**FAVORITE Restaurants, Wine Bars, Coffee, Dessert in ROME, FLORENCE, and SORRENTO**

I PM'd you about Roma.

Here is an article I have shared before for Venezia. We've enjoyed several of these.

In Florence, there is a local restaurant near the Santa Croce Church. La Ghiotta, located at 7 Via Pietrapiana. They speak little English, but they try. The food speaks for them. There house wine is very good too. The best Eggplant! More like a local deli with great assortment of delicious food. At lunch time, it can be a little crowded with the local business people and students. Check out their Yelp posts. http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-ghiotta-firenze

In Sorrento, at the Marina Grande, is the Delfino restaurant. On the water, great view, great food. Even has a long deck with lounges. http://www.yelp.com/biz/bagni-delfino-sorrento

It's hard to find bad food in Italy. But these stand out.

Florence -- in RS book when we visited in 2012, Leonardo Self Service which is near the Duomo, up a flight of stairs. Cafeteria style, no decor but good inexpensive standards. We went back several times and took a photo with the friendly chef.

It is a shame that you have ruled out places that tourists go to or I would have shared my two favourite places for coffee in Rome; on a famous place for a caffé; and the other at a famous building for cappuccino and brioche.

My favourite place for caffé marochino in Firenze is probably too famous, too.

oh well

Nigel, i think you took me the wrong way. We are just looking for suggestions. We have been warned not to go into the places where someone is standing outside trying to get you to go into the restaurant. I would love to hear your suggestions

I always go back to IL Brincello, near SMN at Firenze, on Via Nazionale in between Via Guelfa and Via Faenza. It's family owned and managed, small and well lit, and not quiet as the owner waits tables and instructs the kitchen from the floor. He doesn't know English either.

Their Gnocchi is the best I've had outside of mine. They carmelize the top under a fire to a golden brown crust, OMG, to die for. I like it better than mine, and I make the best Gnocchi.

I was there for dinner last Autumn with my cousins from Indiana and we sat through five different seatings with locals and tourists waiting outside. We just kept ordering and eating. Mmm. Open for lunch, closes late afternoon, opens again at 7 pm.

Rome(staying in campo area)

Sorry ... what "campo" area is ? ... perhaps "Campo de' Fiori"?

Another good family owned ristorante at Firenze run by two brothers is Dei Fagioli at Corso dei Tintori 47 R, on the corner near Santa Croce Piazza. One brother cooks, one waits tables, and they consult with each other to serve the customer. Open for lunch, closes, then open for dinner.

They make the best meatballs outside of mine. I still make the best Italian meatballs, but theirs rival mine as a close second. Full of locals but tourists like me find our way there too.

In Florence we loved Il Trattoria Sostanza--reservation is a must--two seatings in the evening. Also agree that Leonardo is great for lunch.

In Sorrento we had a great dinner at Ristorante da Gigino on Via Degli Archi, 15. There were 4 of us. We each had a pizza, shared an appetizer and 3 had wine. The bill was 60 euro. The pizza was delicious, Neapolitan style. Friendly service. We also ate at Da Emilia. It was very good. Not too pricey, great seafood. Our last meal was at Ristorante Bagni Delfino. It too was very good. Pricey, a lot of food, but beautiful setting. I don't have anything negative to say about any of the three places. Service was excellent and friendly, food was delicious.

Danielle,

I have somewhat the same comments as Nigel. There are a couple of places I can suggest in Florence and Sorrento, but there will probably be other tourists there so you may not be interested.

Oh well.....

It was taken way to seriously... We were just looking for suggestions of restaurants that created a great memory with wonderful food, and great people. As expressed, I used the wrong word with "Touristy". And yes Campo De' Fiori in which a lot of people I have spoken to refer to shortly as Campo. We are very excited.

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions everyone. We are so excited :)

I don't understand the rudeness. If one doesn't have a suggestion to give, why even make a comment unless it's to hurt someone's feelings.

In Venice - we staying in Dosoduro so ate there more often than not:
Enoteca Ai Artisti - tiny place near Campo San Barnaba. Reservations a must as it is tiny tiny. So delicious!
Il Profeta - lovely garden in the back. Excellent pizza and salads. Had our very best lunch there.
Grom - Gelato! on Campo San Barnaba. We managed to taste every flavor.

Florence:
Mercato Centrale! It has been renovated and turned into the most fantastic food market. Multiple restaurants all serving authentic Italian food of all kinds. Ate there several times and never had a single thing that wasn't delicious.
We found great restaurants in the Oltrano area - all of Rick's recommendations were outstanding. We loved Quattro Leoni. The best Gelato we had in all of Italy (and we ate Gelato every day for two weeks) was at Gelateria La Carraia.

Rome - we also stayed in the Campo dei Fiori area if that is where you mean:
Our favorite meal was at Renato e Luisa. Absolutely lovely - all locals. Between the Campo and the Piazza Navona. We had a lovely meal on the patio at Emma - we dined next to a group of locals there for a business dinner and just ordered everything they got. The waiter laughed at us but agreed that it was a good strategy and our food was fantastic.
Antico Forno Roscioli was excellent - they have a restaurant attached to their deli and they also have pastries, pizza and sandwiches at their other shop around the corner. Both excellent.
The best Gelato we found was at Carapina (just down the way from Emma).

Here are some informal (meaning not fancy restaurant) recommendations:

Sorrento: Pizzeria da Franco. Corso Italia 265, 80067 Sorrento. It's in Rick's book. Cheap. Informal. Local. Very delicious.

Capri: Buonacore Gelateria, Via Roma 36, 80073 Capri it's also in Rick's book. Best gelato we had in Italy. Wish we ate lunch here as well (there was a restaurant in back) as the food we had in Capri was not great in quality or price.

Rome: Cacio e Pepe. Via Giuseppe Avezzana 11, 00195 Rome a real sit down restaurant In the Prati section of Rome (north of castle sant Angelo). Order the Cacio e Pepe pasta dish. Amazing.

Rome: Frigidarium. Via del Governo Vecchio 112, 00186 Rome Really excellent gelato. Get the Frigidarium flavor.

Florence: All'Antico Vinaio. Via dei Neri 74R, 50122 Florence Panini shop. Barely any seating. You won't believe what u get for €5 here.

I really enjoyed the Gelateria Santa Trinita in Florence.