Food is important. Food sustains us, food bonds us, and oftentimes, food ends up being the element we center the majority of our plans around. Sometimes, though, food is a struggle. For students pinching pennies, it can be quite the ordeal to find cheap food that still tastes good or is in any sort of way substantial. Mostly, to cut cost and take care of food allergy worries, our group cooked our own meals, but inevitably, there were a few situations in which we had to eat at a restaurant. We ate at some horrible restaurants but many amazing ones as well over the past three months, and on our second day in Florence, Italy, on our second free travel, we hit the jackpot!

Naturally, in Italy, our goal was to eat as much “authentic” pizza as possible. We had already had it a few times in Rome, but the Roman pizza never compared to what we ate at this little unnamed pizzeria in Florence. Just off one of the large squares (the Piazza di San Giovanni, if I remember correctly), it just seemed to be a counter for takeaway at first glance, but there was also seating down some stairs (and a free bathroom). We each paid by weight of the pizza slice (reasonably priced) which the woman behind the counter then warmed for us in the oven. Once we had our pizza, we found the downstairs seating in a fascinating dining room covered floor to ceiling in signatures from past customers and tourists.

Naturally, we had to leave our mark on the place (future study abroad students— if you find yourself at this pizzeria someday, we dare you to find our signature!).