I almost didn’t write this one.
Florence is one of those cities that already has ten thousand guides written about it, all of them telling you to go to the Uffizi, eat a bistecca, and stare at the David. And yes, fine, those things are real and they matter. But I didn’t go to Florence and spend my weekend in a queue (I am way too impatient for that).
I went to Florence and found a bookshop with a cinema inside it. I sat on a rooftop with an unobstructed view of the Duomo and paid nothing to be there. I drank a glass of Italian Primitivo in a garden that, from the outside, looks like a plain restaurant entrance. I found jewellery made by a man who’s been crafting it by hand for decades, and lets you create the perfect personal souvenir.
That’s the Florence I want to show you, after visiting already 3 times.
This guide is the version I’d send to a friend who asked me, “okay but what do you actually do there and what places are actually worth it?”
The things worth doing
Biblioteca delle Oblate: The free rooftop view you didn’t know about
Most people queue for an hour and pay to climb to the top of something in Florence. You don’t have to.
The Biblioteca delle Oblate is a public library inside a 15th-century building, and it has a rooftop terrace that’s free to access during library hours. The view of the Duomo from there is one of the best in the city, undisturbed, uncrowded (especially on weekday mornings), and completely free.
There is a also a small café on the rooftop terrace, so get yourself a coffee and enjoy the view and quiet.
Good to know: the library is at Via dell’Oriuolo 24. Check opening times before you go, it’s a working library, not a tourist attraction, so hours aren’t always consistent.
Giunti Odeon: A cinema inside a bookshop
Giunti Odeon is a large bookshop in the historic centre but it’s built into a former cinema from the early 20th century, and the cinema is still there, fully functioning, inside the store.
High ceilings, ornate plasterwork, film screenings, and books. If you’re a person who reads or watches films (or both), you will love this place. Worth going just to stand in the space since you can visit for free and also watch a free movie on the big theater stage screen inside the bookshop.
Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
This is one of the oldest pharmacies in the world. Founded by Dominican friars in the 13th century, it’s been making perfumes, creams, and botanical preparations in the same building for hundreds of years. It’s touristy but in the same way the Louvre is touristy: because it genuinely deserves to be visited.
Go inside even if you don’t buy anything. The rooms are extraordinary. If you do buy something, the rose water and the pot pourri are iconic for a reason.
Giuliano Giuggioli Jewellery: Go early, be patient (yes, for this one even I accepted the wait)
This is a working jeweller’s workshop that’s been on the Ponte Vecchio for decades. Giuliano makes everything by hand. The pieces are beautiful and the prices are reasonable for what you’re getting, which is actual craftsmanship rather than mass-produced gold-filled tourist jewellery.
The caveat: wait times can be long. Go early. Be patient. It is worth it. I promise.
Mercato Centrale: for food and the local market experience
The Mercato Centrale has two floors: a traditional covered food market on the ground floor selling produce, meat, and cheese since 1874, and a food hall on the upper floor that opened more recently.
Go for the ground floor. Watch what people are buying. If you’re cooking anything or just want to eat well for cheap, this is your place.
The Wine Windows (Buchette del Vino)
Florence has lots of small stone openings built into the facades of old palaces, wine windows, or buchette del vino, dating back to the 17th century, when wine merchants used to sell wine directly from their buildings to avoid paying market taxes. During the pandemic, a few of them were revived as a way of selling drinks at a safe distance.
The touristy ones are easy to find. The ones actually worth visiting take slightly more intention.
Three wine windows worth stoping by:
- Buchetta del Buco: Via dei Neri 10. Low-key, run by the trattoria next door, does wine by the glass.
- Babae: Via Santo Spirito 21r. This one is in Oltrarno and far less crowded. Nice natural wines.
- Osteria delle Tre Panche: Via Panicale. Quieter, more residential area, genuinely local feel.
Go mid-afternoon when the crowds have moved on.
Tepidarium del Roster: A greenhouse worth finding
The Tepidarium Giacomo Roster is a cast-iron and glass greenhouse built in 1880, located inside the Giardino dell’Orticoltura. It occasionally hosts events and markets (worth checking what’s on) but even without an event, it’s a genuinely beautiful structure and a good reason to spend time in a garden most tourists don’t visit.
Practically useful for photos. Genuinely interesting as a piece of 19th-century architecture.
Where to eat & drink
L’Arte di Dory: Cucina Casalinga in Oltrarno
Cucina casalinga means home cooking, and that’s exactly what this is. A small, unpretentious restaurant in Oltrarno doing traditional Florentine food. The kind of place where the menu changes with what’s good, the tables are close together, and nobody is performing anything for anyone. Go for lunch if you can. Genuinely one of the best meals I’ve had in Florence.
Enoteca Le Barrique. My absolute favourite
I’m going to be honest with you: from the outside, you would walk straight past this place. It looks like a standard wine bar entrance. That is deeply misleading.
Inside, it’s beautiful, the kind of well-worn, candlelit Florentine interior that makes you understand why people fall in love with this city. And then there’s the garden patio out the back, which you completely cannot predict from the street, and which feels like someone’s private courtyard.
The wine list is serious. The food is good. But it’s really the combination of the two rooms, and the fact that you feel like you’ve found something hidden, that makes it special. This is the place I tell everyone about.
San Jacopino Pizzeria: The local gem
Far enough from the tourist centre that most visitors don’t find it. Pizza that costs what pizza should cost. Tables full of actual Florentines. No menu with pictures, no upselling, no performance.
Go here if you want to eat well without feeling like you’re in a theme park version of Italy and if you are on a budget.
Serre Torrigiani
I want to be honest: I went here for dinner and the food didn’t particularly impress me. But the place, the atmosphere, the space, the way the evening feels, is something else entirely. Serre Torrigiani is built into a historic garden space between castle walls, all rustic chic, greenery and warm light, and it’s the kind of place that makes you feel like you’re somewhere genuinely special. Go for drinks, not necessarily for dinner.
Manifattura Cocktail Bar
Good cocktails, interesting space, the kind of bar that takes itself seriously without making you feel judged for ordering something simple. You’ll find it also in the Oltrarno area, which is where you should be spending most of your evenings anyway.
Le Menagère
Part restaurant, part cocktail bar, part concept space. Le Menagère occupies a former hardware store and is genuinely one of the more interesting interiors in Florence. The food is secondary to the vibe here. Good for an early evening aperitivo when you want somewhere that feels intentional and a little unexpected.
A few practical things nobody tells you
🎫 Most museums require advance booking. Not “recommend”, require! You will not be getting into the Uffizi on a Saturday morning without a reservation. Book online here.
🇮🇹 Oltrarno is where the locals are. Cross the Ponte Vecchio and keep walking south. The neighbourhood feels immediately different.
👟 Florence is walkable but the cobblestones are relentless. Wear shoes you can actually walk in. Your feet (and in my case my knees) will thank you.
👥 The queues at popular spots are real and they are long. Either book, arrive early, or accept that you’re waiting. There is no shortcut to the David.
🍷 The aperitivo tradition is alive here. Between 6–8pm, many bars serve free snacks with drinks. It’s not a myth.
