Fiesole Weekly Market on Piazza Mino da Fiesole
Every Saturday morning Fiesole's grand central piazza transforms into a compact but authentic Tuscan market where farmers from the surrounding Mugello valley sell seasonal produce, aged pecorino, local honey and hand-pressed olive oil. It is the opposite of a tourist trap — most vendors speak no English and prices are written in chalk.
What to Buy
Look for the stall selling Mugello chestnuts and chestnut flour in autumn — the flour makes an extraordinary castagnaccio cake that you will not find in Florence supermarkets. In spring, bundles of wild asparagus and puntarelle chicory appear from the same hill farms that supply Fiesole's restaurants.
A small cheese vendor near the fountain usually carries a sheep's milk pecorino aged in walnut leaves, a local variation that is nutty and slightly bitter. Ask for a taste before you buy; vendors expect it and appreciate the interest.
The Piazza Itself
Piazza Mino da Fiesole is one of Tuscany's most handsome town squares — elongated, slightly sloping, flanked by the Duomo di San Romolo on one side and the Bishop's Palace on the other. Even outside market days it is worth sitting at one of the café tables and watching Fiesole go about its business.
The equestrian statue at the centre of the square commemorates the meeting of Garibaldi and Vittorio Emanuele II in 1860 — a piece of Risorgimento history that most visitors walk past without noticing. The café Bar Aurora on the square does a strong macchiato and sells cornetti filled with local fig jam.
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