The Mercato Centrale or the Central Market in the San Lorenzo district is a “must see” destination in Florence for any one who even likes leave alone loves food like I do. In this fabulous closed market you can get the freshest and fairly reasonable priced food together with a lively and colourful ambience which is comes as a bonus for shopping here.

The Central Market, the ultimate destination for locals and foodies alike, is a very popular and bustling market. It is housed in an elegant building with a glass and cast iron construction built way back in the eighteen hundreds. Mercato Centrale is surrounded by the open stalls of the San Lorenzo Market.

The Mercato Central or Central Market occupies two floors each floor specialising in different food items which assail your senses and send you directly to a gourmet’s paradise. On the ground floor of this historic building you can find the deli stalls as well as fresh meat, fish and poultry stalls. On the ground floor you can also find shops selling different cheeses, wines, balsamic vinegars, dried mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, pastas, breads, olive oils, truffle oil, dried herbs, spices and condiments.

On the first floor of the Central Market you can find a riot of colours as you will find the entire space occupied by fruit and vegetable stalls bursting with fresh and seasonal produce. This is by far the most colourful and appealing part of the market.

The Mercato Centrale or Central Market is open daily from 7 am upto 2 pm except on Sundays and public holidays. In winter it is open on Saturdays afternoons as well. You can begin your day with a cappuccino and some croissants or pastries from the stalls in the market. Alternatively you can also grab a quick bite for lunch from the stalls or a boiled beef sandwich (a popular Florentine specialty) from Nerbone a popular stall cum small restaurant situated inside the Central Market.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.