Oltrarno District
Cross the Arno and the tourist density drops, the streets narrow and the smell of sawdust and linseed oil drifts from workshop doorways — welcome to Oltrarno, Florence's living, breathing artisan quarter. This is where gilders, bookbinders, leather workers and furniture restorers have kept their trades alive for generations.
Workshops, Wine Bars and Piazza Santo Spirito
Via Maggio is the spine of the antique trade, lined with serious dealers selling everything from Baroque picture frames to 18th-century Florentine commodes. Wander off it down Via dello Sprone or Sdrucciolo de' Pitti to find working botteghe where you can watch craftspeople at their benches.
Piazza Santo Spirito is the neighbourhood's beating heart — a slightly scruffy, entirely authentic square anchored by Brunelleschi's unfinished church facade. By evening the square fills with locals at outdoor tables and the aperitivo hour stretches happily into dinner.
Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens
The enormous Palazzo Pitti, former residence of the Medici grand dukes, dominates the neighbourhood and houses no fewer than six museums including the Palatine Gallery, crammed with Raphaels and Titians in gilded rooms. Buy a combined ticket and allow at least half a day.
Behind the palace the Boboli Gardens climb the hillside in a series of terraces, grottoes and fountains — an outdoor museum of Renaissance and Baroque garden design. The Isolotto, an oval fish pond with a central island, is one of the most photogenic corners of the entire complex.
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