Il Trippaio del Porcellino

Beneath the Loggia del Porcellino — where tourists queue to rub the bronze boar's snout for luck — a small cart operates with the permanence of a monument, serving lampredotto and trippa to a clientele split between Florentine workers and visitors brave enough to eat offal from a street vendor. The trippaio is an ancient institution, a mobile tripe stand that once appeared on every corner and now survives in a handful of locations, of which this is the most central. The lampredotto arrives in a roll pressed into cooking broth, dressed with salsa verde and chilli oil. The trippa comes in a paper cup, warm and tender, dusted with parmesan. You eat standing on the piazza, tourists flowing past, participating in a food tradition that predates every restaurant in the city.