Curious Appetite

Italy

Where to Eat in Florence for Easter (Pasqua and Pasquetta)

/ Florence, Italy, Where to Eat in Florence / 4 Comments
sorry, bah babes. You’re what’s for lunch and dinner this weekend

(UPDATED April 2025)

Unless you will be munching with your family or friend’s family on Easter Sunday (Pasqua) and Monday (Pasquetta) in Florence, then you might find this post useful. If you happen to be going to someone’s home for Easter, don’t forget to pick up a chocolate egg- preferably from Vestri in Piazza Salvemini or Urzi on Via Gioberti if at all possible. For colomba cakes, buy from a quality bakery. You can never have too much cake or chocolate on Easter, right?

Not all restaurants in Florence are closed on Pasqua or Pasquetta, in fact some of them drum up really special menus for the occasion. And not all will have special Easter menus- but are still worth the meal if you happen to be in Florence during Easter holidays. Depending where you are in your planning or research, I can provide personalized one on one travel consulting or you can join one of our food tours in Florence!

Like what you see ^? These are some tastes from past Easter-themed social dinners we host!

Book a seat on our annual Easter Sunday’s progressive dining crawl if you’d like to partake in something social with a curated menu with festive specialties so you don’t have to make any decisions. Plus an expert guide and sommelier to explain everything along the way.

The following include a top list of sure fire bets plus add-ons as this guide gets updated annually (first written in 2017, but I republish every year as to not confuse people on the date in URL). As always, keep in mind this is a free blog (no ads) and my paid work takes precedence so there might be typos, funny formatting, some extra legwork you’ll need to do on your own (i.e. google’ing the unlinked leads) and tolerate some awkward phone photos.

Here are 20+ ideas for where to eat in Florence on Easter worth considering for your Easter Sunday and/or Monday meal. 

Also- since Pasqua and Pasquetta fall on Sunday and Monday- try this guide I built for restaurants in Florence open Sunday and Monday– call to make sure they are open when reserving.

Receive more helpful guides like these (some that don’t make the blog) by subscribing by e-mail.  For live Easter eats and bites from Florence, follow along the gluttony on Instagram

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A cheat sheet to the best food & drink in Bologna, Italy

/ Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Quick Food Guides / 9 Comments

This guide first published in Oct 2023, is updated regularly, last update March 2026) Hello there, it’s been a while since I shared a post about Bologna on the blog! I won’t go into a super detailed spiral as to why but I’ll get straight to the point: I am focusing more on my Substack...

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Where to eat and drink in Bologna, Italy

/ Bologna, Italy, Popular / 16 Comments

if you are a first time visitor of my blog, I’m an American food & drink writer in Florence since 2012 but have spent considerable time in Bologna between Florence to research and continuously study its cuisine- which fascinates me to no end!

Out of which, a Bologna food tour was born and added to Curious Appetite’s bespoke gamma of small-group, 3 hour tasting tours focused on Florence. I sweat over many bowls of tortellini and slices of mortadella to make it perfect!

If you’re planning a visit, check out this food tour in Bologna (Led by a team of local, certified experts! I wish I could commute there every day to eat pasta and mortadella.) It’s also Lonely Planet-approved! Follow my Instagram page for the most up-to-date food & drink finds, restaurant suggestions, as well as travel tips around Italy. 

(Updated: January 2026 but first written in January 2017- due to limited time, forgive not including links and addresses. Drop me a line if there are significant changes you noticed or a listing I should add!)

I wrote the Eater guide for an Essential 18 (basically a round-up of must-eats, shops and drinks) It’s really hard to do a listicle of only 18 so this blog post fills in the gaps and offers more options for those who like to have them.

Feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of choice? For a to-the-point playbook to my must-do favorites, grab my cheat sheet to where to eat, drink and gelato in Bologna with some agriturismi peppered in.

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Where to Meet & Eat in Florence for Solo Travelers

/ Florence, Italy, Where to Eat in Florence / 2 Comments

“How to become an explorer of the world” Via food, of course!

(first published in 2017, I have left the original photos and commentary, because it serves as a sentimental piece of how Florence felt and what blogging used to be like <3. Updated & republished in 2025 for necessary practical details and additional suggestions) 

Traveling solo, huh? Well, first I’d like to give you a proverbial high five in light of my high five anxiety because #1 it takes guts to travel especially these days. Not because travel should be or is scary, but travel seems scary mega thanks to irresponsible governments and people (understandably) misinterpreting what the media reports out of proportion.

And high five for #2: traveling on your own- this is one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences on planet earth. Since I write about food, I hope this post for where to eat alone in Florence proves helpful for solo travelers- both as a guide to where to eat in Florence but also tips & insight for meeting others during your travels around Italy.

Before I get to the tea….did you know I offer social dining experiences? While biased, they might just be perfect for solo travelers, like this progressive dinner crawl of Florence where we visit 4 restaurants and eateries in one evening. Love Negronis? My (Conde Nast Traveler recommended!) aperitivo tour explores craft cocktails, bites and boutique wine tasting with other food & drink loving visitors. 

In the spirit of transparency…supporting my work keeps this blog ad and paywall-free. There are a lot of costs in keeping the blog running and updated. It is important to provide honest recs for you and others, without needing to resort to sponsored or paid content. So you signing up for a tour or a travel consult keeps it real. Grazie mille in advance! Happy reading:)

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Where to Eat on the Cheap & Budget Dining in Florence, Italy

/ Florence, Italy, Popular, Where to Eat in Florence / 3 Comments

 

  (Updated in 2025, always call restaurants in Florence ahead. Google listings are usually unreliable as well as online booking. Florence is modernizing reservations, but slowly.)

An important FAQ I get, whether friends or social media followers, is “can you recommend a restaurant in Florence dove si mangia bene ma per poco. (where you eat well but paying little).”  

I decided to respond with a curated, quality round-up of frill-free eats & budget restaurants in Florence. Continue Reading →

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