This week’s ‘Throwback Thursday’ post is a particularly special one for me, as it’s about the weekend Tim and I got engaged in October 2013! After more than 10 years together (we met as teenagers), I really thought it was never going to happen, so it came as a complete surprise. Tim whisked me away for a weekend away in Florence for my birthday and I was blown away when we arrived at our beautiful hotel – The Four Seasons. We dropped off our bags in our room (bigger than our entire flat, at the time!) and went for a walk into the town, through the hotel’s stunning grounds, and it was there that he got down on one knee – just me and him, in a very secluded spot in the gardens.

Now where’s the food, I hear you cry?! Well as you can imagine, every moment of that weekend was special, but just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I found out Tim had booked us a table for the following evening at Il Palagio, the hotel’s Michelin starred restaurant. Here we are, all beaming and excited before heading down for dinner:

The service was exceptional, among the best I’d ever experienced, and one of the most attractive restaurants I’d dined in. Apparently, in the summer months, the big french doors open up and the tables spill out onto the garden terrace, overlooking the gardens. But I was quite happy sitting inside, mesmerised by the beautiful decor.

Now unfortunately, as with many of these ‘Throwback’ posts, I can’t tell you exactly what we ate, especially as we dined from the tasting menu – due to the huge number of ingredients and cooking techniques, I would do it an injustice to try and name the courses myself. But here are some pictures of a few of the intricately crafted courses:

To give you an idea of the quality and range of foods served on the tasting menu, this is their current tasting menu, as taken from the website:

Motticella Petrilli tomatoes filled with creamed salt codfish

White asparagus, smoked eel and egg sauce

Cavatelli pasta ‘cacio e pepe’ with marinated red prawns and baby squid

Cabezada of Iberian pork, carrot creme, potato and leek terrine

Milk cream temptation with wild strawberries

We both adore Italy – in addition to Florence we’ve been to the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi) and Rome, and we’d love to see more of the country. Tuscany is definitely on the cards for a trip very soon!