Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DON'T MISS
BEST HISTORIC CAFES
Few cafes have seen or heard as much as these fabulous old Florentine beauties.
Mon-Fri, 8.30am-8.30pm Sat, 12.30-8pm Sun) This small cafe is famous for what it was - an 1815
child, inventor of the Negroni cocktail and hub of Anglo-Florentine sophistication during the interwar
years - and what it is (hip cafe of local hotshot designer Roberto Cavalli, whose flagship boutique is
next door). Giacosa is known for its refreshingly unelevated prices and its hip cafe across the street in
the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi.
inside or out after an Uffizi or Palazzo Vecchio visit, this pricey little number with unbeatable people-
watching terrace has produced some of the city's most exquisite chocolate since 1872. Black-jacketed
barmen with ties set the formal tone.
famous of historic cafes on the city's old Roman forum, Gilli has been serving utterly delectable
cakes, chocolates, fruit tartlets and
millefoglie
(sheets of puff pastry filled with rich vanilla or chocol-
ate Chantilly cream) to die for since 1733 (it moved to this square in 1910 and sports a beautifully pre-
served art nouveau interior).
31-35r; Tue-Sun) Born as a brewery overlooking the city's fish market in 1846, this Florentine in-
stitution with heated terrace and elegant, piano-clad interior lured a literary set a century on. Today it
pulls the whole gambit of punters, mobile-touting Florentine youths, suit-clad businessmen and well-
dressed old ladies sipping tea.
Nightclubs
To savour the best of Florentine clubs, don't arrive before midnight - dance floors gener-
ally fill by 2am. June to September everything grinds to a halt when most clubs - bar Cen-
tral Park and Meccanò, which have outdoor dance floors - shut. Admission, variable de-
pending on the night, is usually more expensive for males than females and is sometimes
free if you arrive early (between 9.30pm and 11pm).
Blop Club
(
www.blopclub.com
; Via Vinegia 21r; 11pm-3am Mon-Wed, to 5am Thu-Sat)
No surprise that
Florence's trendiest club of the moment is in the hippest part of town, aka Santa Croce.
Small and edgy, Blop lures an international crowd with its music theme nights - loads of
NIGHTCLUB
