Hello there!
I recently got back from 3 beautiful weeks in the Tuscan countryside and I’ve decided to share with you all the things that I did so you can get a taste of life there.
If you’re watching this while at home, I hope this newsletter will bring you a glimpse of Tuscany from wherever you are.
Transcript
So I just got back from Italy after three pretty intense weeks. Now I’m back home here in Oregon and I decided to share in the newsletter all the things that I did while I was there so you can get a taste of Tuscany.
One of the things that I love to do the most when I go back there is to have lunch at Casa del Popolo. Casa del Popolo is a quite strange and unique place but it’s kind of part of my personal story because growing up in a small village just right outside Florence it was really like the meeting place where I would go after school to meet with my friends. It’s also a multi-generational place so you will find elderly people maybe playing cards, families with children, and young adults who want to hang out with their friends.
So when I go there I like to go for lunch on Friday and I go there on Friday because it’s the day when they serve seafood. So in the video you will see what it looks like to have lunch there. It’s completely unpretentious, it’s very convivial. You place your orders straight to the kitchen counter to the cooks and when your order is ready you will probably sit at the table with people that you don’t know. Usually there are professionals on lunch break, there are elderly people — it’s really a place for locals which is quite rare to find nowadays. And so if you like to experience places that are not touristy yet, I highly recommend that you try it.
I’m having lunch at Casa del Popolo today. On the menu there is seafood pasta, spaghetti with clams, pasta with broccoli and anchovies, and much more. This is not the most charming place but I love to come here for the food and the atmosphere. There are only professionals on lunch break and elderly people — it’s one of the last non-touristy places where you’ll find only locals.
So my mother is in the line with her tray and she’s ready to order straight to the cooks in the kitchen. During week lunches, these are the people who work here as employees, but during the weekend this place becomes a really good pizzeria — there’s a wooden pizza oven over there at the end and it’s all run by volunteers.
So we sat down at the table and finally I had the salted cod with tomato sauce. To make this dish you actually need to soak the cod for a few days in cold water and then you can fry it in a pan with white wine and then add onions and tomatoes. Always so good — I need to make it again at home. And the spinach though were quite overcooked. Italians love to overcook their veggies, so they were probably boiled first and then fried in a pan.
So I was actually still hungry after the cod so I decided to order another dish, and since I couldn’t resist I got the fritto misto which is this mix of deep fried calamari and shrimps. And in Italy people love to squeeze lemon on top.
So if you love to try non-touristy places I highly recommend that you try lunch at Casa del Popolo. I was in Antella but there’s a Casa del Popolo in almost every village in Tuscany, although not all of them might serve lunch or seafood on Fridays. And as I said before, this is a place for locals but everybody’s welcome.
So if you feel up to try it, I suggest that you go there around noon or after 1:30 to avoid the huge line. You can line up with your tray and read the menu on the blackboard. If you don’t speak Italian, Google Translate on your phone can help you deciding which dish you want to pick. Keep in mind that when you place your order to the cooks they might not speak English, which means that you can simply say the name of the dish in Italian — like “spaghetti con vongole, per favore” — and if you don’t know the pronunciation, do not worry too much because sure Google Translate can help you, but remember that usually people love when you’re putting in effort in speaking their language. So it’s all good, just go for it.
And after the cooks place your order on the tray, you can pay at the cashier. Usually dishes are between five and ten euros, which means that for less than twenty euros, you can have a real feast. Also, since this is not a restaurant and food changes every day, you cannot check the menu beforehand online — also because they usually don’t have a website. So you just have to embrace the experience and go there and just try it out. If all tables are full, it’s a common practice to share, which means that you can sit with other people. And again, this is all part of the experience.
So I hope you will try lunch at Casa del Popolo and let me know if you enjoy it.