefinitely due to a string of accidental deaths where visitors fell off the wall. J was a bit miffed that rather than fix the problem they just shut the fort down completely.
The silver lining was that we ended up walking down Costa di San Giorgio, a steep curvy street lined with painted buildings and offering views of the city and the Tuscan hills. The street is also rich in history - we walked past Galileo's house as well as one of the oldest churches in Florence.
By the time we made it to the bottom of San Giorgio we were tired and hungry, so we decided to go for a late lunch at Gusta Pizza. Every time we had passed there were lines out the door so we thought maybe a late lunch hour would be a bit better. And it was. The restaurant was still busy when we arrived but we were able to get a table right away.
This was the type of pizza experience we were hoping to find in Italy. The chefs were behind the counter throwing pizza dough in the air and there was a pizza oven right behind them.
We ordered a pepperoni, a margherita and an eggplant pizza. All three were out-of-this-world. The crust was light and airy, yet crispy on the bottom and had a very sweet taste. The cheese was fresh mozzarella. The pizza was a hit all around and we were stuffed by the time we left. We had ordered about a half a pizza too much but it was so good that we just couldn't help ourselves. We finished it all and rolled ourselves out of the restaurant.
After lunch the kids played with bubbles in Piazza San Spirito and then we walked to find gelato at Ponte alla Carraria. La Carraria Gelataria was a recommendation from the owner of the apartment and the gelato here was some of the best we had. The price was certainly right - one euro for a huge scoop - and choosing multiple flavors in the scoop was encouraged.
After all the full-belly lunch, we didn't feel the need to eat dinner but instead went out in the evening for a nice walk and took a couple of last rides on the carousel.
The perfect ending to our stay in Florence.
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