Beyond Pasta: A Deeper Dive Into Florentine Cuisine

By Sloane Suiters

An array of pastries inside a local Florentine coffee shop.

The aromas of freshly baked bread, creamy melted cheese, and ground coffee beans fill the air in the streets of Florence, Italy.

While many tourists travel to the country for its rich art history and scenic views, one specific part of the culture stands out among the rest; its cuisine.

Italian cuisine is deeply rooted in tradition, serving as a reflection of its cultural and historical culinary influences. Italians take great pride in only using locally-sourced ingredients of excellent quality. While most Italian meals tend to be fairly simple, this allows for the depth of the food’s natural flavors to shine.

A collection of some of the beautiful (and delicious) food the city of Florence has to offer.

Popular Panini

Panini Toscani sits along a strip of small restaurants in the middle of Florence. Located across from The Duomo, it is the perfect attraction for hungry customers. Tourists and locals flock to it daily, entranced by its unique array of salty meats and cheeses.

Thousands of tourists pass by The Duomo each day, admiring its breathtaking beauty and intricate designs.

Inside, one worker slices up samples of fresh prosciutto and salami for eagerly waiting customers. He gives them a taste, as he describes the origin and creation of each product in detail.

The store offers seven types of bread, three types of meat, and four types of pecorino cheeses: Cacio bono, Semistagionato, Val D’Orcia, and Pienza. Each sandwich ingredient is sourced directly from Tuscany, about two hours outside of Florence.

At the other end of the counter, a worker carefully adds the finishing touches to each sandwich, like a painter applying fine brush strokes to a canvas, and then quickly throws them in the toaster.

“How many?” asks the man at the front door. His name is Giorgio Martin, and he is the owner of the restaurant. He stands at the front of a line of customers, each one anxiously waiting to satisfy their cravings with custom-made sandwiches.

When he sees a girl holding up the number four, he responds in English, “We only allow three people inside at a time.” It’s a smart tactic to create the illusion of exclusivity.

Giorgio and his son standing at the front of the store. They take turns managing the line and passing out sandwiches.

Due to the high demand the store began to face, combined with the limited amount of space inside, they made the decision to place an additional worker at the door to regulate the constant and rapidly-growing line outside of the restaurant.

Coffee Culture

One aspect of the cuisine that Florentines truly embrace is coffee. Throughout the country, it is constantly produced, consumed, traded, and celebrated.

Italians enjoy coffee because with coffee comes routine. The average Italian drinks up to four cups of coffee a day, for both social and leisurely purposes. Each cup of coffee serves as a carved-in time to step away from all of the day’s struggles and take a moment to relax. There is no water cooler culture in Italy. Instead, there are tiny cups of espresso, sometimes accompanied by cubes of sugar.

A cappucino decorated with a chocolate flower from Caffè Mokarico, located near Piazza Santa Elisabetta.

The history of coffee in Italy dates back to the 16th century when trading ports in Venice served as the country’s first introduction to coffee beans from Northern Africa.

By the early 1760s, Venice was home to more than 200 coffee shops. Initially, there was some pushback from the Catholic church, branding coffee as the “Devil’s Drink.” However, this was quickly eliminated when Pope Clement VII gave the beverage his stamp of approval.

In 1901, Luigi Bezzera combined pressurized water with a small amount of coffee grounds and invented the first espresso machine. The word espresso comes from the Latin word exprimere, meaning, “to press out.”

The creation of espresso was a new and more efficient way for people to enjoy their daily cup of coffee; something that they treasured greatly. Bezzera’s new recipe led to the creation of coffee bars, where the public could enjoy a quick cup of espresso while catching up with friends, holding a business meeting, or reading the newspaper.

Rinaldi prepares drinks for two customers, visiting Florence from The United States.

“To us, nothing can compare to a good, strong cup of coffee,” says Alessandro Rinaldi, a barista at Caffè Gilli.

Rinaldi has been employed at the caffè for just under five years and explained that he enjoys his job because of the variety of people he gets to meet. One little cup of black liquid with a caramel-brown layer of foam on top brings them in by the hundreds each day.

300 Years Young

Caffè Gilli serves more than just espresso. Created by a Swiss family, it sits in the middle of Piazza della Republica. Founded in 1733, it is the oldest cafe in Florence.

The caffè provides modern outdoor seating with luxury sofa chairs for customers to relax in. Its glass walls serve as a way to observe the bustling and never-ending flow of people and traffic surrounding it.

An Aperol Spritz and Peach Bellini from Caffè Gilli, topped with a fresh goldenberry.

The architecture on the inside of the caffè offers a more historic feel. Its pale yellow walls, wooden shelving, glistening chandeliers, and tall, white, Renaissance-inspired archways serve as a testament to the elegance and simplicity of 18th-century Florence.

Glass cases cover the marble countertops, containing an assortment of perfectly handcrafted croissants, cookies, candies, gummies, and chocolate.

Turquoise and gold boxes tied with silk bows and marked with the caffè’s logo sit on shelves in the storefront window. Above the case hangs a beautiful branch of white flowers, which cleverly contributes to the ambiance of the decorations. Beneath them are glass jars, filled with different colored biscuits, pastries, and cakes, and dusted with powdered sugar. Customers are lured in by their seemingly flawless quality and delicate but dignified designs.

The colorful storefront window of Caffè Gilli is eye catching to those who pass by.

What began as a small pastry shop outside the Duomo, is now a popular attraction for both tourists and locals. The food menu offers a variety of cocktails and food choices, accurately upholding the flavors of Italian tradition while also adding its own spin.

Nothing Stale

Despite Florence being almost 2,000 years old, there is nothing stale about the city’s food and coffee culture.

Its tradition, high-quality ingredients, and hard work combine to create the most fresh and delicious cuisine; something that never goes out of style.