Oltrarno
Cross any of the Arno's bridges heading south and the city changes register immediately — fewer tour groups, more working studios, and a neighbourhood identity that has survived gentrification with its character largely intact. Oltrarno ('beyond the Arno') is where Florentine goldsmiths, bookbinders, furniture restorers and leather workers still operate in the same workshops their grandfathers did
Streets and piazzas to explore
Piazza di Santo Spirito is the neighbourhood's living room: a wide, unpretentious square anchored by Brunelleschi's unfinished church facade, lined with café tables and busy from morning coffee to late-night Negroni.
Via Maggio is the street for antique lovers — a long run of high-quality dealers selling everything from 17th-century Florentine furniture to vintage maps and architectural fragments.
The Borgo San Jacopo and Borgo San Frediano streets are the best for spotting active artisan workshops; peer through open doors and you will often see craftspeople at work on leather goods, gilded frames and hand-marbled paper.
Eating and drinking like a local
Il Santino, the wine bar attached to the celebrated Buca dell'Orafo, serves outstanding small plates of cured meats and aged cheeses alongside a thoughtfully chosen natural wine list — perfect for a late-afternoon stop.
Trattoria Camillo on Borgo San Jacopo has been feeding Florentines since 1945; the ribollita and the roast pigeon are benchmarks for Tuscan home cooking. Book ahead and dress neatly.
For gelato, Gelateria dei Neri on Via dei Neri (technically just across the river but claimed by Oltrarno regulars) makes some of the most honest, fruit-forward gelato in the city — the fig and the pistachio are outstanding.
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