Every tourist wants to take something touristy back home, and the visitor to Florence will be no exception. Of course there are hundreds of places where you can buy quality stuff in this historic city, there are so many boutiques and upmarket outlets, you’re actually spoilt for choice. But don’t miss the street markets, they have their own aura and flavour.

The Mercato del Porcellino is a quaint example of one.
Located a hop and a jump away from Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Vecchio, on Via Calimala, this market has history. Built in 1547-1551 by Giovanni Battista del Tasso, it was also known as the Mercato Nuovo, and was originally intended to sell gold and silk. But it quickly evolved into something quite different.

This open-air market in a loggia has about two dozen stalls, apart from vendors. It is now also known as the straw market, and you get a lot of stuff in leather, cheap lace, wood, and of course straw. You can also pick up some wonderful Florentine paper products, as well as towels and bedding. A good place to pick up souvenirs.Some tourists feel it is less crowded than other street markets in the city, and the leather products here are better too.

Mercato del Porcellino, translated, means the market of the boar, and thereby hangs a tale. The bazaar gets its name from the bronze statue of a wild boar in the square. The sculpture you will see today is only a copy, but the interesting fact is that the ‘original’ which it replaced was itself a copy!
The statue which originally stood in the square was cast by Pietro Tacca, who copied a marble sculpture by an unknown Greek artist.

The bronze boar somehow acquired a legend – that rubbing its nose brought good luck – as you can imagine, there was a lot of rubbing done, and the authorities feared that the statue might be damaged. So Tacca’s boar was removed to the Borgello Museum in 1962, and replaced by another made from the cast which he had used. It is this boar that has its nose rubbed in the Mercato del Procellino today, but apparently the luck holds good.

he original marble boar now lives in the Uffizi Gallery, also in Florence, so don’t miss the two ‘originals’ while you’re in the city.

Shop for lace and leather, paper, clothes and straw, and as you’re leaving give the boar’s nose a rub, the belief is that it will bring you back to Florence.