Street food booths and makeshift stands aren’t usually the first thing that spring to mind when discussing Tuscan dining. Florence shares with the whole region a certain renown for long, leisurely meals served in elegant yet rustic settings, or alternatively, down-home, family-run restaurants where daily specials are scribbled on paper placemats and piping hot plates are brought out from the kitchen by Grandma herself. 

When talking about Florentine street food, we have to quote Antico Vinaio. Its stuffed schiacciata is a must for food lovers and is sold in the most famous “paninaro”, which has recently opened its doors all around Italy and even in New York. This success is due to the genuine taste of the products that we all love. Read more about Antico Vinaio

But let’s now talk about the historical street food, the untouchable one for many Florentines. We are talking about tripe, "lampredotto", the king of Florence street food, and the other offal recipes that many hate, but many more love!

The name lampredotto initially refered to lamprey, a fish widely used in the United Kingdom by nobles and aristocrats for delicious dishes. The Florentine nobility were also fond of it. Those who could not afford it, invented a more easily accessible version: a nice offal sandwich, the Lampredotto! To find out more about our beloved sandwich click here!

We must also talk about gelato! You can find this type of exceptional street food everywhere in Florence, from the streets leading to Ponte Vecchio to Piazzale Michelangelo, ready to taste right in front of a beautiful sunset. Florence has an important history of ice cream making, and that's the reason why here you can find many artisanal ice cream shops serving creamy and fruit flavors you won't easily forget! Here are our suggestions.

The team at Pescepane were early adopters of the street food philosophy—long after the lampredotto folks, that is. Florence’s first “itinerant seafood” service, they cook up fried seafood mixes served in cones; French fries, shrimp and other tasty treats.
Long a food truck favorite present at many local events, they now have a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Sant’Ambrogio neighborhood, just a stone’s throw from the market and the Loggia del Pesce, a former site of the Florentine fish market.