Florence has been a city of craft and commerce since the Middle Ages, and it remains one of the best places in Italy to shop — above all for leather, gold and Italian fashion. This is the city where Gucci and Ferragamo were founded, whose flagships line Via de' Tornabuoni; where haggling over a leather jacket at the San Lorenzo market is a rite of passage; and where artisans in the Oltrarno still make jewellery, marbled paper and bespoke goods by hand. Here is where to shop, from luxury and leather to artisan workshops, an eight-century-old perfumery and the local food markets.
Luxury shopping streetVia de' Tornabuoni
Area
Centro Storico
Type
Luxury shopping street
“Florence's Fifth Avenue — Gucci, Ferragamo and Cavalli were all born here; visit the Gucci Garden museum-store nearby.”
Street marketSan Lorenzo Leather Market
Area
San Lorenzo
Type
Street market
“Florence is famous for leather — haggle firmly, check the stitching and 'vera pelle' quality, and buy from fixed shops for the best goods.”
Artisan leather workshopScuola del Cuoio (Leather School)
Area
Santa Croce
Type
Artisan leather workshop
“Watch craftsmen at work behind Santa Croce and buy directly — quality far above the street stalls, with gold monogramming.”
Fashion flagship & museumFerragamo Flagship & Museum
Area
Centro Storico
Type
Fashion flagship & museum
“The shoe museum in the basement of the medieval Palazzo Spini Feroni is a genuinely fun stop, even for non-shoppers.”
Artisan quarterOltrarno Artisan Workshops
Area
Oltrarno
Type
Artisan quarter
“Wander Via Maggio, Via de' Serragli and the Santo Spirito lanes to find goldsmiths, framers, bookbinders and restorers at work.”
Historic perfumeryOfficina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
Area
Santa Maria Novella
Type
Historic perfumery
“One of the world's oldest pharmacies, founded by friars in 1221 — the frescoed rooms and rose-water perfumes are unmissable.”
Local food marketMercato di Sant'Ambrogio
Area
Sant'Ambrogio
Type
Local food market
“The locals' food market — cheaper, more authentic and less touristy than the Mercato Centrale; great for produce and a cheap lunch.”
Florence shopping in detail
1.Via de' Tornabuoni
Via de' Tornabuoni is the most prestigious shopping street in Florence and one of the great luxury boulevards of Italy, a handsome avenue of Renaissance palazzi whose ground floors now house the flagship boutiques of the biggest names in fashion. It carries a particular resonance here because Florence is not just a place these brands sell but the city where several of them were born: Salvatore Ferragamo built his shoemaking empire from the Palazzo Spini Feroni on this very street, where the fascinating Ferragamo Museum still occupies the basement; Guccio Gucci founded his leather-goods house in Florence in 1921, and the brand's Gucci Garden — part boutique, part museum, part restaurant — sits nearby on Piazza della Signoria; and Roberto Cavalli, too, is a Florentine name. Alongside these home-grown houses stand Prada, Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and the rest of the international luxury roll-call, their elegant windows making the street a glamorous stroll even for those with no intention of buying. The surrounding lanes, including Via della Vigna Nuova and Via degli Strozzi, extend the smart shopping district, and historic cafés and the aristocratic Palazzo Strozzi with its art exhibitions add further reasons to linger. Whether you are shopping for a serious purchase, hunting for Italian craftsmanship at its most refined, or simply soaking up the elegance and the fashion history embedded in the street, Via de' Tornabuoni is the heart of high-end retail in Florence and a fitting showcase for a city that helped invent Italian style.
Hours
Shops daily ~10:00–19:30 (some Sun)
Price
Luxury pricing; window-shopping free
Getting there
Runs through the centre from Piazza Santa Trinita toward Piazza Antinori, a 7-minute walk from the Duomo
Insider tip: Florence's Fifth Avenue — Gucci, Ferragamo and Cavalli were all born here; visit the Gucci Garden museum-store nearby.
2.San Lorenzo Leather Market
The San Lorenzo market is the most famous street market in Florence, a dense warren of open-air stalls that fills the lanes around the San Lorenzo basilica and the Mercato Centrale food hall, and it is inseparable from the city's centuries-old reputation as a centre of leatherworking. Florence has been a leather town since the Middle Ages, when tanneries lined the Arno and the monks of Santa Croce practised the craft, and the market is where that tradition meets the modern tourist trade: stall after stall is heaped with leather jackets, handbags, wallets, belts, gloves and accessories, alongside scarves, souvenirs and trinkets. The quality varies enormously, from genuine, well-made Italian leather to mass-produced imports, so the market rewards a discerning eye — check the softness and smell of the leather, inspect the stitching and linings, look for 'vera pelle' (genuine leather) and be realistic that the cheapest 'bargains' may not be what they seem. Crucially, haggling is expected here, so the first price quoted is rarely the last; polite, good-humoured bargaining can bring prices down significantly, especially for larger purchases or if you buy more than one item. For the best-quality leather goods, it is worth also visiting the established fixed-front shops and the historic Scuola del Cuoio (Leather School) behind Santa Croce, where you can see artisans at work. But for the fun of the hunt, the buzz of the haggle and a wide, affordable choice of leather and souvenirs in one lively central spot, the San Lorenzo market is an essential Florentine shopping experience.
Hours
Daily ~09:00–19:00 (stalls; some closures in winter)
Price
Free entry; haggling expected
Getting there
In the streets around San Lorenzo basilica and the Mercato Centrale, a 5-minute walk from the Duomo
Insider tip: Florence is famous for leather — haggle firmly, check the stitching and 'vera pelle' quality, and buy from fixed shops for the best goods.
3.Scuola del Cuoio (Leather School)
The Scuola del Cuoio is where you go in Florence to see the city's famous leather craft practised at its authentic best, a working leather school and workshop founded in 1950 inside part of the monastery complex of Santa Croce. It was established after the Second World War by the Franciscan friars of Santa Croce together with local leatherworking families as a way to give orphans of the war a trade and a future, and it has continued ever since as both a training school for artisans and a producer of high-quality handmade leather goods. Visitors can walk through the atmospheric frescoed halls of the former dormitory and watch craftspeople at their benches cutting, tooling, stitching and gilding leather by hand, turning hides into bags, wallets, belts, jackets and accessories using traditional techniques, before browsing and buying the finished pieces in the school's shop. The quality is in a different league from the mass-market goods of the street stalls, and while prices are correspondingly higher, they remain reasonable for genuine, handmade Italian leather, and many items can be personalised with gold-leaf monogramming while you wait. Being able to see exactly how and where the goods are made, in a place with such a poignant history, gives a purchase real meaning and makes it a memorable souvenir. For anyone who wants authentic Florentine leather craftsmanship rather than a bargain-bin find, and who appreciates the story behind the object, the Scuola del Cuoio is the most rewarding place in the city to buy leather — combine a visit easily with the basilica of Santa Croce next door.
Hours
Daily ~10:00–18:00 (seasonal; entered via Santa Croce or Via San Giuseppe)
Price
Quality leather goods; higher than the market but artisan quality
Getting there
Behind the Basilica di Santa Croce, a 10-minute walk east of Piazza della Signoria
Insider tip: Watch craftsmen at work behind Santa Croce and buy directly — quality far above the street stalls, with gold monogramming.
4.Ferragamo Flagship & Museum
The Ferragamo flagship and museum occupy the Palazzo Spini Feroni, a grand thirteenth-century medieval palace on Via de' Tornabuoni that Salvatore Ferragamo bought in 1938 as the headquarters of the fashion empire he had built, and the building neatly encapsulates the marriage of Florentine history and Italian style. Ferragamo was the celebrated 'shoemaker to the stars', a Campanian who made his name crafting inventive, beautifully engineered footwear for Hollywood royalty in the 1920s before returning to Florence, and the museum in the palazzo's basement tells his remarkable story through a rotating display drawn from an archive of thousands of shoes — from the wedge heels and cork platforms he invented to famous designs made for Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and other icons — alongside sketches, patents, lasts and exhibitions exploring fashion, art and craft. It is a genuinely engaging, well-curated museum that appeals well beyond dedicated fashionistas, offering an unexpected and enjoyable cultural stop, and it is particularly popular with families, as children are often fascinated by the ingenious and outlandish shoes. Upstairs and at street level, the Ferragamo boutique sells the current collections of shoes, bags, accessories and clothing in suitably elegant surroundings. Together they make the palazzo a highlight of a stroll along Via de' Tornabuoni, combining serious shopping with a dose of design history in one atmospheric historic building. Whether you come to buy, to tour the museum, or simply to admire one of the great palazzi of the shopping district, the Ferragamo flagship is a distinctive and quintessentially Florentine blend of commerce, craft and culture.
Hours
Store daily ~10:00–19:30; museum Wed–Mon ~11:00–19:00 (check ahead)
Price
Museum ~€9; store luxury pricing
Getting there
In the Palazzo Spini Feroni on Piazza Santa Trinita / Via de' Tornabuoni, a 7-minute walk from the Duomo
Insider tip: The shoe museum in the basement of the medieval Palazzo Spini Feroni is a genuinely fun stop, even for non-shoppers.
5.Oltrarno Artisan Workshops
The Oltrarno, the district on the south bank of the Arno, is the historic artisan quarter of Florence and the most rewarding place in the city to shop for genuine, handmade craftsmanship away from the mass-market stalls and luxury chains. For centuries this has been the neighbourhood of the botteghe — the small family workshops where craftspeople practise the traditional trades that made Florence famous — and, although rising rents and tourism threaten them, many survive along the lanes around Via Maggio, Via de' Serragli, Borgo San Frediano and Piazza Santo Spirito. Wandering these streets you can still find, and often watch through open doorways, goldsmiths and jewellers, cobblers and leatherworkers, gilders and antique restorers, frame-makers, bookbinders and makers of the marbled paper for which Florence is renowned, wood-carvers, mosaicists working in semi-precious stone (the local pietre dure tradition), ceramicists and picture restorers. Buying directly from these workshops means acquiring something unique, handmade and often personalised, with the story of its maker attached, and supporting a fragile living tradition rather than an anonymous supply chain — whether it is a piece of hand-bound stationery, a marbled-paper notebook, a bespoke leather item, a piece of jewellery or a restored print. Because these are working ateliers rather than tourist shops, opening hours can be idiosyncratic, often closing for a long lunch, and some welcome browsers more readily than others, so approach with a little courtesy and curiosity. For travellers who want an authentic, meaningful and characterful shopping experience and a real connection to Florence's craft heritage, an afternoon exploring the Oltrarno workshops is far more rewarding than any market or mall.
Hours
Workshops typically Mon–Fri ~09:00–13:00 & 15:30–19:00 (individual hours vary)
Price
Handmade goods; varies by craft and piece
Getting there
In the Oltrarno south of the Arno, around Via Maggio, Via de' Serragli and Piazza Santo Spirito
Insider tip: Wander Via Maggio, Via de' Serragli and the Santo Spirito lanes to find goldsmiths, framers, bookbinders and restorers at work.
6.Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella is one of the oldest pharmacies in the world and one of the most extraordinary shops anywhere, a place where buying a bar of soap becomes a genuine cultural experience. It traces its origins to 1221, when the Dominican friars who had settled at Santa Maria Novella began cultivating herbs and preparing medicinal remedies, balms, tinctures and distillates in their monastery; over the centuries this developed into a renowned apothecary, and it famously created a perfume, the Acqua della Regina, for Catherine de' Medici. Opened to the public in the seventeenth century and still operating today, it occupies a series of breathtaking historic rooms behind the church — a frescoed former chapel now serving as the main sales hall, vaulted antique salons lined with old apothecary jars, wooden cabinets and display cases, all evoking a hushed, museum-like atmosphere far removed from an ordinary store. It continues to produce and sell an exquisite range of perfumes, colognes, soaps, creams, pot-pourri, herbal elixirs and cosmetics based on the friars' old recipes and natural ingredients, beautifully packaged and making some of the most elegant and characterful gifts and souvenirs you can carry home from Florence. The products are premium but the range spans affordable soaps and scented waters up to fine perfumes, and — crucially — you are free to wander, browse, smell and simply admire the astonishing surroundings whether or not you buy. Combine a visit with the neighbouring basilica of Santa Maria Novella. For a shopping experience unlike any other, steeped in eight centuries of history, it is unmissable.
Hours
Daily ~09:30–20:00 (seasonal)
Price
Perfumes, soaps and cosmetics; premium but browsable
Getting there
On Via della Scala near Santa Maria Novella church and station, a 10-minute walk from the Duomo
Insider tip: One of the world's oldest pharmacies, founded by friars in 1221 — the frescoed rooms and rose-water perfumes are unmissable.
7.Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio
The Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio is the food market where Florentines actually shop, a genuine, unpretentious neighbourhood institution in the Sant'Ambrogio district east of the centre that offers a refreshing, authentic contrast to the bigger and more tourist-oriented Mercato Centrale. Operating every morning except Sunday, it combines a covered hall and an outdoor section: inside are the butchers, fishmongers, cheesemongers and delicatessens selling the raw materials of Tuscan cooking, while outside the stalls heap up fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables, herbs and flowers, alongside clothing and household goods, all patronised largely by local residents going about their daily shopping rather than sightseers. This is the place to soak up everyday Florentine life, to buy the freshest produce, cheese, cured meats and picnic supplies at fair, local prices rather than inflated tourist ones, and to pick up edible souvenirs. It is also an excellent and very affordable spot for lunch: a handful of simple, much-loved food stalls and tiny trattorias in and around the market — most famously the no-frills Rosticceria and the historic Trattoria da Rocco inside the hall — serve honest, cheap plates of Tuscan home cooking, panini and street-food classics to market workers and those in the know. Its position near the Sant'Ambrogio church and the Cibrèo restaurants, and a little off the main tourist trail, makes it a rewarding stop for anyone wanting to experience the real, working food culture of the city. For authentic atmosphere, quality produce, cheap and delicious eats and a taste of genuine local Florence, Sant'Ambrogio beats its more famous rival.
Hours
Mon–Sat ~07:00–14:00 (closed Sun)
Price
Free entry; produce and cheap eats
Getting there
On Piazza Ghiberti / Piazza Sant'Ambrogio, a 12-minute walk east of the Duomo
Insider tip: The locals' food market — cheaper, more authentic and less touristy than the Mercato Centrale; great for produce and a cheap lunch.