Florence Tidbits

A couple miscellaneous things about Florence that we don't want to forget.

author: Claire

Food - We ate incredibly well in Florence, but there are a couple specifics to call out.

Gelato

We decided mid-way through our time in Florence that we should get gelato every single day for the rest of our trip. It was a good decision. Our AirBnB was across the street from a wonderful gelato place, Sbrino - Gelatificio Contadino. My favorite? Getting a scoop of one of their delicious fruit sorbets and another scoop of one of their milkier gelatos.

Sandwiches

For the majority of our lunches in Florence we grabbed sandwiches at All'Antico Vinaio. My go-to was the inferno - ham with roasted eggplant, a spicy mayo, and arugula. The sandwiches came on delicious foccacia bread and were worth the long lines.

Mercato Centrale

One of our favorite dinner spots when we weren't sure what we wanted but didn't want to spend a lot of money. Highlights included the pasta and the vegetarian dumplings.

Il Santo Bevitore

One of the nicest meals we had throughout the trip. Absolutely everything we had here was fantastic, but reservations are a must. Our favorite meals are the notes not photographed.

Boite

Our favorite coffee shop and they also serve delicious breakfast sandwiches. They also have a painting of a woman enjoying her coffee on the wall, so naturally I had to copy that and ask Nate for a picture (I did the exact same thing in July).

Trattoria da Giorgio

Another favorite restaurant. 15euros includes 2 large dishes and a side dish. Favorites included spaghetti pomodoro, cinghiale, Tuscan chianti beef stew, and Florentine steak.

Archea Brewery Tap Room

Archea is a brewery with a tap room across the street from our AirBnB. The brewery itself is moving production locations, and therefore they didn't have many of their own beers on tap, but they did have quite a selection of Italian made craft beers, and an even larger selection of brewery stickers.

Places

Piazzale Michaelangelo - This large piazzale has a beautiful view of Florence and was worth the 25-minute uphill climb.

  • Oltrano (including runs) - Our AirBnB was in the Oltrano neighborhood, on the other side of the Arno River. We loved exploring the neighborhood and found delicious places to eat. It felt a bit less touristy than Florence proper and we certainly heard more Italian than English on this side of the river. On my morning runs, I'd run to Porta Romana (Roman arch) and then up Viale Machiavelli. It had a just a slight incline and after running just a couple blocks I'd feel like I was out of the city.