(updated July 2020)
Usually I write my where to eat guides geared to travelers, specifically American travelers perhaps because well- I’m American-born? This is one of the strangest years to be blogging, updating dining guides knowing this on-the-ground info will not be able to prove useful to my compatriots who usually roam my adopted home’s streets.
I’ll still update this guide to restaurants in Florence during August (specifically, for one of Italy’s most important national holidays, Ferragosto), This post is my top picks for where to eat in Florence on Ferragosto, the 15th of August (Assumption day) with the hopes someone will find it useful. Whether English speaking visitors/residents or a sneaky Italian-American (or who similarly won the European passport lottery) who like me lives and works with Italy.
In all transparency, I haven’t had the bandwidth to 100% edit this minus cleaning up some descriptions or sadly removing listings of addresses permanently closed due to the financial hardships brought upon by the pandemic, or for extended closures, etc.
So you may find some pre-covid (BC) nomenclature or an explain-y tone to newbies. If you know the Ferragosto cultural song and dance, feel free to scroll to the listicle juice. But rest assured, everyone here on this listicle (in no particular order) is respecting current regulations (some with stellar outdoor seating set-ups) around restaurant’ing in the time of coronavirus.
If you happen to be in Florence on this national holiday- bookmark this guide and I cannot stress enough- reserve in advance. Like now. Continue Reading →
Sant’Ambrogio to me is the city’s culinary landmark. It has the daily food market and some of the best restaurants in the city. Personally, this is where the heart of Florence’s food culture beats and where I learned the bulk of how to cook Tuscan food, gleaning secrets from fellow shoppers and my favored purveyors. In Sant’Ambrogio, you find the institutions boasting Florence’s gastronomic specialties like cafe & bakery Nencioni, the pop & son run street cart of Via de’ Macci who does lampredotto & tripe, a couple wine treasure chests like Sosta de’ Papi and Enoteca Sant’Ambrogio, Gilda’s vintage accoutered sweet & soulful Tuscan restaurant, Marco’s Semel and his signature panini and of course Fabio Picchi’s Cibreo empire.