Gluten free in Pisa
Upon checking the coeliac associations website there were a few options for eating out even in a small place like Pisa. We had looked up the best place to park the car and found a restaurant that we would walk past on our way to the tower from the parking. It was not a long walk, it took us 10 minutes at the most (walking with kids!) Luckily we stopped by at the restaurant to talk to them on the way into the centre and it turned out they make the pizza dough fresh on order so for pizza you need to pre-order and give them an hour or two to get it ready. I decided this was the time to take a pizza, homemade and fresh so I ordered a pizza base (you can decide which kind you want later) and headed to the tower. They had a separate glutenfree menu and the pizza was only 50 cent more than the normal pizzas = very good value for money! My food AND dessert also came on different design plates than the "normal" food, to make sure there wouold be no confusion.
When we came back I decided on a pizza with ham and gorgonzola and it was amazingly good!
This time around I decided on a dessert, semi freddo on forest berries.
While we walked around in Pisa I saw this place that claimed to have gluten free if anyone would prefer to eat a bit more central however I would still suggest to do the walk to Scaletta, less than 10 minutes walk and really really good!
Gluten free in Venice
We booked our hotel with airline staff discount through Emirates and stayed in the Novotel Mestre Castellana as it was the only hotel that could fit all 4 of us in one room. Without knowing it the hotel actually provided gluten free breakfast. I got two slightly heated Schär panini with special ham and a small basket of other stuff like muesli, crackers, biscuits and sponges.
We had our first dinner in Venice at "L'Osteria All'Ombra". They had a separate gluten free menu that included all the ready meals DS have to offer (tortellini, canelloni, pizza and lasagne) All dishes were 12 Euro and to be perfectly honest I think its quite expensive for dishes I can buy from the supermarket freezer for 4-5 Euro! However if you dont live in Europe and are not used to the slection there is in the supermarkets there I guess it would be really exciting...On the other hand they had some desserts (like profiteroles) that would have been interesting had we not been so tired by then.
My canneollni. Unfortunately I didnt take lots of photos at this place but you can read some more about it and find directions on Trip Advisor.
On our second day in Venice we walked by ths place where hubby had eaten during one of his layovers in Venice.
and they had this sign in the window
a bowl of glutenfree pasta displayed on the table to make your pick of pasta
Apparently I didnt get a photo of my food (probably I was so hungry I gulped it down!) but I had tagliatelle with quattro formaggio sauce. It was very good but I have to say every time I eat pasta in a restaurant I keep thinking about how useless it is paying for something I can easily cook as good, if not better at home. The owner was very "italian" and talkative but I was too tired and hungry to appreciate it. They served an apertif and grappa on the house, my plate of pasta did not cost any extra for glutenfree and I think it was around 9 Euro. Here is the place on Trip Advisor
Gluten free in Italy
I know I have stopped updating the english version of the blog but I just have to share my experiences on eating gluten free in Italy. Maybe someone will google just like me and find my experiences helpful.
As usual I had googled and looked for gluten free alternatives in the cities we were going to visit and I realized that the Italian coeliac association does a hell of a job! They have a guide (both a book and on the internet) for eating out and seem to be educating and checking up on these restaurants to make sure you get safe food. Since I have a liver disease I dont drink alcohol but for anyone intrested I think ALL places we visited could offer glutenfree beer.
Its pretty expensive eating out in Italy so we tried to eat only one meal a day in a restaurant and the other one cook it ourselves (we had a kitchen in Florens and cooked some glutenfree ravioli i found in the supermarket) or making a picnic kind of meal with salami, cheeses, ham and bread.
As I sort through my photos and thoughts I will update with posts (and links to them below) and reviews of the restaurants in the places we visited.
Here you can read about my experiences in Venice
Here is where you will be able to read about my experiences in Pisa
Here is where you will be able to read about my experiences in Florence
Here is where you will be able to read about my experiences in Verona
