Amici Miei-My Mentors

Beatrice Trambusti, Trippaia at the Mercato San Lorenzo

Beatrice Trambusti- Trippaia

When moving to a new country, you must eat local specialties to understand and experience it fully. Ingredients are different all around the world. Reading cookbooks isn’t enough if you have never tasted something on site. I never liked tripe in America, Greece, or Mexico, where I had tried it. Florence’s version won me over.

I was lucky enough to work at a tripe stand in Florence. Although I had been mostly vegetarian for years in the USA, I converted back to eating meat in Italy. I met Beatrice in the late 80’s when I rented a teaching space near the Mercato Centrale, also called Mercato San Lorenzo. Beatrice shared her secrets with me. It was fun to work alongside her. She is one of the personalities of the market.

Working side-by-side with Beatrice Trambusti at her Tripe Stand in front of the Mercato Centrale in Florence.

upper left: the three classic tripes, Tripe, Centopelle and Cuffia. Butcher with boiled cow face, also edible.Lower left corner: Strips of tripe which are already cooked and can be eaten like a salad or cooked in a tomato sauce. The last of the cow's stomachs, Lampredotto, the most tender and used for the street food panini.

Living near the Mercato Centrale, I ate my first lampredotto panino at Lupin and Margo, Beatrice Trambusti’s stand outside the market. Beatrice’s stand is one of the historic spots for lampredotto and trippa. Here are some photos of the past owners with their stands.

It is located on the corner of Via Dell’ariento and Via San Antonino, just opposite the Mercato San Lorenzo food market and in the middle of the street market.

Beatrice and her brother, Alessandro

Beatrice opened the stand with her mother in the early 80’s. Her mother had passed away before I met Beatrice, but she always had one of her family members helping her. They bought the tripe stand as part of a family business. Her sister had married one of the family members of a famous tripe butcher in San Frediano, Bambi. My husband grew up around the corner.

As the years went on, the stand became more modern.