Great food We stumbled across this cafe after visiting the…read moreDuomo. It was a wonderful place for lunch! The food was outstanding. There were some great options in the display cabinet for lunch at a very reasonable price - you can choose three items from the display for a set price of €10.80 (or €12.80 for meat/fish). We liked it so much that we ate lunch there nearly every day of our stay and bought takeaway for dinner one night. The staff are very friendly and helpful (big thumbs up to Steven). We're so glad we found this gem!

I was impressed with Montanucci! This small town has a modern, spacious, delightful bar/café…read more The interior has many nooks and lots of wood paneling. You can get a light lunch, snack, beverages, cocktails and dessert. The frittata I ordered was tasty with crumbly pie type dough at the base and a lattice pattern on top. The hot tea was extremely necessary since it was gale force winds today. The dessert of a slice of chocolate cake was rich and not sweet (which is good)! Overall, if only I knew the way to order there would have been lot less confusion. To do so (order): Go to the bar, ask for what you want, take the number given to the cashier to pay, then take the paid receipt to the bar and a server will bring your stuff to a table. It was a bit confusing since I wanted to sit at a table and not drink my tea at the bar. The café seemed to host a social/group celebration (birthday for a matriarch?) in a private room at a lower level. Tourists were huddled over cups of tea or coffee. A couple of young people were studying with laptops. Montanucci's is a place for everyone it seems!

Beautiful cafe On the recommendation of a local we dropped…read morein for a coffee at this small but beautiful historic cafe on Corso Vanucci. The coffee was nothing special, but the gorgeous crystal chandeliers, wood panelling and the glass display cabinets were dazzling.

Old school pasticceria awesomeness This place has been…read morearound for a while, and you can see it inside - lots of wood, those display cases, the ambience, you feel the weight of the ages. And yeah, the pastries and the coffee and the drinks, they're all just as good, and served with a smile Go check it out!

Gelato! We love the gelato at Venchi - we've visited several…read moreoutlets now and it's consistenly high quality. The flavours are delicious and the rich creamy texture is heavenly!! At €4.80 for a medium cone, it's a little more expensive than the other gelaterias but it's worth it!

Gelato was one of the best we had! Great selection of flavors. Super creamy gelato! Cute place.read more

Nino and friends is my happy place. I purposely came back to Florence only to purchase candy and…read morecellos from the store. It is such a joy to shop there. The store had wall to wall goodies. Goodies that you get to taste. As soon as you enter there are staff members offering all kinds delicious treats filled with tasty goodness. They have coconut balls with lemon cream inside, green covered chocolates with limoncello inside, they have salted caramel with chocolate, Cappuccino cookies with coffee flavor cream inside, they have limoncello, melon cello, and my favorite peach cello to drink. I bought a lot to take back home, but also I just enjoyed the samples they kept offering me...MY HAPPY PLACE, especially after many Dixie cups of cello sampling. They are still trying to get there online ordering up and working. I tried for the past year to order on line. One great service they offer is mailing your purchase back to your home. The cost is really reasonable too. I mailed a large order back home for 55 Euros. I have mailed a box from California to Boston and it costed me more.

I am having to look back online to remind myself of which Italian place we ate at for which day /…read moremeal. I see that this Florentine place is actually part of a small chain in the area. We found it when looking for a lunch spot near the Duomo. It was well regarded online. This establishment is an amalgam of businesses - a coffee shop, a small bakery / pizzeria, a mini grocery and wine shop, and a sit down restaurant (that was in the back or upstairs, and which opened at some point after we'd arrived and eaten). We ate from the bakery / pizzeria place. A bit of background - this was about a week into our trip. At this point (traveling for 7 days), my reserve of goodwill is usually running low. I just wanted a decent, relatively quick meal. I initially thought about rating this a '3' due to my own frustration, but in retrospect I'll assume that it was more on me than them. I was still looking over options when my wife made her choices and proceeded to pay. All I saw was that she got some sort of paper card from the pizza area and went back up towards the coffee shop to pay. I wasn't sure the paper was even involved. I went up to the same cashier and requested to pay for a slice of pizza. She motioned me back to the bakery. I went back, but the baker lady motioned me back up to the cashier... I picked up one of the pieces of paper and presented it (not understanding why). I was then directed back to the bakery. I ran out of patience and just gave up. I had decided to skip lunch entirely, out of pure spite. I was challenged on this point and convinced it would be easier to eat than argue. So, I went back to the bakery. The baker lady then got involved and actually scribbled something on the paper, which I then took to the cashier. I was thus able to pay for the slice of pizza, which I then obtained from the baker lady (after she heated it). This isn't the most efficient process, but it is at least understandable in retrospect. The pizza itself is a thick, bready yet airy crust topped by tomato sauce and whatever ingredients you chose. It was pretty tasty, actually. I wasn't in the best mood to appreciate dining at that point. I think I'd have enjoyed this much more if I'd understood how ordering worked from the outset. And again, I think part of my exasperation was just being confused by this scenario after seven days of travel. It might have been easier to take on day 1 or 2. If you are hungry and want a light but tasty meal near the Duomo, this isn't a bad choice.

Lovely local chocolate and candy shop. Reminded me of my childhood in Italy…read more Worth a stop!

Ahhh Pasticceria Vannelli, I love you. We were a bit confused as there was a location on the…read moreopposite side of the street with the same name which was closed. The owner of our Airbnb recommended we visit PV for the "world's best coffee", he said make sure you see the older lady and tell her "Augusto sent us". We were a bit overwhelmed upon walking in as it was very busy. They had lots of beautiful pastries, cakes etc. I grabbed a table and asked my wife to get me a cappuccino and a "bonbo", i believe that's what the cream filled donut was called. When she arrived at the table I had to take a pic of the wonderfulness we were served. The cap was deelish and the bonbo was fresh and lovely. When we finished eating, i went up to the register to pay. I noticed the older, very pretty lady Augusto spoke of. I asked about the worlds best coffee. She said they didn't have that specific blend although she did offer an alternative, which she had ground fresh for us. We chatted a bit about the location across the street owned by her sons which they solely use for preparing, then she said her sons own a restaurant and proceeded to pull out a menu. It was very nice chatting with her, she was great. No complaints with exception that I live in the US and will not be back there any time soon.

The service here was outstanding. We ordered several pastries (sweet and savory) and coffees. The…read morecappuccino was made well and the americano coffee was also good. The chocolate croissant was really delish as well as the lemon pastry. We got a prosciutto roll with poppy seeds - it was one of the best bites. They have lots of chocolates. Everything is made in house and the pastry shop has been run by the same family for 4 generations.