If, however, you want to sample Florentine cookery, you will
fly from the splendours of the road which leads to the bridge of the
Trinity and will try Mellini's in the Via Calzajoli, which runs from the
Piazza della Signoria to that of the cathedral, where you will find both
German and Italian dishes; or if you wish to test the native art,
untouched by Teuton heaviness, go to La Toscana in the same street.
There you will find comparative quiet, and you can be quite sure that
the fish you order will be fresh, for it is sent daily direct from
Leghorn, where the owner of La Toscana has a branch establishment.
At night the Gambrinus in one corner of the Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele
rocks with sound, a band plays at intervals, and till long past midnight
red and white wine and most indifferent cigarettes are called for by the
revellers. This is hardly a place at which ladies would enjoy
themselves, and still less should they be taken to Paoli's--where the
young Florentines amuse themselves with good oysters and bad company
until the small hours of the morning grow big--or to Picciolo's.
The Cafe la Rosa is a typical haunt of the submerged tenth, with a
corrosive drink of its own.
There are not very many dishes distinctively Florentine. _Stracotto_,
braised beef with tomatoes, is one of them; and _Fegatini di pollo_,
giblets stewed in wine sauce, is another.
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