Mercato Centrale, Florence

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A little north of the Medici Chapel is the Central market, which is a mix of a local food market and a tourist market. Outside stretching all the way to Piazza San Lorenzo is a locally made leather goods market.

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The enter name is Farmacia Del Mercato Centrale Del Dr Messori Federico! And, it is amazing! The fresh fish looks fantastic! I wished I had a kitchen in our hotel room so we could make and eat such wonderful produce and meat. This market was very clean and people were eager to see if you were interested in anything.

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Mercato Centrale is simply the place where you purchase all of your foodstuffs. If has two floors if I remember correctly and has every kind of food, drink and vegetable that you want, including food stalls where you could grab a quick lunch. I love food and I loved visiting, unfortunately we were staying in a hotel and I couldn't bring anything back except a bottle of limoncello!

Leather jackets, colorful scarves, and stationery are all staples at this market. So, when you're low on cash, or ideas, but still have gifts and souveniers to buy, spend a couple hours browsing through the many stalls in San Lorenzo.

What to buy: Leather jackets, colorful scarves, and stationery are all staples at this market. So, when you're low on cash, or ideas, but still have gifts and souveniers to buy, spend a couple hours browsing through the many stalls in San Lorenzo.

To get the BEST deals, make sure that you take the side street. It runs in front of Mercato Centrale (the food market) and prices are sometimes much lower, although the options are fewer.

What to pay: There is room for bargaining. . . English is the language of choice. . .and what you pay depends on how good you are at bargaining, or if you're willing to do it at all.

There is a fresh pasta shop in the Mercato Centrale. It is to die for. We've got these spinach and ricotta ravioli twice and there is nothing better. They also have homemade sauses and cut their fresh egg pasta as you order it. Their preperation room is open by windows and you can see the whole production taking place. We had a great time watching them make the ravioli. The price is fairly resonable. If you go on Tuesday they have a special on the ravioli for almost half the price. Granted you have to have a place to cook them but if you are staying in a hostel or appartment it works out great.

What to pay: 1 kg is about 7 euros. This even rivals the supermarket price for the prepacked assortments

Walking through this market made me wish I had a complete kitchen in the hotel room!
I would have loved to buy much of the good food on display there and then go back and start cooking.But we had to restrict ourselves to getting some dried fruit for snacking. It was excellent!

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Actually, Mercato Centrale is a building where you can find daily home necessities like meat, vegetables, fruits etc. Looks like a big supermarket that has 2 floors. But at the same time, what makes it special is souvenir shops around the building. You can find many more shops on Via dell' Ariento.

What to buy: Almost everything about gifts. Leather products, gift of jewellery, bags, t-shirts, jerseys, trinkets, magnets and many more...

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The Mercato Centrale is not only a wonderful place to pick up fresh produce, meats, fish, oils, herbs and spices, but it is so colorful and full of life that there are incredible opportunities for some very creative photoshoots.

You can also eat at the little restaurants in the Mercato where you will find regional home cooking.