Alexander Meddings
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Flexible TravelFlorence is world-famous for its art and architecture, but its lesser-known coffee culture is undergoing a renaissance of its own. Tradition and innovation stand uncomfortably side by side as shabby express bars and trendy artisan coffeehouses compete to win over the city’s choosy clientele. To make sure you know where to go to get the best of both worlds, Carpe Diem Tours is spilling the beans on where to find the best coffee in Florence.
From a macchiato made in heaven to the most crave-worthy cappuccino, this article guides you through the traditional bars, chic cafés, and artisan coffeehouses that brew up creations to please even the most discerning of coffee connoisseurs.
If you’re a seasoned veteran of Italian coffee, feel free to skip this part and head straight to our list. But if you're keen on the bean and this is your first time in Italy, you might want to bear some of these things in mind. For just as there’s an art to being a barista, here in Italy there’s an art to ordering from one. And should you stray from any of these commandments, you could find yourself in...
A latte confusion.
Have you ever noticed that in Italian cafés there are always people standing at the bar? Part of this is because Italians are innately sociable, but another reason—and little-known fact when it comes to Italian bars— is that you actually pay more to sit down. Quite a lot more in fact. Taking a seat to sip your coffee can cost anywhere in the region of 20-50% extra (how much depending on what there is to see outside). But hey, if you’re in a café and everyone’s standing at the bar just do as the Romans do and join them.
Don't order cappuccino after midday
It's an easy one this, but an important one nonetheless, especially if you hope to pass for a local. Consuming cappuccino after breakfast will earn you social ostracism here in Italy; and although Italy is a Catholic country, not even confession will get you out of it.
If you ask for a coffee in Italy and expect an Americano prepare to be disappointed. Coffee (or “caffè”) in an Italian bar is just that—coffee: a small but delicious drip of what we know outside Italy as an espresso.
To say that Italians are pretty particular about their coffee is an understatement. There might be as many variations of coffee as there are residents in Florence, but in the eyes of many the drip (or filter) coffee that’s so beloved back home in the UK is considered acqua sporca or “dirty water”.
So where does this leave you? You can always order a caffè lungo (equally strong; twice as long) or a cappuccino senza schiuma (pronounced “SKEW-mah”), which is a little bit like a flat white. Or, if you’re determined to get your filter coffee and you’re willing to break some balls, just ask for it while specifying that you want it al vetro or “in a glass cup” (apparently there’s a difference).
It’s now been seven years since I moved to Italy, and I’m still not sure what the procedure is for paying at a bar. Sometimes you have to tell the barista what you want and they serve it up along with the receipt so you can pay on your way out. Sometimes you pay the cashier first before presenting your barista with the receipt. As a rule of thumb, just watch what the locals do and go with the flow.
Be careful when ordering a latte coffee. The Italian word for latte is milk, and what we can “latte” is the shortened form of latte macchiato (pronounced “mah-kee-AH-toe”) which is a coffee with a generous topping of milk.
Ditta Artigianale (Via dei Neri 32/R & Via dello Sprone 5/R)
Ditta Artigianale on Via dello Sprone serves up our favourite coffee in Florence
The joint that became such a hit they had to open two, Ditta Artigianale has boldly gone where no Florentine coffee bar has gone before in offering a modern menu, complete with flat whites and daily-updated filtered coffees, and delicious, unpretentious food served in a sleek, urban setting.
The flagship, more spartanly furnished establishment is on the Via dei Neri near the Basilica of Santa Croce. But the larger (and for our money better) branch is nestled between Palazzo Pitti and Piazza della Passera, a small square that’s also home to Florence's best gelato.
What this coffee house’s success boils down to is more than just the quality of its beans. Its owners have managed to tap into the market by serving delicious food and drink within a comfortable environment—something conspicuously lacking in many of Italy’s rather more rundown and shabbily furnished suburban bars.
To lay my cards on the table, I generally don’t advocate the arrival of chains like Starbucks in Florence (least of all in the area around the Duomo). But there's no doubt that, if they were to arrive, their comfort, convenience, and—dare we say—plug sockets would make them a roaring success, especially among remote workers, students, and freelancers.
Il Caffé del Verona: the best coffee in Florence with a view
You do have to pass through the museum’s entrance to get there, but you don’t have to buy a ticket to visit the café. I know this because it was the first thing my mother asked the receptionist when she came to visit. Which was made all the more mortifying by the fact I used to work there.
Anyhow, as you can imagine from a café situated on the rooftop of the world’s first secular institution devoted to child rearing, here the history is matched only by the view. In fact, the only café where you can get a better view of Brunelleschi’s great dome is the far more frenetic, student-busy Caffetteria delle Oblate.
Believe me when I say Il Caffè del Verone is better. Not only is it the ideal place for a caffeine injection before heading down to their remarkable museum, but it also serves up some great traditional Tuscan food. Just remember that according to the strict rules of Italian coffee culture, when it comes to coffee and food never the twain shall meet!
Old Photo of Caffe Concerto Paszkowski, Florence Caffe Concerto Paszcowski
If you’re looking for a café that oozes class, chic, and elegance, Paszkowski is the place for you. The café is to Florence’s coffee culture what the Uffizi is to Florence’s art scene—an institution. In fact, just like the Uffizi, the building has been designated a national monument, having been in constant operation as a beer hall, music venue, and café since 1903. It’s not hard to see why it was once the favourite of the Florentine intelligentsia.
Situated on the corner of Piazza della Repubblica, right in the beating heart of Florence's city centre, Paszkowski is a haven of chic wooden décor, chandeliered ceilings, daily baked pastries and—most importantly—espresso to die for. Head there early in the morning or afternoon to make sure you don’t miss out on their scrumptious pastries. Or make your way there late to be treated to one of their nocturnal piano recitals.
Le Murate Caffe Letterario, Florence.
Sipping your morning coffee within the confines of Florence’s most famous prison might not sound like the ideal way to spend your vacation. But as the happening place of the moment frequented by Florence’s young and beautiful, Le Murate really is the place to be.
It’s quite difficult to find. Despite living just five minutes away, the first time I tried to go there I typed “Le Murate” into Google Maps and was directed to an upmarket Fish & Chips shop of the same name about a 15-minute walk west (a bad workman always blames his tools - I just have a poor sense of direction). But Le Murate is well worth checking out.
Like Ditta Artigianale, it’s less the traditional Italian bar where you grab a coffee on the go or stand uncomfortably at the bar and more a place to linger, browse the Internet, and slowly sip your way through a frothy cappuccino. But not after midday—you savage.
Mo Si Caffetteria, Florenc. Good, honest coffee and delicious pastries
This Neapolitan bar might not adhere to Naples’s tradition of the caffè sospeso, in which customers sometimes pay for an extra coffee to be enjoyed by the next stranger who wanders in off the streets. But it’s widely regarded as the only place in Florence where you still get what the Neapolitans call a coffee of the three Cs, caldo, comodo, e carico (warm, comfortable, and fully charged).
Of all the coffees characterised by these three Cs, the cappuccino comes out on top. And while you’re there, why not treat yourself to one of their freshly baked pastries or brioches, especially the cornetti al cioccolato (chocolate croissants) or bombolini (cream-filled doughnuts), the taste of which will make you pack up your things and move to Italy for good.
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