Teatro del Sale

Last Thursday, I had a date with my friend Anna from Poland.  We took ourselves to the Teatro del Sale.  It was a one-of-a-kind experience for Firenze because it’s the only dinner theatre in Firenze and worth every bit of the €30 we paid for the evening.  As with many establishments in Italy, you have to become a “member” of the “private association/club” to participate.   You fill out an application and sign a form and for €5 you become a “member” and they give you a nice membership card. Personally, I think it’s a way to get around whatever kind of vague liquor laws they have here, plus it’s a way to keep you out if they don’t like the looks of you.  Dinner was called for 19:00 hours, which is incredibly early here, but we went and signed our forms and became members – all with the greatest spirit of adventure.

The Teatro is just one big room with a small stage.  There is a big open kitchen, a bit of a mercato when you walk in, and a small foyer with two comfy chairs.  The “occasion” that evening was the launch of a local vintner’s new red wine, so we had a glass, and sat at a table.  The tables are all communal tables, but it wasn’t very full, so Anna and I had a table all to ourselves – that is until I spotted a nice Asian woman sitting all by herself.  I went over and asked if she would care to join us.  With a big smile and in fairly good English, she said “Yes!” and joined us. Her English name was Vickie and I don’t quite remember her Chinese name. Vickie was 29, the proprietress of two hotels in Beijing, and was in Italy for the first time for 2 weeks (Roma, Firenze & Venezia.)  We were interested in knowing how someone so young could be the owner of two successful hotels in Beijing and the answer came back: my father knows people in the government.  Vickie was a lovely dinner date and we had interesting table talk.

Vickie, me, and Anna

Dinner at the Teatro is self-serve.  Every so often, the cook comes to the window of the kitchen and yells out the details of the next course of the meal.  Everyone gets up, goes to the kitchen, and gets a plate of food.  The food was incredible, plentiful, and by the end I hardly had room for the lovely chocolate torte and caffe they were serving.  All this eating and drinking and talking took about 2 hours at which time all the tables and chairs and dishes were whisked away and all the chairs were assembled, theatre-style, in front of the stage.



La cucina at Teatro del Sale.

The owner of Teatro del Sale (and a few other well-heeled establishments), one Signore Fabio Picchi, then came out and gave a little pre-show show. He’s a bit like Santa Claus on speed but he’s fun and entertaining and introduced the performers for the evening – a jazz duet of guitar and piano.  For the next hour, we are given an acoustic jazz concert that was second to none. The rapport between the two musicians was truly MAGICAL, and all I could think about while listening to the concert was: I wish Richard Scott was here. He would totally appreciate this experience!   The only drawback to the whole evening were the two women behind us who insisted on talking throughout the performance, despite my best “if looks could kill, you two ladies would be dead by now” stares.  I was later informed by Luca at school that this type of behaviour (which I’ve witnessed several times now) is, in fact, the norm.  Clearly there’s a problem over here with attention deficit disorder!  As promptly as things started, they ended, and we were all better for the experience.  It was a great way to spend a Thursday night in Firenze.