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Fun marketplace where you could pick up anything from spices to fresh fish to lunch or dinner or just simply enjoy a cappuccino and pastry. There are plentiful vendors and a plethora of choices. The sounds and the smells fill the vibe. We are staying at an apt within a 1 min walk. We'll be back during our stay.
Central food hall in Florence. A must visit. First floor is bulk ingredients and 2nd floor are the restaurants, food shops, and wine bar. It's open seating so park then take turns getting your food of choice from the many vendors. Pizza, pasta, sandwiches, chicken, steak they have it all. Come hungry leave happy
Cool market with food courts and shopping. The food we had here was good, there is plenty of food to choose from. On the outer part of the market, there leather vendors and other vendors. Will be back here on my next trip trip to Italy.
This is the coolest market in Florence! It's a big market on the bottom floor and a big food hall on top! We stopped in for coffee and a pastry in the morning and went back for dinner! Easy ordering and paying using a QR code on the tables. The pasta places all looked delicious. We shared several different items. Very affordable prices! Packed with locals. Very cool experience! Do not miss this.
Such a cool spot! Mixed watering hole for locals and tourists. Don't let the aggressive vendors surrounding the market scare you off. Once inside there are TONS of great food options. A lot of the vendors offer free samples which I recommend trying because everything has such great flavor. There's a full bar in the middle and other food vendors sell wine/ beer too. Strong drinks- $9 for a spritz but it's strong and good flavor. You can get food wherever and eat at any table then get a drink at the middle bar. The building is so cool. The decorations above are great and the restored historic building adds to the cool vibe. There's a cooking school inside where you can sign up to take classes.
This is an amazing place to go where you can find an abundance of different food options and cuisines from all over. It is quite busy and crowded but I ended up going back multiple times. The sandwiches at La Schiacciata are some of the best you will ever have. Massimiliano is very nice and a great chef. We tried one or two other places such as the pizza and they were very good as well.
There are plenty of options for food. We had the chicken, pizza, hamburger, and pasta at the Mercato. You can't go wrong with any of the selections. Save room for the desserts. Lots of tables to sit and enjoy your meal. All of the foods were cooked and served quickly. I would go back again.
This is a great spot to go for browsing/buying fresh food, to eat lunch at dozens of different restaurant stalls, or for buying a variety of food products such as truffles, balsamic vinegar, etc. We wound up eating here multiple times and every experience was positive. It can serve any purpose from a quick snack to a filling entree. Or, you can easily assemble the makings of the best picnic of your life!
Cool spot to check out if you're visiting as a tourist! It was nice to just see the market. It was extremely crowded when we went around lunch time on a Sunday. There's multiple different food options including pasta, pizza, meat skewers, and more American food. Food here can be hit or miss, next time I'd probably just eat elsewhere else in the city for something more authentic. We ordered gnocchi, which had a great texture, and a carbonara dish which was extremely salty and hard to eat. Meat skewers were good but nothing out of the ordinary. It's first come first serve in terms of sitting at the tables.
Such an amazing market. We got to try some amazing pastries, tried some great truffle products and dried chiles, and even got to eat at 3 different restaurants on the 2nd floor. Highly recommend to those looking to purchase unique gifts.
OBSESSED with this place! This is a must visit place when in Florence. There are 2 floors and the main floor has local produce, meats, etc. This floor is more of a super market vs the 2nd floor is full of different restaurants. The 2nd floor is a very casual spot that has everything in 1 building. Italian food, Japanese food, green food, etc. there are several dessert spots as well. Once you place your order in with any vendor there are TVs that will have your order number and place of restaurant displayed when your items are ready to be retrieved. This is a great spot if you're looking for something on the quicker side. Keep in mind that this does get busy however I think this is still a quicker and more plentiful option compared to a sit down restaurant.
Mercato Centrale is a must when visiting Florence. Yes, it's touristy but it's worth the visit. Outdoors, you have dozens of stalls selling souvenirs, and questionably real leather goods. I did buy a few things with the expectation that they may be fake but I was okay with that. Just make sure you haggle! Inside the market is where you'll find all the food. On the first level, you have some small (but delicious) food stalls, produce, meat, and gifts (think olive oil, balsamic, etc.) for sale. On the second level is a modernized food court with a few sit down stalls. Yes, the food is slightly more expensive than what you would find outside the market, but it truly is a feast for the eyes. If you're going with a group of people, everyone is bound to find something they like to eat here. We visited the market multiple times during our stay - once at around 1 PM, and another time when it was almost closing at 3. Both times were pretty crowded but close to closing was the most crowded. Best way to avoid all the people is to probably visit when it opens. While the food stalls in the market close at 3, the leather goods outside are around until maybe 7 or 8. So the best game plan is to go in first and grab a bite, and then you'll have energy for all that shopping!
We didn't make it here early enough to have a look at the market on the first floor, something I'll regret until I can come back to Florence one day (which might never happen since it may not have been my favorite city, after Rome, on this trip.) We did, however, make it to the second floor to have dinner. I love me a food hall. I try to find one in every city I visit and this one did not disappoint. I hadn't realized it was a bit of a chain (we went to the one in Rome as well) but that didn't matter because the food was good, the drinks were strong and there was plenty of seating. There were a lot of different kinds of seating, some high tops, some low. Some communal tables, some separated. The building itself was beautiful, the ceiling was nice to look at. There are plenty of stalls to choose food from. There are many local specialties sold here, like lampredotto, black truffle in everything and Florentine steak. There are also a lot of general Italian and some other foods, like sushi or kebobs. The tableside service, which we didn't really use, seemed to be fast and efficient. The same servers were clearing tables and they were pretty on top of it.
11 years ago
Great open market experience. If you are hungry, but not too sure exactly what you are looking to eat, come and explore. There are plenty of affordable options to choose. Mercato Centrale is also a great place to get a relatively fast meal without having the quality suffer. Be warned, you may be temped into dessert! read more
14 years ago
Out of all the cities I visited on my trip to Europe, Florence was definitely the BEST place to shop...and Mercato Centrale was one of my favorites! Mercato Centrale is the place to get all your goodies that you want to take home--dried pastas, sun dried tomatoes, wine, truffle oil, balsamic vinegar plus SOO much more. There are also fresh shops that sold fruits, made fresh pasta, breads, cheese, prosciutto.... ANDDD they also had a few restaurants that had good things cookin'! I wish we had more time to spend here, but our day was jam packed and we were in and out in an hour. The people there were SO friendly and not at all pushy to sell their products. Next time I'm in Florence I'm definitely coming back and filling up my luggage with goodies from Mercato Centrale! read more
11 years ago
Went here twice while on vacation in Florence because the food options were incredible! First time we had the seafood platter for lunch which was just delicious crispy salty tangy melt in your mouth goodness. For dinner we went back and tried the pizza in the second floor while enjoying some soccer in the tv screens. Totally cool vibe! Really cool options, I recommend it! read more
10 years ago
This market is a must! If you're touristing in the centre of Firenze and just want to grab something quick and keep with your journey, this is your place. It also has a market with many goods, but we only experienced the food area in the second floor. The prices are really good for the quality and freshness of the products. So much better than any restaurant in the touristic area. The ambience is nice, modern, casual, a little bit loud, but very clean and with nice music at the background (they have their own radio station 'Radio Mercato Centrale'. You go directly to the stand of your interest and order/pay there. As we are kind of tired of pasta, we went to the 'Familia Savigni' stand and order 1 kilo of 'Bisteca alla fiorentina'. If you love rear meat, this is your dish. It was enough for my husband and I and we added some potatoes for 3 euros. This dish is highly recommended, we loved it!!!! But everything we saw, looked amazing and fresh. The drinks are brought by waiters, once you find a table to seat, you can order your drinks and pay them right there to the waiter. They also have free wifi and free phone chargers. Can we ask for more? Don't think so. Great experience, but one visit is not enough. We're looking forward to go again and try some other dish. read more
9 years ago
Quite good! Of course I love a market just like any other foodie/yelper, so I had to come and check Mercado Centrale out. The first floor isn't really that practical for tourists to look at since we can't really bring any produce across the oceans. But; it's still cool to see the local products and people. The second floor is pretty commercialized and touristy but they serve great food at a good price without the pressure of fine dining. We came for lunch and dinner. For lunch I tried out a focaccia sandwich from the cheese counter with burrata, mixed greens, and prosciutto. Delicious! €6. My dad had the roast pork sandwich and that was €5. For dinner we went to the pizza place and got two pizzas- margherita and the ham/sage one. I didnt like the sage one too much becasue the flavor was a bit overpowering, but the margherita pizza was ON POINT. The crust/dough was perfect. read more
If in Florence, you gotta check this place out. If you happen to live in L.A, it's just like Grove Farmers Market on W 3rd, meaning fresh produce stands combined with small booths that serve food. Except here all the food stations are located on the second floor and they have made it touristy by adding mozzarella carts that honk in your ears when they pass by. Also, the staff here is not very friendly, they kinda look bothered to be serving tourists and the pizza & pasta was so mediocre. To be honest, I loved the ground floor market because it's original & local and you get to experience the market itself. read more
Absolutely worth a stop for a variety of delicious local bites and drinks for a low price! Third floor is a highly organized market that's ideal for a group with a myriad of tastes! Certainly not fine dining, but quite perfect for the budget-minded! read more
Great variety and value! We had a wonderful lunch with a pizza (Margherita) and burger (Donatello). Dozens of vendors to choose from. We also each had a beer (a regional Italian of unknown name). Staff was polite and helpful, most speaking English to assist our purchases. We'll swing back here for lunch again as we tour this beautiful city. Ciao! read more
Awesome to see the variety of food in a cute food court. It's a bit of a miss depending on which stand one you go to. This place is always crowded during peak season and it's sometimes hard to find any open seating. Worse if you are a large group. Great for choices but food isn't amazing or worthy of even mentioning in detail. Arancini was good. Tortelli not good. Pizza not great. Gelato was like any other gelato. Cannolo was good. Wine is always good. read more
Had a delicious tiramisu at one of the stands We only came to check the place out since we had eaten right before. Wish we were hungry because everything looked so delicious! Sunday 7 pm, not very busy. A bit early for dinner but worth it so you don't have to wait in line for anything read more
8 years ago
OMG this place! I am a huge fan of food halls markets in foreign cities. I make it a point to seek them out whenever I travel globally. This market is no exception. They had an outstanding selection of meats, cheeses, pastas, pizza etc. it is located in the upper level of a warehouse building, and pretty easy for the taxis to find although we had walked over. The visit was for late October. Everything was freshly prepared, And all of the employees that we encountered were very friendly and helpful. It's hard not to order more than one entrée to be honest. One of our favorite items was the anti-pasta plate switch had meats and cheeses. We also had a pizza. There is one location that has roasted meats, and the chicken looked amazing. I wish we had another night in the city so we could enjoy another meal here. Reasonably price and accepted credit cards. There are also some gelato and dessert stands as well as a wine bar. I would say this is more of a dining hall then an actual shopping market. While there are food goods to be but it's mostly for dining. read more
12 years ago
I honestly wish I got to enjoy more of its presence during my stay in Florence, just because I came here twice; once with friends only to look at restaurants (which looked yummy but for some reason I wasn't really "wow'd" because I didn't know much about authentic Italian cuisine) and another time for an Italian class field trip. The second time around here, I was more amazed with the presence of this market and what they offer. It's literally food heaven. All kinds of meats, cheese, pasta noodles, sweets, fruit, vegetables, fish, and wine are offered in this one central market; all for an affordable price! Some stands offer samples (one of them had samples of bread with a load of prosciutto on top; the PERFECT snack while walking around!) and some are willing to explain to you about their products. Most of the stands here offer high quality food that is straight from the source and taste wonderful! Because this is such a touristy area as well as where locals hang out, it is definitely a great place if you are a tourist to walk around and glance at what take part in Italian everyday eating. The second floor has a bunch of restaurants as well; it is like a shopping mall food court! I haven't tried anything upstairs yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if the quality is amazing as well. There is also a cooking studio at the top where you can watch people in their kitchen with a huge glass window (you can even try a cooking class there!) Amazing place to visit at least once if you are in the area! Getting here might be the tricky part because you have to dodge a lot of people either coming from the train station or the Duomo, but it will be worth it! read more
11 years ago
This is a foodie heaven. We almost tried everything on the top floor. We came here for lunch. The first thing I had to try was the lampredotto (tripe sandwich) which is a Florence favorite. The stand had no line which made me kinda sad, but happy that we didn't have to wait long. We first had to pay at the cash station and then bring our ticket back. The sandwich was way better than I expected. I've had tripe before and I'm not exactly in love with it, but this tripe was amazing. I think it was the outer layer of the stomach because it had some meat and fat on it. That's basically what it was meat and fat. The lampredotto man even dipped the bread in the stock which made it juicy. I got the classic parsley sauce with my sandwich as well which had a nice oil content. Don't be afraid of this tripe, it doesn't have much of a barnyard taste to it super clean. Best tripe I've ever had. My Dad even loved it and he hates tripe. Dad also went to the seafood stand for fried sardines, shrimp and calamari. Amazing crunchy, salty little snacks. The shrimp was my favorite. We also bought a mozzarella ball from a man pushing around a mozzarella cart. Salty and creamy cheese, simple. Lastly we got a margherita pizza which we had to wait for because the pizza stand was the longest. It was a good pizza, nice crust. The best things we had here though were probably the lampredotto and the fried seafood so if you come here those are a must. Also most of the downstairs market starts to close in the afternoon. We explored the first floor after lunch and half of the stands were starting to close. Love this market, wish we had more time to explore and eat. read more
Angel was an amazing tour guide - knowledgeable, not pushy, and a pro at what he does. He's traveled the world and clearly shows. We did the vespa/fiat tour and was well worth the fun of driving through the city while seeing the city from high above. The Tuscan lunch from a private villa overlooking the city was wonderful. Food and wine was delicious and the ambiance was perfect! read more
7 years ago
Ground floor is a traditional market with local food (tripe), upstairs is like Eataly, various food stations (pasta, fish, meat, pizza, dessert) and we decided to have lunch here. We ordered 3 types of pasta which were all average to disappointing, salty and overseasoned. My brother ordered a plate of grilled chicken and sausages, which were just average. This was probably our most disappointing meal in Italy. read more
Many of the guide books and even our Airbnb host suggested that this was a great place to get lunch or dinner. The upstairs area is open from midday to midnight everyday and the downstairs is a traditional market. Not what I expected when you hear the word market, this place is exceptionally clean and not smelly - the UK has a lot to learn from the Italians. We had dinner in the upstairs dining area a few times and tried the pasta, pizza, and antipasti platters whilst watching some of the Euro football matches. Prices are slightly more than the traditional restaurants but much more reasonable than some of the tourist trap restaurants located right outside the square. I'd recommend dining here to anyone visiting Florence, the staff are all friendly and there is a nice atmosphere, a must for any foodie. read more
So had just wrapped up touring Duomo including catching the absolutely stunning views from the top of the dome. Had a bit of time to kill before hitting up the next museum and after quickly searching saw this market pop up on the map. I was first worried this was a tourist trap but figured I would give it a try anyway. Outside of the markets are a bunch of street vendors selling various artifacts from clothes to souvenirs. The market building is humongous and I was a bit skeptical when I first walked in but the moment I reached the 2nd floor it was a complete transformation. This place has literally a ton of eateries serving up a variety of pizza, pasta, meats, they offer cooking classes in the corner, and a ton of good wines stocked and ready to go... it is honestly a foodie heaven under one roof. It is a cafeteria style deal and you can literally walk around and pick and choose places where you want to eat some food. There is also dessert stations where they serve cannolis which are absolutely delicious as well. All of the food here is freshly prepared with a ton of options on pasta all cooked al dente, sandwiches and little bites, a spot that adds truffle to everything (Because who doesn't need a little truffle in their lives), and they serve up pizzas hot and fresh. The spot is a fun atmosphere and definitely worth a visit but with this said, I will say the prices are probably a bit higher for less food then you can find roaming the streets of Florence. This sure takes the prize for convenience and just fun atmosphere though so highly recommend hitting it up. read more
5 years ago
10 years ago
7 years ago
Bambi Cafe.... if you want the best hot chocolate in Florence! Go see Lorenzo... he is the best! read more
Markets. A old, but still very trendy place to be. There's Borough Market in London, Torvehallerne in Copenhagen, Markthalle in Berlin and Mercato Centrale in Florence. Just to name a few. Mercato Centrale is - as the name suggests - located in the center of this lovely city. Stock up on good quality ingredients at the main floor, while you can munch on several different food items just above. A big attraction is Florence and well worth it. Either for some shopping or an aperitivo. read more
12 years ago
In the morning they have a lot of samples so you can try and decide what you buy. They sliced /cut as you like so you can enjoy fresh taste for 3months. read more
This is a foodie paradise! It is a similar idea Chelsea Market, and similar places in the US. The food is all absolutely incredible. It is a great option for large groups because everyone can find something they like from one of the vendors then meet back for seating. Our favorite things here were the pizza and the cannoli stand as you exit. It's easy to miss the cannoli place, because it's just one guy behind a little stand personally making them for you, but MAKE SURE you visit this! It was the highlight of our visit here! Prices are mixed depending on the place within the market that you visit, but you can generally find some cheap eats here, especially for the high quality. This was the highlight of our first night in Florence, after having such bad dining experiences in Venice, we couldn't have been more relieved to find this spot! read more
10 years ago
We ate at "I tramezzini" a great little sandwich stand 5 euros each I ordered the delicious turkey with sundried tomatoes pecorino cheese on the freshest bread and flavorful hummus spread it was our favorite meal in Florence My husband got salami pecorino sandwich equally satisfied can't beat a 5 euro sandwich also ordered a salad from another stand to make a great meal read more
8 years ago
8 years ago
If you want to get a glimpse of true Florence, this is the spot. Tons of locals flock here for fresh produce, fish, meats and pasta. Upstairs had a ton of restaurants and foods to choose from! Really neat to watch pizza makers prepping their dough for the day and see families sharing stories and laughter. Really cool atmosphere!! read more
4 years ago
5 years ago
8 years ago
A great place to buy trattoria-style street food upstairs, and lots of fruits, vegetables, meats, and other grocery needs. Good dried porcini at a great price. Good cannoli upstairs (filled while you buy them) and arancini. Go! read more
5 years ago
More info about Mercato Centrale
Piazza del Mercato Centrale 4
50123 Florence
Italy
Santa Maria Novella
Directions
055 2399798
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https://www.mercatocentrale.it
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