Buca Mario & the Oltrarno Trattorias
The Oltrarno neighbourhood — the 'other side of the Arno' that stretches between Ponte Vecchio and the hills below Piazzale Michelangelo — is where Florentines actually eat. The trattorias here have been feeding locals for generations and the menus read like a masterclass in Tuscan cooking.
What to Order
Start with a crostino nero — chicken-liver pâté on grilled bread — which is as Florentine as the Duomo. Follow it with ribollita, a thick bread-and-vegetable soup that is deeply savoury and completely unlike anything you can get outside Tuscany.
The non-negotiable main is bistecca alla Fiorentina: a T-bone of Chianina beef, at least 1 kg, grilled over wood charcoal to a charred crust and a blood-rare interior, seasoned only with salt and olive oil. Order it for two, minimum.
For dessert, seek out cantucci con Vin Santo — hard almond biscuits dunked in amber dessert wine — at almost any trattoria in the neighbourhood. It is the correct ending to every Florentine meal.
Where Specifically to Go
Trattoria da Ruggero on Via Senese is a family-run room of checked tablecloths and handwritten menus that has barely changed since the 1960s — no tourists on the website, no Instagram aesthetic, just outstanding ribollita and a wine list of honest Chianti.
Buca Mario at Piazza degli Ottaviani is Florence's oldest restaurant (founded 1886) and while it attracts some tourists, the kitchen remains serious — the Florentine steak here is sourced properly and the historic vaulted cellar setting is worth the visit alone.
For a quick, standing lunch, Nerbone inside the Mercato Centrale (a short walk north across the river) serves a legendary lampredotto sandwich — boiled tripe in a bread roll dunked in broth — the definitive Florentine street food.
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