the secret bakery...

last night was probably one of the best nights we will have in florence! 

i had heard from a friend of mine who studied in florence last year that at 1 am a bakery opens and sells fresh, straight out of the oven, pastries but the catch is--its impossible to find. my roommates and i had talked about the fact that we wanted to find it early in the semester so we could show all of our family and friends who come to visit (and also so we could try these amazing pastries). we even found a blog online that a student had written and he described the bakery like this:

"visit the unnamed secret bakery, of no certain address. the glow of a frosted glass door awaits you on the corner. you go inside. the bakers try to ignore you (this is not a retail outlet, but a manufacturer of the pastries seen in many bars around town) and get back to the brioches. you get their attention and ask whats available. if you dont speak italian, its possible to get away with pointing. everything is just out of the oven and fabulous: still warm, flaky, magical. if your lucky, they still have some sfogile left, with a cream or marmalade or, the best, apple filling. if not, a chocolate croissant has been known to move one unnamed friend to tears of joy. if your in the mood for something a little more unusual, ask for a budino di riso, a small, hot, moist cake. after the first bite, you expect to owe your soul to the impatient woman who wants to get back to her ovens; after all, most of the customers are drunk. but she demands only 80 cents from you and shoos you away. you stumble out into the alleyway and begin your journey home in bliss, with chocolate on your lip. if only your pastry lasted the whole walk home...next time youll have to buy two."

needless to say, after reading that yesterday afternoon we were set on finding the bakery. we decided to go to a local pub and have a few beers. after an hour or so we realized it was time to go find the bakery. we had heard rumors as to where the bakery was, but most people said that we would just have to follow the scent. and they were right. when we walked out of the pub, we instantaneously smelled fresh made pastries. we followed the smell for about a block and before we knew it, we turned into a back alley and saw the magical glow coming from big frosted doors. we were ecstatic!!! we spent about five minutes just jumping around and laughing because we were still in awe that we had found the secret bakery. i will never forget the smell of that kitchen the minute we opened the doors. it was seriously a small piece of heaven. the baker saw us walk in and asked what we wanted. we asked for one of everything!! (hey, this sort of night was only going to happen once and we wanted to experience all of it, even if our jeans wouldnt fit the next morning.) we saw the man take the pastries straight out of the oven and into a bag for us. at this point i think we were all drooling. and the best part was, not only did they have pastries--THERE WAS PIZZA TOO!!! we paid practically nothing for our little pieces of heaven then walked outside to take pictures and enjoy the fruits of our labor (we did have to work pretty hard to find the place). i can not explain just how amazing the food was. it was still warm and so unbelievably fresh. i have never tasted anything so delicious in my life (except for moms meatloaf). we met an italian man on our way out who was so friendly. i asked him if this was the only special bakery in town and he gave me the strangest look. he told me that this place isnt really a secret to local florentines, but americans always refer to the bakery as 'secret'. we laughed and i told him that it was probably just a stupid american thing. he smiled and said that he loved americans we werent stupid--he went on to say that his wife is american and even though she has lived in florence for 20 years, she still believes that the bakery is a big secret.

so please remember that i would love for anyone to come visit!! and if seeing me wasnt a good enough reason to come, i can now say that if you visit, i will show you the super secret bakery. 

lovelovelove