Totò

Totò
Via Dante Alighieri, 28r
50122 Firenze
Tel. 055 290406

Prezzo: 13.50 Euro
1 Pizza Margherita
1 Pizza Margherita/Bufala
2 Coca-Cola in Lattina

ANNIE: 7/10
Pizzeria Totò is located in one of my favorite busy little squares, in the middle of the cramped streets of the center CENTER, conveniently next to my friend's King Grizzly Pub - which on lucky nights has an unbeatable, out-of-this-world raspberry beer on tap! And who doesn't love a raspberry beer every now and again, and who, more importantly, doesn't love Totò (Italian comedian nicknamed "The Prince of Laughter")?! We Americans just don't have anyone to compare him to, which is quite unexpected seeing as how so many of us, sometimes jokingly, believe that WE DO have the best specimen in practically every conceivable category...but not this one, not even with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin (ok, he was English, but he worked in the States!) up for grabs! And it could also be argued that in the pizza department, we can't even begin to hold a candle to the Italian version, but...the pizza at Totò: You can order by the slice or by the pizza. Fabio and I chose two margheritas (one with bufala) and planted ourselves on two of the, I guess, seven stools of the wall-facing bar. I liked the crust, thick and crunchy and startlingly not soggy given the exaggerated amount of orangey tomato sauce. The mozzarella was good, tasty and plentiful. The main problems were the plastic cutlery which snapped on a mid-crust cut, causing the sauce pool to splash onto my currently most-treasured t-shirt "Get Me Outta My Missouri"...a disaster!, and then the predicable and boring 'when the pizza starts to cool it gradually becomes inedible.' I don't want to sound too harsh or unforgiving, because it really was a good pizza. Umberto Eco asked, "in this globalized universe where it seems that everybody's watching the same movies and eating the same food, there are still abysmal and overwhelming fractures separating one culture from another. How can two peoples, one of which unknowing of Totò, truly understand each other?" If you don't already know the man or the pizza, get yourself to Totò!

FABIO: 6.5/10
Nonostante mangiare circondato dalle foto del grande Totò sia di per sè un'emozione, ma anche una distrazione, la pizza che si mangia qui riporta subito alla realtà: in particolare il pomodoro, eccessivo e con un sapore troppo forte, che copre il sapore della mozzarella, che è o sembra insapore. La crosta è biscottata, per cui non può neanche ricevere la benedizione di Totò come vera pizza napoletana. Detto questo non è tra le peggiori a Firenze, siamo sulla sufficienza abbondante, però più rispetto per il principe!

Rosso Pachino

Rosso Pachino
Via Dante Alighieri, 19
50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI)
Tel. 055 3850220

Prezzo: 20 Euro
1 Pizza Margherita
1 Pizza Capricciosa
2 Coca-Cola in Lattina

ANNIE: 6.5/10
I sort of really adore this semi-pedestrian part of Sesto. I may be crazy, but it has a local Italian charm that I feel is missing in most of central Florence. Rosso Pachino is a small, two-roomed pizzeria with choices of individual or group pizzas. I decided on the Capricciosa (without prosciutto cotto), and maybe it was the oregano, but it was one of the best smelling pizzas ever. The crust was thin, crunchy at the crust and so-super-thin under the toppings that it almost dissolved under them...but it was yummy like that. The olives and mushrooms were as you would expect, but the hotdog pieces were cut in oxymoronically, elegantly fine slices...and I found them most appealing! As often happens with pizzas, the first half was the better half, so maybe it should be shared; the desserts looked good!

FABIO: 5.5/10
In genere si sa che la pizza è buona appena sfornata e dopo peggiora, ma di solito è un qualcosa di graduale e non così evidente. Qui invece è stato incredibile: all'inizio avrei dato un voto altissimo, perchè pur essendo una pizza bassa è molto soffice e con ingredienti all'altezza. Poi, a un certo punto, forse quando è scesa sotto il grado X, è diventata immangiabile, ma ero ancora a metà! La pasta è diventata gommosa, mozzarella e pomodoro hanno preso sapori variopinti. Quindi bene essere molto veloci! A meno che sia l'arrivare a metà che crea processi chimici o psicologici strani.