Florentine food is peasant cooking that never apologised: stale bread thickened into ribollita, cow's stomach simmered for the working man's lunch, Chianina beef seared bloody over oak. Three days of markets, trattorie and wine windows across both banks of the Arno.
The market Florentines actually shop at, open since 1873. Outdoor stalls sell Tuscan kale and cannellini beans; the indoor hall has butchers, cheese counters and Da Rocco's canteen. Open Mon–Sat 07:00–14:00, closed Sunday. Produce €2–6/kg.
Trading inside the ground-floor food hall since 1872. Order the panino con bollito — boiled beef on a roll dunked in its own broth (bagnato) with salsa verde — for around €6.50. Ground floor open Mon–Sat 07:00–14:00.
Pegna on Via dello Studio has sold Tuscan groceries since 1860: pecorino di Pienza, finocchiona salami, Val d'Orcia olive oil, cantucci and vin santo. A working delicatessen a block from the cathedral rather than a souvenir shop.
A tiny Oltrarno wine bar behind Palazzo Pitti pouring small Tuscan and Italian growers you won't see in supermarkets. Glasses from about €6, plates of pecorino, lardo di Colonnata and crostini around €10. Open Mon–Sat until 21:00.
Founded 1733, Florence's oldest café. Do it standing at the marble bar like locals: cappuccino €1.50–2 al banco versus €7+ seated outside. Pair it with a bomboloni or a schiacciata alla fiorentina in Carnival season.
Open since 1869, communal marble tables, no menu translations. The pollo al burro — chicken breast drowned in foaming butter — and the tortino di carciofi are the reasons to come. Cash preferred, two seatings only.
Vivoli on Via Isola delle Stinche has made gelato since 1930 and serves it in cups only, no cones. Dei Neri nearby does a darker chocolate and ricotta-fig. Small cup €2.50–4. Look for grey, not neon, pistachio.
A lunch-only institution since 1953 beside the Mercato Centrale, but the model for Florentine steak culture: bistecca sold by weight, roughly €45–55 per kilo, minimum 1kg, served rare on the bone. Communal tables, no reservations.
The lampredotto cart by the Mercato Nuovo boar fountain sells Florence's true street food: the cow's fourth stomach simmered in broth, chopped into a roll with salsa verde and hot sauce. About €4.50–5.50, standing, from 09:00.
Schiacciata bread the size of a paving slab, filled with sbriciolona salami, truffle cream, artichoke and pecorino for around €8. Queues stretch down Via dei Neri from noon; three storefronts on the same street speed it up.
A cramped natural-wine room facing Palazzo Pitti with a deep Sangiovese and Chianti Classico list. Glasses €7–12, cheese and salumi boards €14–18. Owners will explain the difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico properly.
One of the revived buchette del vino — a hatch in the palazzo wall where wine was sold by the glass in the 1600s. Babae reopened its window in 2019; a glass of red passed through the hole costs about €6, evenings from 19:00.