UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN
Start the day as well-heeled Florentines do, with coffee and brioche in one of the three smart cafés in central Piazza della Repubblica, each with its own devotees. For the antique splendour and excellent homemade pastries, it’s difficult to beat Gilli (caffegilli.com), the city’s oldest café. Now you’re fuelled, let the day unfold.
BE IMMERSED IN ART
Head for the lofty halls of the Uffizi (uffizi.it), a treasure house of Renaissance art where, among other must-sees, Botticelli’s newborn Venus emerges like a blushing belle from the waves and Piero della Francesca’s touchingly unpretentious Duke and Duchess of Urbino face each other across the central pillar of an ornate double frame. The Uffizi, arguably Italy’s most famous museum, is undergoing a renaissance of its own with forwardthinking directors opening more and better viewing spaces to the public in recent years. In 2021, the Vasari Corridor is due to reopen. This elevated art-lined passageway was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici to link the Uffizi with his main residence, Palazzo Pitti, which is on the other side of the Arno and now houses galleries of Renaissance, modern and costume art.
EAT LIKE A LOCAL
Cross the Ponte Vecchio – lined with goldsmiths since the Middle Ages – and stroll to lunch at small contemporary trattoria Zeb (zebgastronomia.com) in the San Niccolò quarter. In what was once a neighbourhood deli, Alberto Navari and his mother, Giuseppina, serve melt-in-themouth cappellacci – large homemade ravioli filled with pear, ricotta and pecorino – to diners perched on stools around a central serving space.
FIND FASHION
To walk off lunch’s necessary indulgence, retrace the Arno west, past rowers and ducklings paddling in the shadow of the Ponte Vecchio, crossing again to reach the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo (ferragamo.com) on Florence’s premier fashion shopping street, Via Tornabuoni. In the basement of the iconic Florence-based design house’s Palazzo Spini Feroni HQ, this is a fascinating tour of colour, design and craftsmanship even for those who aren’t dedicated followers of fashion. Long-running themed exhibitions mix celebrated pieces from the archives, particularly the convention-defying shoes that made founder Salvatore Ferragamo famous, with contemporary art and photography in bold and thought-provoking ways. Current show Sustainable Thinking (until 8 March 2020) explores green fashion, upcycling and eco-friendly materials, with exhibits including a pair of avant-garde cork-heeled sandals Ferragamo designed in 1940 for actress Loretta Young, plus artworks by Joseph Beuys and Michelangelo Pistoletto.
SHOP HISTORY
Just around the corner, you’ll find Pampaloni (pampaloni.com), the city’s most famous silversmith, known for its provocative window displays. Owner Gianfranco Pampaloni keeps the eclectic spirit of Florentine artisanship alive with collections like Bichierografia – a range of extravagant zoomorphic silver vases, jugs, goblets, candlesticks and pitchers based on an early-17thcentury collection of drawings he came across in the Uffizi. Another collection, the Due Sicilie serving set, is inspired by antique silver cutlery sent to Pampaloni by a group of Sicilian nuns who wanted it melted down to make an ornament for the altar of their convent. There’s a story behind almost every piece on sale here.
CITY OF ARTISANS
From the fine handmade scents of the 400-year-old Santa Maria Novella perfume house to the Chianti Classico that flows from the surrounding vineyards and leatherware that is globally coveted for quality, Florence respects craft traditions. In 1927, Salvatore Ferragamo’s meticulous eye for materials found its natural home here, his design house attracting fame with leather accessories that fused innovative design with timeless style. As the house has passed through the Ferragamo family, this culture continues with instant classics like the BOXYZ bag, the “xyz” of which points to the three generations who will carry and love it forever.
PEOPLE OF PASSION
The backdrop for ordinary life, extraordinary public art is part of Florence’s heartbeat. And it’s beloved. In what Ferruccio Ferragamo, chairman of the Salvatore Ferragamo Group, calls a “tangible expression of our gratitude to Florence”, the company funded the restoration of the iconic 1574 Fountain of Neptune in Piazza della Signoria, which now triumphantly spouts water just as its designer Bartolomeo Ammannati always hoped it would.
TOAST GOLDEN HOUR
With the setting sun gilding the city’s façades, it’s a brief hop to La Terrazza (lungarnocollection.com), Florence’s most exclusive aperitif venue. On the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Continentale, with views over the Arno and Ponte Vecchio, La Terrazza feels like a well-kept secret, a club for cognoscenti. A spreading walnut tree, the wall of a medieval tower, comfortable divans created by local design talent Michele Bonan – everything breathes the confidant, relaxed signature of the Ferragamo family, which owns the hotel. The drinks menu is no exception.
The Negroni – a Florentine invention that recently celebrated its centenary – is a particular forte. Order one of several variations or choose from a dizzying range of gin and tonics.
DINE WITH A VIEW
If the panorama from La Terrazza is all dreamy wide angles, the close-up view of Ponte Vecchio and the Arno from the small terrace of Borgo San Jacopo restaurant (lungarno collection.com) brings the beauty of Florence into breathtaking focus. Inside the Hotel Lungarno, BSJ (as locals refer to it) feels like the dining room of a stylish Florentine art collector. It’s the perfect setting for the refined yet locally rooted cuisine of young chef Claudio Mengoni, who took over the reins of the Michelinstarred restaurant in May 2019. From a garden-fresh “raw and cooked” vegetable starter that features tomato sorbet and fig treacle to the sapid meld of his “calamarata” pasta dish with rockfish, broccoli and tarragon, Mengoni’s creations distil Tuscan taste and authenticity.
STROLL UNDER LIGHTS
After dinner, Piazza del Duomo beckons. There is no better hour for one’s first view of Florence’s mother church. Come back tomorrow to take in the vast, echoing interior, to climb Brunelleschi’s audacious dome, to ascend the medieval belltower. But now, when all the daytrippers have dispersed, is the perfect time to admire the illuminated façade adorned with statues and pinnacles, the octagonal Baptistery with its exquisite bronze doors and the striking harmony of the ensemble. Marcel Proust called Florence “a miracle city”. Here, amid the soaring magnificence of buildings made without modern technology, by sheer force of manpower and civic pride, it’s easy to see just what he meant.