Hen Weekend- Before Dinner Drink - Aperitivo

The Aperitivo
(the before dinner drink with culinary delights)

Florence has a great before dinner drinks scene. There are lots of places to choose from, and a wide variety in quality and price....

The 6.30 pm to 9 pm (roughly) evening slot has become part of the evening scene for locals and visitors. With bars and restaurant/bars competing for clients there is quite a variety of vibes to choose from.




I would liken it to happy hour....but that would be misleading in the worst sense....here is the background:

8pm is the traditional family evening meal time. Since office jobs tend to knock-off at 7pm, there in lies the origin of friends meeting for an Aperitivo after work. So it is kind of that happy hour time of day, without the cheapness or nasty cocktail connotations.

This is how it works:

• Choose you bar (I have a few suggestions of where to find what you are looking for)
• Pay between 8 and 10 Euro for your first drink, and then less for each of the drinks after that. (normally, although some bars - NOIR for example, like to carry on charging you the 9 Euro price even on your second drink...which I think is a bit cheeky...Noir is good though, so I suggest perhaps one drink there.....then on to somewhere else)
• Then you get a plate and join the throng of people at the buffet! This is where your 10Euro price tag is supposedly justified....so make sure you choose a place that serves some good food. (which is ultimately why I am trying to write this blog to help)

So where does the best Buffet in Town:
Ok, so firstly I want to mention that as in most towns things change, and I am not going to be updating this every week, so check the date of this post, and perhaps post me a question, so that I can give you more current info if you are reading this way down the line after it is posted....

Rifrullo: San Nicolo area, south of arno, near the San Miniato Gate. Good, slightly older funky local crowd. Well known with Florence Locals. Lovely area, worth a visit anyway. Also, there is a good restaurant up the hill from there are Fuori Porta (it is very close, just the otherside of the ciry wall, but you need to book if you are a group)
Noir: Can be expensive for more than one drink, but the buffet is good, and it is more central than Rifrullo, just along the river, west, one bridge down stream from Ponte vecchio...and as a result has more tourists in.


To be continued.......