Experiencing Aperitivo in Florence
We recently unearthed one of Florence’s best kept secrets and we want to share it with you. The amazing aperitivo experience.
What is an aperitivo?
Quite simply an aperitivo is a buffet of appetisers shared with friends at a local cocktail bar. After work the locals flock to the small bars in each neighbourhood to enjoy a drink, catch up with friends and help themselves to a delicious array of pastas, vegetables, light finger snacks and freshly made local delicacies.
For us it was a chance to dive into the Italian lifestyle and enjoy one of our favourite past times while travelling. Food.
Aperitivo starts around 6.30pm until 9.30pm and Kitsch Bar, which we visited three times during our stay in Florence, quickly filled with a mix of students, business professionals and ourselves with no other tourists in sight. We felt like we had entered some sort secret society and were nervous to put a foot wrong.
Luckily the waitress was extremely friendly and with a few hand gestures and broken Italian we figured out that if we brought a drink, all of which were between $7 – 10 Euros, we could help ourselves to the buffet.
And what a buffet it was.
With fresh mozzarella and hand picked tomatoes on slices of warm bread, lashings of cured prosciutto ham, pesto pasta, rice and more. We couldn’t fill our plates quickly enough (hence the shit photos). As we took our seats we quickly fell into silence as we devoured our individual plates before remembering where we were.
Italy; the home of food lovers.
Here we didn’t have to wolf down our food. We could sit back and relax. Italian’s have the right lifestyle. Everything is enjoyed at a slow pace over mouth-watering food and a cool beverage. We loved the fact that we could just buy one drink and enjoy each others company instead of being rushed out the door for the next sitting.
Even with the slower pace of eating we quickly demolished two plates a piece and with full bellies we agonised over whether it was appropriate for us to go up again… Of course we did. Much to our regret later that night as we couldn’t sleep from being too full!
Next time you visit Florence we definitely recommend visiting Kitsch Bar which was the most generous and best looking aperitivo buffet we saw while in Florence.
Where to stay in Florence? Plus Florence Hostel
We stayed at Plus Florence hostel when we were enjoying the best aperitivo in Florence. Considering it is a hostel chain they really know how to do it right for budget and couple travellers.
Location
Plus Florence is only 5 – 10 minutes walk to the major sights in Florence such as the Duomo and main train station.
The Rooms
Plus Florence has designed itself as a luxury budget hostel. It’s rooms are sparkling clean with dorms, privates and separate floors just for Plus Girls with hairdryers, straighteners etc).
Other Amenities
There are two, yes TWO, swimming pools, restaurant, cardio workout equipment, bar, rooftop patio and free WiFi throughout the hostel.
Staff
All of the staff are extremely helpful providing travel tips and advice on where to go and what to see. They were also the ones who introduced us to aperitivo so they will be forever remembered as legends.
Social Atmosphere
Combine an outdoor pool, large bar and 800 beds then there will always be something fun happening. We just wish they opened the bar earlier so we could enjoy a beer next to the pool in the afternoon.
Cost
Per Person: $30 Euro for a private room, $25.50 Euro for a 4 bed dorm and $21.50 Euro for a 8 bed dorm.
Overall
Plus Florence definitely deserves all of its awards for being one of the best hostels in the world. It’s rooms are clean, spacious and the extra amenities provides lots of places to chill out after a hard day of exploring Florence. Definitely recommend it for backpacking couples and solo travellers who want to meet lots of other travellers.
Disclaimer: We were guests of HostelWorld but as always our thoughts are always our own.
Category: Europe
We have been wearing out our jandals (Kiwi slang for flip-flops) on our travel adventures around the world since 2009. We love all types of adventures that make us step outside our comfort zone, in comfort, including surfing, skiing, snowboarding, diving and cruising on our bikes. You can find out more 
Great tip! Never heard of the aperitivo concept.. but I like it!
Hooray for Apertivo, Italy’s version of Spanish tapas!
No doubt that Italy is the place to be when it comes to food!
Tapas, Apertivo… whatever you call it, getting little samples of a lot of different dishes is awesome. That buffala mozzarella looks scrumptious!
Aperetivo is all through Northern Italy. It’s amazing! a fantastic way to have cheap drinks and food. Often you don’t even need to have dinner after a good aperitivo!!
I gotta stop reading your blog posts first thing in the morning, because you’ve been posting food posts and pictures far too often lately
Fresh mozzy is *TO DIE FOR*, and I’ve always found Italian/Mediterranean food to be the best in the world. One of the things I really miss about living in that part of the world are fresh olives. When I was living in Bulgaria (Not Italy, but hey, just across the water!) and traveling to Italy as well…that was a guilty pleasure. Every day I could walk down to the local market and pick up kilos of fresh olives and just gorge myself =P
This sounds a lot like Spain. It’s the Italian version of tapas (or maybe tapas are the Italian version of aperitivo). I ate Italian food when I was there but never did the aperitivo thing. I didn’t even know Italians did this. Will have to check it out the next time I am there.
Apertivo kind of reminds me of tapas… except in buffet format. Regardless, it sounds delicious!
I think Andy has mentioned the aperitivo thing with Italy. I just love Italy, and your posts continue to make me want to go back. The food looks so good!
That’s my kind of food!
Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..Foto of the Week from … Tarija: Street Food
Aperitivo is very important in Italy, I saw something similar in Spain, where people go for tapas after work and before dinner.
Angela recently posted..Video: In Parco della Giara, where horses forgot to keep up with evolution
I too recently discovered Aperitivo while in Italy a few months back! I think all bars worldwide should do this! I also never seem to be able to get photos of my food before I eat half of it!
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It’s so hard not to start pigging out every time! Have to constantly re-arrange our plates after we start eating then remember to grab a photo haha.
Yum! Aperitivo sounds a lot like Mezza in Jordan. We love trying all the different dishes.
Mary @ Green Global Travel recently posted..The 10 Best Waterfalls for Your World Travel Bucket List
Sounds like you guys had a brilliant time in Jordan. It is on our to-do list. Especially if they have something similar to Aperitivo!