Markets
A morning at Sant'Ambrogio
It opens at seven, the cappuccino at the bar inside is the best in this part of the city, and by ten the women buying cheese will know your face.
Markets
Eat & drink
Six trattorie that have not changed in fifty years
No menus in five languages, no English-speaking maître d'. Just hand-written daily lists and the kind of cooking your Florentine grandmother would approve of.
Slow afternoons
Where to read a book in Florence
Five corners of the city — three gardens, a cloister, and a café — where you can sit for two hours with a paperback and a glass of wine without anyone hurrying you along.
Hidden corners
The Boboli Garden, in August
Most people skip it because they hear it is hot and crowded. They are half right. Here is when to go (early), where to walk (uphill, then left).
Neighbourhoods
Oltrarno: a walk for an unhurried morning
From Ponte Santa Trinita to the Piazza del Carmine, with stops at three workshops, two bakeries, and one church most travellers walk past.
Seasonal
November in Florence
The light, the truffles, the empty churches, the cost of a stay. Why our favourite month to be in the city is the one most travellers skip.