Unique shops in Florence, Italy
Where to go shopping in this city of artisans
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Florence is one of the few cities where shopping still feels like wandering through workshops. Most of the best spots are in Oltrarno, tucked into side streets where you'll pass ground-floor windows and see someone hand-painting watercolours onto botanical prints, or an apprentice learning to gild leather with 22-carat gold.
After several visits, I've worked out which shops are worth seeking out. This isn't about the designer boutiques on Via de' Tornabuoni. It's about the family-run paper binderies that have been making marbled notebooks since the 1800s, and the ceramics studio where the owner will chat about art for twenty minutes before mentioning you might like the altarpieces in the church next door.
If you want a quick sense of where everything is, here's the at-a-glance list:
Florence shops by neighbourhood (at a glance)
Oltrarno
Il Papiro • L'Ippogrifo Stampe d'Arte • La Casa della Stampa • Giulia Materia • Heart to Heart • S. Forno • Santo Spirito Market • 39 Rosso • Giulio Giannini e Figlio
Santa Croce
Scuola del Cuoio • AquaFlor • Mercato delle Pulci • Mudmoiselle • The Way of Tea
Historic Centre / Santa Maria Novella
Ginori 1735 • Officina Santa Maria Novella • Alberto Cozzi • Gucci Garden • Giovanni Baccani • Bottega Lastrucci
San Lorenzo / San Marco
La Ménagère • Abacus Firenze Legatoria • Il Papiro
Paper, prints & bookbinding
Florence's paper shops are some of my favourite places to wander: tiny, family-run studios where you'll find hand-marbled papers, leather-bound notebooks and etchings printed onto old book pages. Paper goods have been part of Florentine craft for centuries, and if you want to bring home something actually made in the city, this is where to look.
Il Papiro
There are several branches scattered around Florence, but I usually stop into the Oltrarno shop near Pitti Palace. Their marbled papers are traditional: swirling blues and greens that look like oil on water. They sell leather-bound notebooks that make you want to start writing letters again. It's become fairly well-known over the years, but the quality hasn't dropped off.
Alberto Cozzi
A family-run paper shop on Via del Parione with one of the most beautiful shopfronts in Florence. The marbled papers are displayed alongside the wooden tools used to make them, and they still bind books by hand. Tiny space, sells patterned boxes and leather journals that are hard to find elsewhere.
La Casa della Stampa di Sarubbi Lorenzo
Across from Pitti Palace. The prints have real personality: fantastical animals with human expressions, detailed botanical illustrations, many hand-watercoloured by the family who runs the shop. They work on old ledgers and antique paper, layering etchings onto centuries-old pages. I like to peek in the doorway when I walk down the street to watch them at the press.
L'Ippogrifo Stampe d'Arte
More refined than La Casa della Stampa. This is a proper gallery for Florentine printmakers, with a working press at the back where you can watch prints being made. The work on display is serious: etchings, lithographs, proper limited editions. Worth it if you care about prints.
Giulio Giannini e Figlio
A family bindery since the 1800s, just off Pitti Palace. They still produce hand-bound books and marbled papers in the same patterns that made Florentine paper goods famous.
Abacus Firenze Legatoria
Another bookbinding shop in San Marco. Worth stopping into if you're in the neighbourhood, though I'd prioritize the Oltrarno options if you're short on time.
Where to stay in Florence
Here are my picks of hotels with a charming or authentic vibe. In order of increasing price range.
Hotel Cestelli - (pictured) This super basic yet authentically Italian guesthouse is where I stay when I visit Florence solo. Super budget friendly and around the corner from Palazzo Strozzi.
Relais Cavalcanti Guest House - really cozy and comfortable, I loved staying here on a recent trip.
Park Palace Hotel - Tuscan villa with a pool
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze - just for fun, to have a look and dream
Perfume
Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
This is the most beautiful shop in Florence, possibly in Italy. It's housed in a 13th-century building that was once a Dominican pharmacy, and the architecture is extraordinary: vaulted ceilings, hand-carved wooden panels, rows of glass cabinets displaying perfumes and soaps as though they're museum pieces. The space alone is worth the visit. The perfumes are excellent if you want something that doesn't smell like every duty-free shop in Europe. It's on Via della Scala near the station, which makes it easy to combine with arriving or leaving.
AquaFlor
A perfume shop on Borgo Santa Croce, near the Pazzi Chapel. The scents are expensive and thoughtfully made, and the staff will explain how perfume interacts with your skin chemistry if you're interested. There are sister shops next door selling interior design pieces, so it's worth wandering through all three if you like that sort of thing.
Ceramics & homewares
Ginori 1735 Firenze Flagship
On Via de' Rondinelli, surrounded by designer shops. Ginori makes ceramics and tableware that manage to feel both traditional and modern, with hand-painted patterns and some genuinely interesting collaborations with contemporary artists. Their recent work with Luke Edward Hall is particularly good. The staff don't mind if you're just looking.
Bottega Lastrucci
The owner here wanted to chat about art and ended up recommending I visit the neighbourhood church to see the altarpieces, which turned out to be excellent advice. I bought a small tile in the della Robbia style: handmade, glazed, made by knowledgeable masters. They'll ship internationally if you buy something larger.
Mudmoiselle
A ceramics studio in Santa Croce where the artist teaches classes and fires students' work. Her own pieces are cottage-style with hand-painted florals and soft colours. A good place to find something that was clearly made by a person rather than a factory.
Leather
Scuola del Cuoio
Hidden behind Santa Croce, through a discreet archway to the left of the church facade. This is the most interesting shopping experience in Florence, though "shopping" undersells it.
The Scuola del Cuoio was founded in 1950 by Franciscan friars and the Gori family, who have been working leather in Florence for nearly a century. Originally it was a social project to teach war orphans a trade. Now it's run by the founder's three daughters and their children, and it's still a working school: you can watch students learning to cut, stitch and gild leather using techniques that haven't changed much since the Renaissance.
The location is remarkable. You're shopping in the old monks' dormitory, designed by Michelozzo, with frescoes by the school of Ghirlandaio and the Medici coat of arms still visible on the ceilings. Each family member has their own room, selling slightly different styles. It would be worth visiting even if nothing were for sale.
Fashion & accessories
Giulia Materia
Handmade bags and clothing in Oltrarno. I haven't bought anything yet, but I've been tempted every time I walk past.
Rinascimento Fiorentino di Ladisa Patrizia
A market stall in Piazza della Repubblica selling vintage-style jewellery in bright colours. The pieces are unique, the prices are reasonable, and the owner is helpful without being pushy. I'll be back.
Heart to Heart
Velvet slippers in jewel tones: emerald, ruby, sapphire. Very Florentine, very impractical, completely worth it. The sort of thing you wear around the house and feel slightly aristocratic.
Giuliano Ricchi
I haven't been, but it's popular online for making custom charm bracelets. Looks like it could be fun if you want an activity rather than just browsing.
Art & unusual finds
39 Rosso
A small gallery in Oltrarno representing local artists. I bought a ceramic tile painted with the Duomo dome, and the staff were enthusiastic about explaining who makes what. Nothing is imported or mass-produced, which is rarer than it should be in Florence.
Giovanni Baccani (The Blue Shop)
A gallery and picture framer with an exceptionally beautiful interior. Worth looking in even if you're not buying. The space itself is the point.
Food
S. Forno
My favourite bakery in Florence. The shop is simple and cozy, filled with fresh baked goods and packaged delicacies you can take home. I always get budini di riso (a Florentine rice pudding tart) but there are dozens of other options. It's in Santo Spirito, next to one of those old film photobooths (fotoautomatica), so you can get a pastry and a souvenir photo in one stop.
The Way of Tea
An old tea shop in Santa Croce with teas from around the world, vintage-looking tins, and ceramic mugs. It has that slightly dusty, been-here-forever feeling that's increasingly hard to find.
Markets
Santo Spirito Market
The market in Piazza Santo Spirito is worth timing your visit around if you can. Food, leather, knitwear, ceramics: a good variety, and the atmosphere is excellent. The piazza is already lively with restaurants and bars, and the market adds to it. Good for wandering before lunch.
Mercato delle Pulci
Behind the main Sant'Ambrogio food market, there's a covered section full of antique and flea market stalls. This is where you'll find old linens, ribbons, lace, vintage textiles, antique paintings. I wished I'd had a specific project in mind when I visited because there's so much to dig through. Mornings are best.
Final thoughts
I can give you a list of shops worth seeking out, but one of the best things about Florence is the random little places you'll stumble across while wandering. The artisan tradition is genuinely alive here: families who've been binding books or making leather goods for generations, not recreations of what that used to look like.
Pick a neighbourhood, walk slowly, let yourself get distracted. The best shops are usually the ones you find by accident because you glanced through a ground-floor window and saw someone working at a press.
For more off-the-beaten-path spots, see my Hidden Gems in Florence guide.
Florence is one of the most incredible cities in the world. It’s steeped in history and is almost otherworldly in its beauty. There is so much to do in Florence, especially in regards to art history. But how can you distill it all down to one day? Here’s my guide to spending 24 hours in Florence.