Restaurants in Florence, Italy

hkl,

One restaurant that I really enjoyed was Trattoria I' Cche' c'e' c'e'. I thought it was "authentic food", but there may be a few other tourists there as it's listed in the guidebook. It's in a back street though, so doesn't have a view.

l' Brincello, on Via Nazionale in between Via Faenza and Via Guelfa, all fresh all homemade, family run, owner waits tables and instructs the kitchen from the floor. Not too far from SMN.

Del Fagioli, on Corso del Tintori, on the corner, near Piazza Santa Croce, family owned run by two brothers, all fresh all homemade. One brother waits tables, other brother in kitchen.

These two are my favorites for fresh homemade Florentine food, small setting, and local atmosphere. There are other good places making local homemade authentic food.

If you walk thru the San Lorenzo Market, Za'Za' is on the edge of the market on Via Rosina, fresh homemade food, really busy and a tad touristy, but well loved by locals. Last month at lunchtime, I was sitting outside at Za'Za' when the freak Hail storm and high winds hit, September 19 my birthday.

For "a place higher up with a view" check out Fiesole, above Florence. The No. 7 bus will get you there in short order. I can't recommend a restaurant because we ate at our hotel at a table overlooking the city of Florence, but TripAdvisor would be a place to start. We stayed at Villa Bonelli, which was the highlight of our trip that year. I don't know if the hotel accepts non-guests in its restaurant but you could ask.

On Via Panicale near the Central Market is Trattoria la Burrasca which has great local, down-to-earth Tuscan food. Another favorite of ours is near the river on Via delle Terme called Trattoria Nella- excellent food as well. Both you need to get to rather early if you don't want to wait for a table since they are both quite small, but Trattoria Nella especially I don't remember ever seeing a tourist (besides ourselves!!).

Enjoy Florence!!

I second Bill's suggestion of Trattoria Nella, evidently Bill and I were not there at the same time.

I stayed in Fiesole while visiting Florence, and definitely recommend it for maybe half a day. (Or do what we did -- get a cheaper B&B in calm Fiesole and bus into the city each day.) There were two restaurants/hotels with very nice patios + views; however, the one we ate at was a TA favorite and entirely full of tourists -- every conversation around was in American English. I think it was La Reggio degli Etruscha. Skip that place, and eat at one of the little restaurants in the square. My favorite was Vinandro, a tiny place with funny little tables and chairs, menu only in Italian, live music inside.

In Florence, I think my best dinners were:
Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco -- reservation definitely necessary, we also had to take a cab as it was a bit out of the way, but it was wonderful. It was out last dinner, so we ordered wine, pasta, mains, then more pasta. :)
Lantini, at the beginning of our trip, was very fun because we were seated at a table with other people: an American mom and her teenage boys, and two businessmen from Milan. It was noisy and busy. Good option if you want the enormous local steak. :)

No view but I can recommend Trattoria Sostanza in Florence located not far from Santa Maria Novella Station. The food was great and the atmosphere very cozy-it is small and you would need to reserve. The food was "authentic" and it was not overrun with tourists. Tables are shared. It has been run by the same family for many years.

We really enjoyed Tratoria Ponte Vecchio lots of locals (or at least Italians) if you are standing with you back to the bridge it is on the right hand side about a block down. We told the owner it was our last night in Florence and he made a bunch of great suggestions.