Mercato Centrale in Florence is Fantastic!

We usually make it a point to visit a local market when we are traveling. For example, we’ve visited the Viktualienmarkt in Munich, the farmer’s market in Grecia Costa Rica and the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Of all of the markets that we’ve visited, Mercato Centrale in Florence is my favorite. If you’re planning to spend some time in Florence, this needs to be one of your stops.

Where is Mercato Centrale?

Mercato Centrale is about a 5 minute walk northwest of the Duomo in Florence. It’s also about a 5-10 minute walk east on Via Nationale from Santa Maria Novella Train Station.

Just outside of the Mercato Centrale is San Lorenzo Market. This market surrounds Mercato Centrale on three sides. It consists of leather vendors selling jackets, backpacks, purses and belts. These vendors tend to get a little aggressive as you’re walking through, but not too aggressive. From what I can tell, and I’m no expert, but the leather vendors appear to be primarily selling high quality leather goods made in Italy.

The Ground Floor is for High Quality Groceries

You will have to go through San Lorenzo Market to get into the Mercato Centrale building. The building is a huge two story iron and glass building with massive amounts of space for a variety of vendors. On the ground floor there are fishmongers, butchers and produce vendors as well as specialty stalls selling wine, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Unless you’re visiting Florence for a long period of time, and will be buying some groceries for your Airbnb, this area won’t be that useful. It is, however, fascinating to see the kinds of fresh fish, meats and produce that are available in the market. Fishmongers sell a variety of fish, as well as prawns, octopus, and clams.

The butchers, of course, are ready to cut meat to order. As a tourist, however, you might be more interested in picking up some cured meat that you will see hanging from the top of many of the stalls. You will also find cheesemakers in the market selling a variety of cheeses that are local to Tuscany. If you pick up a baguette from a baker at the market you can probably put together one of the best sandwiches you’ve ever made. By the way, if you have a long train ride out of Florence, putting together some sandwiches for the trip can make that train ride extra enjoyable.

If you’re bringing a checked bag, and would like to bring a bottle of wine home, I would suggest checking out the wine shop. Any wines that are truly local will be marked with a designation of DOC or DOCG. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata which basically just means that it’s up to quality standards for a wine of that region. DOCG essentially means the same thing but it adds ‘Garantita’ (guaranteed) to the end meaning that it has higher standards than DOC. Also, if you don’t have room in your checked bag, you can always just drink a bottle or two, no one’s stopping you, you are in Florence after all.

The more likely thing you might want to pack in a checked bag would be balsamic vinegar and olive oil. If you’re used to the olive oil that you find at an American supermarket, Italian olive oil is an eye opener. I’m used to the flavorless olive oil from Aldi, and essentially every restaurant we went to in Italy would have a bottle of olive oil sitting on the table that was just outstanding. People who brag about the quality of olive oil in Italy aren’t lying, seriously, grab a bottle, throw it in your suitcase, you won’t regret it (unless it breaks during the flight of course).

The Second Floor is for Prepared Food

All of that being said, we didn’t spend much time on the first floor. We weren’t planning to cook and I didn’t bring a checked bag, so the place that I really loved was the second level.

The second level is primarily devoted to prepared food. It’s a great place to get a snack or a full meal.

The first thing I noticed, and immediately went to, was the bar. I love craft beer, and when you’re in Italy, it’s not the easiest thing to find. However, the bar at the market has a number of beers on tap and even more in the bottle. The owner of the bar does an excellent job of choosing beers that not only cover a variety of styles, but also compliment the prepared food by the other vendors on the second level. He also has chosen beer that is of good very good quality, including some Trappist ales.

We sat down at one of the tables, and a server came out to take a drink order. I think you can order food from the vendors from the table, but we just chose to get up and look around and order it from the counters. I wanted to get a good look at all of the available food, anyway.

Scattered around the second level you will find vegan options, sushi, barbecue, and burgers. If you are looking for something a little more Italian, you will find crostini, arancini, and lots of sandwiches made with schiacciata and focaccia.

We visited the Mercato twice during our trip, and the first time I grabbed an arancini on the way out of the door. It was so good. It had just a little bit of ham and some cheese rolled up in a rice ball and fried. That was the first arancini I had ever tried and after that I was grabbing one wherever I found them.

On the second trip to the market, I grabbed some smaller arancini made with meat and tomato sauce and some fried stuffed olives. They were good as well, but I definitely preferred the arancini with the ham and cheese.

Lorenzo de Medici Cooking School

Also on the second floor is the Lorenzo de Medici cooking school. The cooking school offers two hour classes that instruct students on how to make a Italian Dishes. These dishes include pasta, bread, and desserts. Most of the classes cost 80 euros to attend, but some are a little more expensive. A full list of the classes being offered can be found on their website.

Visiting Mercato Centrale is a Must

If you are going to Florence for longer than a couple of days and you love food or wine, you absolutely have to go Mercato Centrale. If you will be in Florence for a week and have access to a kitchen I would absolutely pick up some groceries from the first floor of the market. They are of high quality and you will have an opportunity to talk with the vendors to get some input on how you should use their products.

If you are like us and only have a few days in Florence, you still should go, but the second floor is where you will probably want to spend your time. There is a variety of prepared food that should allow for you to do some taste testing and really try some foods that you might not normally order in a restaurant. And, of course, if you’re a beer lover, you’ll want to check out the bar. It’s got a great selection of beer and will be a nice change of pace from all of the Italian pilsners that you’ll drink while in Italy.

Also, if you have time, you might want to check out the cooking school. If we had been in Florence longer than three days, I might’ve done a class. Who doesn’t want to learn to cook like an Italian after all?