Mercato di Santo Spirito
Every second Sunday of the month, Piazza Santo Spirito — the Oltrarno's living room — transforms into an organic and artisan market where Florentine designers, small-batch food producers and vintage dealers set up stalls under the plane trees. It is the antidote to the leather-market tourist traps near San Lorenzo.
What You'll Find
Stalls sell seasonal Tuscan produce — fresh pecorino from the Crete Senesi, wild-boar salami, artisanal olive oils and local honey — alongside handmade ceramics, linen clothing and small-batch natural wines from nearby Chianti producers.
On regular weekday mornings the piazza hosts a smaller daily market of fruit, vegetables and flowers that serves the neighbourhood; this version is entirely local and entirely unpretentious, a great place to buy picnic supplies before heading up the hill.
The square itself is dominated by Brunelleschi's unfinished Santo Spirito basilica — its plain stone façade hiding one of the most harmonious Renaissance interiors in Florence, well worth stepping inside before or after browsing the stalls.
The Neighbourhood Around It
The streets radiating from Piazza Santo Spirito — Via Maggio, Borgo San Frediano, Via de' Serragli — are lined with antique dealers, independent bookshops, artisan workshops and aperitivo bars that cater almost exclusively to residents.
Caffè Ricchi on the square's north side has been the neighbourhood's social anchor for decades; a morning cornetto and macchiato at one of its outdoor tables, watching the piazza wake up, is one of the most authentically Florentine ways to start a day.
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