10 Ten Things I Can't Live Without in Florence

Monday, February 16, 2009

1 . Pizza, bread and pastries at Pugi, the best bakery in Florence. You can find Pugi at:

P.zza S. Marco 10
Tel. 055 280981

Via S. Gallo 62/R
Tel. 055 475975

Viale De Amicis 49/R
Tel. 055 669666

2 . Meat! Big bloody steaks, that’s the masterpiece of Florence, and I love it!

3 . Celebrations for San Lorenzo day (saint Lawrence), June 24th. Huge fireworks and lots of people in the streets.

4 . My bike. Forget your car in Florence, if you don’t want to waste time in traffic jams use bus, bikes or feet!

5 . Air conditioning. Summer in Florence is incredibly hot...

6. Shopping and hanging around in the city markets. My favourite one is Sant’Ambrogio: fruits and vegetables, meat, clothing, shoes, books, and more…

7 . Rock Bottom Records Shop. Here I buy food for my soul: a great selection of rock ‘n’ roll, beat, garage, punk, vinyl records, both new and second-hand, at reasonable prices.

8 . A compact umbrella, the one you can store in a bag. When it starts to rain, it could last forever :-(

9 . Sales! Fashion! Shopping! Sales in Florence are a jungle but I’m a beast!

10 . A cup of tea or a cappuccino with my friends at the Caffè La Loggia in via Pietrapiana.

Markets of Florence

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

What about spending some time hanging around the stalls of a market to breathe the genuine atmosphere of a city?
In Florence there are a lot of markets where you can buy almost everything; here is a list of the main markets, the ones that are strongly recommended if you’re planning to visit the city.
Florence is famous for leather products, and sure for meat, cheese and food in general; you can find all those things at the market at very reasonable prices.

Market of San Lorenzo
In front of the church of san Lorenzo, in piazza San Lorenzo and via dell’Ariento, this is the main market of the city. Outside you can find clothing, leather shoes, belts, bags, souvenirs, and more. Inside de building there are the food stalls, selling meat, vegetables, fruit, cheeses… Always very crowded.
Opened from Tuesday to Saturday, externally all day long, inside from 7 to 14.

Market of Sant’Ambrogio
In piazza Sant’Ambrogio, this is the right place if you’re looking for the best food at the best price in Florence! Less crowded than San Lorenzo, here you find less tourists and more locals; in this market there is also the restaurant Rocco, where you can stop for a tasty traditional Tuscany lunch. Outside the market some stalls sells clothing, house ware, books, dvds, and more.
Opened every day except Sunday, from 7 to 14.


Le Cascine Market
In the biggest park of the city, Le Cascine, on the Arno riverside, every Tuesday morning a very big market takes place: food, clothing, house and kitchen ware, collectibles, vintage stuff, you can find almost everything here! Don’t forget to take a walk in the park after shopping ;-)

Flea Market- Piazza dei Ciompi
In Piazza dei Ciompi, opened every day except Sunday, from 9 to 19, there’s the flea market of Florence. The stalls sell furniture, books, comics, records, prints, paintings collectibles, jewels, old coins and much more. This market is really charming, with its retro atmosphere!

Trattoria da Rocco, Sant'Ambrogio Market

Monday, November 17, 2008

Rocco is one of my favorite restaurants, when I want to eat in a very quick and cheap way.It's not a not a poor sandwich to eat standing, at Roccoyou can have a complete meal with all the simple and tasy dishes of Florence tradition, drink a glass of red wine, and have a talk with Rocco, the owner and also chef of this restaurant. Rocco is located inside the market of Sant' Ambrogio, in piazza Sant'Ambrogio; is only opened at lunch and closes around 14-14,30 because has to respect market's closing time. Market of Sant' Ambrogio is perhaps my favorite one of Florence, less crowded than San Lorenzo market, and with foods of greater quality (I'm talking about meat, fruits and vegetables), i recommend you a visit to taste some great Tuscany food.

Rocco is not link a common restaurant, with small tables, separated kitchen, etc. we say that it is more a widened kiosk, seems a train wagon, with small tables at sides, and a free central space where the waiters pass away. The kitchen is at the bottom of the " wagon" , and it is at sight. In the central space there's also a big container with food trays, so you can see what you're going to order.

Atmosphere is pretty informal: vintage prints representing old Florence, memories of a whole century... on the table a yellow paper, napkins and glasses are made of paper too. Rocco is a perfect host, he laughs, play tricks, sings traditional songs... The service is really quick, in a few minutes your meal is served, infact I would say that it' s more a fast-food-trattoria then a restaurant.



I really like Rocco's dishes: all the simplest traditional recipes typical of Florence, like steaks, chickpea soup, ribollita, beans soup, boiled tripe, and much more, always served with his own red wine.
All the dishes cost less than 4 euro, so the price for a complete meal, with 3 main dishes and beverages is about 15 euro... really inexpensive, but also really tasty... You won't go away with empty stomach or empty pockets!

I just love this place, everyone eats here, from tourists to italian businessmen, once here I even met some celebrities like football players of Fiorentina, the Florence football team.

Inside the market of Sant'Ambrogio

Mostra dell'Artigianato - Crafts Expo & Market

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The International Handcraft Expo is an annual exhibition in Florence, usually form April 25th to May 1st , at the Fortezza da Basso, very close to the city historical center. Parking it's hard to find, my suggestion is to reach the expo by foot or by bus, if you show a bus ticket at the entrance you'll get a discount too.

In the large space of the Fortezza da Basso (an ancient fortress) are the many stands of handcrafts from all the world, spreaded and organized in several pavilions: one for furnishing, one for clothing, one for children, and that largest one for local and typical handcraft; Italian handcraft on the first floor, on the second floor handcrafts from all the rest of the world. That one, dedicated to the rest of the world is organized for continents.

Fortunately you get a map at the entrance, where the zones of the expo are indicated.
Here you can find almost everything: from africans wooden sculptures to Indian hats, from Moroccan incenses to apache blankets. Can't imagine how many odd stuff can be found here, but prices are not so cheap. There's also a large part of the expo which is dedicated to furniture, there are both handcraft furnitures in ancient style and modern ones, very beautiful and elegant.

My favorite part of the expo is the gastronomical one: here i bought several delights like cheese and peppers from Calabria (best hot peppers in the world!), wild boar salame from Maremma, tea and spices from India…

The expo is really interesting, you can have a nice shopping-time here, and surely deserve a visit. The expo is usually really crowded on saturday, April 25th (Italian National Independence) and May 1st (Workers Day), better avoid these days!

Market of San Lorenzo

Monday, November 10, 2008

Every tourist visiting Florence has to take a tour of San Lorenzo market, the big and famous market whitch sells just everything, clothing, accessories, souvenirs of Florence, but above all they are specialized in artigianal leather products: coats, handbags, purses, belts, gloves, etc. Take a tour of the external stalls, then penetrate in the covered market!

The market of San Lorenzo is very close to the dome and train station, right in the center of the city, it is just impossible impossible not to find it. The building, built between 1870 and 1874 is one of first in Italy to being realized with modern techniques (for the age…), materials are iron, glass and cast iron, and it has been planned from Mengoni, who designed also the other market of Florence (sant' Ambrogio, a smaller one but also pretty and much less chaotic) and the gallery Vittorio Emanuele II of Milan. The base of the buildinf is monumental, made in stone, very suited to the Florence context, with large round arches; the upper part is light and transparent thanks to the glass a decorated with a metallic structure. The big glasses make the inside of the covered market very lightful.

Externally the market is surrounded with loggiati of classical arches, that turn around along the roads surruonding the building; in these roads you'll find all the external stalls.

The walk among the stalls is usally pretty stressful, the road is often overcrowded, and sometimes covering just 300 meters can take a long time… the stalls are selling just everything, mostly cheap leather accessories, but also t-shirts, souvenirs of Florence (some of them are really kitsch and funny!), clothes... there are also some vintage clothing and some craftsman's shops.

But what I most like of San Lorenzo are the benches of the food market, those situated in the inside. There are butcher's shop benches with wonderful pieces of fresh meat (Tuscay and Florence are well known for it's fine quality meat). Not to mention the benches of the cheeses… Some benches sell jars of the best conserves, like peppers, dried tomatoes, etc... others sell dried beans and cereals in bug raw cotton bags which are so beautiful to see… I love the scents of San Lorenzo, the smell of the fresh blood of the meat (it's a bit creepy but i like it!), the scent of seasoned pecorino cheese and the tasty smell of spices…

I suggest you to visit the market in the early morning, it' less crowded and all the shops are open (food shops are cloesed after 14.oo pm). If you're hungry taste the tipical Florence fast food: bread with "lampredotto" at Nerbone's (inside the market), hot boiled tripe and other offals served in a piece of bread and red wine.

Here are two videos taken from Youtube of the market of San Lorenzo, enjoy!