Florence / Tuscany
Taste Florence
A market morning, a dish with a story, a slower evening across the Arno. Discover Florence through what it eats.
Discover the foodFollow the Free One-Day Itinerary
Look beyond the first sandwich
Florence has food that works on the move and food that deserves a proper table. A piece of schiacciata can keep a walk going; ribollita rewards a pause. Lampredotto introduces a different tradition from a Florentine steak, while a simple vegetable dish can tell you something that a large mixed platter cannot.
You do not need to fit them all into a single day. Choose a few dishes, understand what they are, and leave enough space to notice the neighbourhood around the meal.
Three areas to begin with
San Lorenzo: connect a market visit with a central morning. Check the specific area and business you want to visit: the historic food stalls and the upstairs food hall have different identities and schedules.
Sant'Ambrogio and Santa Croce: build a market morning and a neighbourhood walk together. A market is a working place; go to look, buy and ask, rather than treating every stall as a tasting event.
Oltrarno: cross the river for the lanes around Santo Spirito and San Frediano. Give the afternoon fewer fixed stops and choose the evening meal around where you want to finish.
Food worth understanding
Start with ribollita, pappa al pomodoro, crostini toscani, lampredotto, schiacciata and bistecca alla fiorentina. These dishes range from vegetables and bread to offal and grilled beef. Read the menu before deciding: a familiar name does not tell you every ingredient or the size of the meal.
Put the day together
Our free one-day route stays in the historic centre and ends across the Arno. It allows a central walk, one main lunch and an unhurried afternoon. If a museum is your priority, book that visit first and simplify the rest of the day around it.
Bring a dish home
Cook ribollita for a deeper introduction to vegetables, beans and bread. Make pappa al pomodoro when you want a shorter ingredient list. Finish with cantucci and learn what the second bake changes.