Living and Learning in the Cradle of the Renaissance

Consider this: Sixty percent of the world's art treasures are in Italy, and half of these are in Florence. Three hours, three days, three weeks--it won't be enough. Three months for me was insufficient.

If you only have a couple of days, the guidebooks concur on the hit parade: the Duomo, Baptistry, and Campanile; Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, and Ponte Vecchio; the Uffizi and the Accademia; the great Gothic churches of the Dominicans and Franciscans, Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce; and the Medicis' parish church, San Lorenzo.

All of these are clustered in a relatively small area of the Centro Storico (historic centre). Here you need not seek out history and culture, for it surrounds you in the very fabric of the city, in piazza, palazzo, and statuary, in stone, marble, bronze, and terracotta.

You will not, however, be short of company. Here you will contend for space with countless throngs of humanity plodding behind the tour guide's raised umbrella or queueing outside the Uffizi.

You may feel the urge to escape. There are treasures and pleasures for you to discover only minutes away.

In subsequent sections, I'll take you to some.

Quick Tips:

Before departing, do some planning with a guidebook, websites, and a map. If you only have a few days, decide what you most want to see and do. It'll save time and reduce stress.

Learn a little Italian before you go. For beginners, contextual phrasebooks are best (at the hotel, in the bar/restaurant, at the station). Italians will appreciate your efforts. And it's arrogant to presume they should all speak your language, as well as their own.

Book tickets for the Uffizi and Accademia in advance, either through their websites or by 'phoning 055.294.883 in Florence (English spoken). Climb Giotto's Campanile for the best view of Florence and the surrounding area. You get a great view of the Duomo--which you don't from the top of the Duomo!

Fake leather goods are widely available and inexpensive. Experts can't distinguish them from the real thing. Neither will your friends.

Stand at the bar for coffee, beer, and panini--it's much cheaper than sitting. And don't waste time searching for the ultimate gelateria. They're all better than Häagen-Dazs.

Public toilets are scarce. Bars are legally obliged to let you use theirs.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking is the best means of getting round the Centro Storico, much of which is pedestrianised. If you're in Florence for more than a couple of days, an ATAF bus ticket might be useful. A biglietto multiplo provides four tickets valid for an hour each for Euro 3.90, and a seven-day pass is now available.

Useful routes are the Number 7 to Fiesole and the 12 or 13, which save you the climb up to Piazza Michelangelo. Having savoured the view, you can walk down. Buses depart from around Stazione S.M.N. If you're hot and weary, jump on one of the electric minibuses that follow circular routes throughout the city centre.
Buy tickets at Tabachi and news kiosks. Validate them at the machine on board.

Fancy a scooter? Rent one from Alinari at Via Guelfa 85r, for Euro 26 a day. But be warned. Even Florentines are confused by traffic law complexities. The traffic police (vigili urbani) are usually young and clad in jeans and sweatshirts.

Visits to Sienna, San Gimignano, Lucca, Pisa, and Viarregio are easy. Avoid the specials advertised on hotel brochures. Public transport is much cheaper, fast, frequent, and clean.

The Bretagna is not for everyone. If you want pampered luxury with a king-size bed, walk-in closets, mini-bar, and a large marbled but ultra-modern bathroom, you will not be happy here.

On the other hand, if the idea of staying in a historic 15th-century palazzo with a magnificently preserved breakfast room and an equally splendid and large drawing room/lounge, both of which overlook the River Arno, sounds appealing, and if you don't like paying a small fortune for somewhere to rest your head, then the Bretagna could be just what you're looking for.

Close to Ponte Santa Trinita and only five minutes' walk from the Ponte Vecchio, this two-star pensione with 18 rooms has a chequered history and for 10 years was home to Louis Napoleon.

An aura of faded gentility pervades the reception and public areas. The distinctly unmodernised bedrooms all have colour television and telephones, the beds are comfortable and the furnishings best described as functional. Rooms and corridors are festooned with paintings, prints, and ceramics of varying vintage and quality.

My single had no bathroom - that was just down the corridor, small but adequate and never a queue.

But the reason so many guests return to the Bretagna is to savour the historic ambience of having breakfast in a chandeliered room with a gloriously painted ceiling, inlaid wooden floors and a view across the river to Oltrarno. Breakfast is adequate for a two-star hotel - fruit juices, yoghurts, sweet and savoury croissants, steaming jugs of coffee and hot chocolate.

The drawing room, with its exquisite decor and where you will want to linger, has a small library, and for the photographer, an open balcony from which there is a panoramic view along the Arno.

The young owners both speak English and are friendly and welcoming.

For this you will pay around Euro68 for a single and Euro115 for a double. Triples are also available for Euro139. Unfortunately, only one room overlooks the river and you'll need to book very early to secure it.

Centrally located 50 yards south of Piazza Santa Maria Novella and only 10 minutes' walk from the train station, the Pensione Ferretti is ideal for the budget traveller.

The hotel and its 16 rooms are on the second floor and can only be reached via a staircase. The rooms are simply furnished (no TV), but spotlessly clean, the beds comfortable though the singles are narrow. A double with bath costs Euro98 in season and a single with bath is Euro60 (these are 2004 prices). I always book a room without bath. Prices fall to Euro78 and Euro48 respectively. The bathrooms are very close and I've never had to wait for one.

Breakfast comprises unlimited bread rolls, preserves and cornetti (croissants) with coffee, tea, and orange juice (which is freely available all day).

Owners Luciano and Susy (a South African) speak fluent English and are very friendly and helpful.

The major sights are only a few minutes' walk and the expensively chic designer shops of Via Tornabuoni are even closer.

With the money you've saved on your room, have dinner next door at the excellent Trattoria Croce al Trebbio or 50 yards in the opposite direction at the intimately rustic Belle Donne restaurant. If you can find a pensione that can beat the Ferretti for location, price, and friendliness, you've done well!

Few of the tourists thronging the San Lorenzo street market venture inside Mercato Centrale, Europe's largest indoor food emporium. Fewer still are aware that inside this vast, cast-iron and glass two story building they could enjoy an authentic, cheap lunch where a mixed clientele of market workers, professionals, and locals have been eating since 1872.

Entering from Via dell'Ariento turn right and you will see clusters of hungry customers milling round the corner stand, leaning against the counter or sitting at one of the five bench tables. They'll be eating the kind of simple, nourishing food that Florentines have appreciated since Da Vinci was a boy.

Regularly on offer are steaming bowls of pasta with meat sauce, ribollita, which is a rich thick soup made with cabbage, beans, herbs, and whatever other vegetables were available on the day, and served with bread. Fagioli (beans) may be available in various forms. Known as the bean eaters, Tuscans will eat a bowl of mixed beans dressed with nothing more than olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Fagioli all'Uccelletto is a delicious combination of beans cooked slowly in a tomato sauce, flavoured with garlic and sage. Sometimes it is served with slices of roast pork. Don't be surprised to see the locals liberally dousing their soups, beans, and pasta with olive oil.

Trippa alla Fiorentina (tripe cooked in tomato sauce with a sprinkling of parmesan) another local staple, rarely appeals to fainthearted tourists. Check it out before ordering!

What will almost certainly appeal to you is the boiled meat panino, tender beef served on the freshest bread rolls which are smothered in the meat juices. At Euro 2.30 it's a real bargain. The order process can confuse some tourists. First go to the cashier. Ask him for a panino bollito. In exchange for your money he'll give you a receipt which you take to Stefano, who has been carving the meat here for longer than anyone can remember. Constantly bantering with his regulars I once heard a young student ask Stefano, "what kind of carne is it?" To much laughter came the reply, "carne di moocow." At least that's what it must have sounded like to her. What he probably said was "carne di muca" (cow).

Italians have a fundamental inability to queue for anything in an orderly fashion and will take advantage of anyone who doesn't push forward with the best of them. Hold your ground, and if you have a small child, take it to the counter with you. Or borrow one! The obstructions in front will melt away as your offspring becomes the focus of general adulation.

If Stefano speaks to you, he's probably asking if you want your bread dipped in the juices. You do. When served, grab a glass of wine, a seat if there is one, or head outside, sit on the steps and watch the street market parade as traders try to persuade tourists to part with their money.

With what are arguably the best panini in Florence, Antico Noe is an inexpensive gem that quickly registers on the radar of students, both Italian and foreign. To get there, head down Borgo degli Albizi until you reach Piazza San Pier Maggiore. Antico Noe is just past The Lion's Fountain pub on the left.

If you stumbled across it by accident while exploring the Santa Croce neighbourhood, you might be tempted to give it a wide berth. The dark, covered passageway where Antico Noe has been feeding Florentines since the early 16th century is the preferred hangout for a dozen or so (mostly) men who spend the day and evening consuming large quantities of beer and wine straight from the bottle.

Don't be put off. They're quite harmless and keep themselves to themselves. I was living in an apartment in the tiny Piazza San Pier Maggiore overlooking Antico Noe, and while the police dropped by a few times a day for a friendly chat with the winos, there was no trouble in the two months I lived in the neighbourhood.

So visit the hole in the wall and choose from a sandwich menu posted on the wall outside. Or choose whatever you want, because they'll make you a delicious and seriously large panino with whatever ingredients you select.

My first time there I chose from the menu. Grilled chicken stuffed with mortadella and prosciutto and topped with buffalo mozzarella and roasted red peppers. Heaven for just Euro 3.60! I can also highly recommend the roasted porchetta. Ask them to add whatever looks good. There is a fine selection of Tuscan red wines, but the vino della casa is a perfectly good accompaniment for your panino, as is an ice-cold beer.

Locals tend to lean on the bar and gossip with the patrone and his wife, while students and such tourists as get down here tend to spill out onto the pavement.

The owner's jovial wife, a Canadian, is often asked how she ended up here. "Well," she smiles, "I came here for a sandwich one day and liked it so much I married the owner."

Appetite whetted? Vivoli, Florence's most celebrated gelateria, is only a five-minute walk, but even closer, some twenty yards down Borgo degli Albizi, is Vestri, a real chocolate maker serving everything chocolate, including ice cream to rival the very best.

Since I first visited Florence in 1994 the San Lorenzo district has always attracted me. From the market vendors and their (often fake) leather goods to the eponymous church and the adjacent Palazzo Medici, this vibrant neighbourhood oozes character.

There are pensione and hotels at the lower to middle range of the market, the Italian equivalent of fast food takeaways--pastries and pizza slices--and then there is Palle D'Oro.

On the edge of the market, located on a narrow and busy street, this family-run trattoria has been feeding Florentines and tourists for more than 100 years.

After 7pm without a reservation, you will queue for 20 minutes before being shown to a table. The wait is worth it.

Before entering the restaurant check the menu outside. Look for 'Lo chef consiglia', (the chef recommends). These are guaranteed winners and you can also guarantee that by 9pm they will be gone.

There is a substantial array of inexpensive pasta dishes to suit the budget traveller, but Palle D'Oro is also the place to try some dishes which, elsewhere, could seriously harm your budget. The antipasti are very good (try the antipasti toscani), as is the insalata misto (mixed green salad).

The arrosto miaiale (roast pork) is delicious, but the most stunning meat dish available on a nightly basis is their simple and straightforward 'bistecca filetto'.

Tuscany is famous for the quality of its beef that comes from the famous Chianina cattle. But increasingly, Tuscan restaurants have been using imported beef for their 'bistecca fiorentina'. At Palle D'Oro you will be served the real thing at a fraction of the price that many expensive restauarants charge for imported Argentinian beef. Here, I ate possibly the most delicious beef steak I have ever eaten.

Palle D'Oro has a couple of other characteristics that make it attractive. Before becoming a restaurant, Palle D'Oro was a fiaschetteria, a wine shop. Same family, same standards, same quality. And the house wine (the red at least) is the finest you will find in Florence and only about euro 6 per litre. It puts house wine in the UK and the USA to shame.

One final observation--the staff at Palle D'Oro stay there for years. Whether they are all family I do not know, but this much I do know. When I return there, year after year, I'm greeted like a returning friend . . . as you will be once they get to know you.

Rocco's is a local favourite and a local landmark. Situated in the centre of Florence's remaining working class neighbourhood, it provides locals and the occasional adventurous tourist with authentic Tuscan cuisine and a minimum of fuss.

Rocco's resembles a 1950s Baltimore diner, slightly elevated above the market floor, a honey pot for market workers and hungry locals.

It doesn't take long to figure out why. Sit down at one of the bench tables (you'll share with whoever sat down just before you), and Rocco or a member of his family will immediately pour you a glass of red wine and some water.

Conversation will come easy as your neighbour recommends the salsiccia con fagioli (sausage and beans) or the delectable polpette (meatballs in tomato sauce). The service is cheerful, the bill worked out in Rocco's head, and the entire experience is not to be missed. You'll eat well here for less than you'll pay anywhere else in Florence.

When you've finished, check out the bargains available from the assembled butchers who supply ordinary Florentines with their weekly needs. And if the market outside hasn't closed, treat yourself to a new leather jacket. You're a local now!

A ten-minute walk from Santa Croce church, the Mercato S.Ambrogio is where local working class Florentines choose to shop. Here, on the stalls surrounding the meat and vegetable emporium, you will find clothes at half the price asked at San Lorenzo market.

Shirts, blouses, socks, underwear, and most of all, leather jackets and coats can be bought at a fraction of the price you will pay in central Florence. I bought a fine black leather jacket for less than £20. If you are renting an apartment you will find that vegetables cost far less here than at the nearby supermercato and the butchers inside the market sell high quality meat at lower prices than their counterparts over at Mercato Centrale. If you are becoming a resident Florentine this is where you want to do your shopping.

At the present time, (2004) the neighbourhood is undergoing some gentrification but this is slow and the locals are holding out quite successfully. The neighbourhood suffered considerably during the floods of 1966 (when Santa Croce was severley damaged) and hundreds of residents abandoned their homes and moved elsewhere. But the city council has worked hard to try and maintain the area's authenticity.

Whether or not they will succeed in retaining it remains to be seen. But if you're spending a week or more in Florence you should walk over here and savour a genuine Florentine neighbourhood.

The stark, unfinished brick facade of San Lorenzo stands in sharp contrast to the visually stunning exterior of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo. With Brunelleschi's vast dome and its elaborate pink, green, and white marble neo-gothic facade, the Duomo commands attention and crowds in a way that eludes the parish church of what was once Florence's most formidable political family. Michelangelo's plans for the facade of San Lorenzo remain unfulfilled.

Yet San Lorenzo, designed by Brunelleschi for the Medici in 1420, rewards its visitors in more ways than its illustrious neighbour. While the interior of the Duomo is imposing largely for its sheer size (Savonarola regularly preached to 10,000 and it has a capacity of 20,000) the beautiful early Renaissance design of San Lorenzo is enhanced by the decorative work of such luminaries as Michelangelo, Donatello, Filippo Lippi, Rosso Fiorentino, and Bronzino. Immediately striking are Donatello's great bronze pulpits, his last work, finished by his students after his death. Examine closely his dramatic panel reliefs depicting scenes of the crucifixion. Nearby is Bronzino's mannerist fresco The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, a heaving mass of contorted human bodies. And in the chapel behind that there is a fine Annunciation by Filippo Lippi looking down on the spot where Donatello, his housemate in Palazzo Medici, is laid to rest. Don't miss Michelangelo's extraordinary staircase leading up to the Laurentian library he designed for the Medicean manuscripts and books, or the pleasant cloister, also off the left aisle. Michelangelo is more renowned for his work in the Medici Chapels, part of the Basilica but with a separate entrance (and admission fee). We'll visit there later.

San Lorenzo, like the other great Brunelleschi church, Santo Spirito, possesses the added attraction of not being overrun by tourist hordes doggedly following the guide's raised umbrella. Perhaps the plain brick facade is insufficiently enticing. This means you can enjoy its soothing tranquillity in peace without feeling you're in the midst of a football crowd which can seem even more attractive because immediately outside, snuggling up to the basilica, is its counterpoint, the boisterous commercialism of the street market. This juxtaposition of the House of God with money, buying and selling, always reminds me of Jesus and the moneylenders and sellers in the temple. Emerging from the cool, classical interior of the church into the hot, bright tumult of Piazza San Lorenzo one afternoon I was reminded of lyrics from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

"Roll on up for my price is down,
Come on in for the best in town,
Take your pick of the finest wine,
Lay your bets on this bird of mine".

A final tip since we're on the subject of money and bargains. If you have a cash flow problem try to arrive when a service is taking place. It's closed to visitors, but nod towards the worshippers at the front and you'll be waved in free. When the service ends you're free to explore.

The Medici Chapels have managed to arouse awe and disgust, to inspire and repel in equal measure those who have ventured into the quite startling mausoleum which is the last resting place of Florence's most famous family. On entering, you are likely to fall into one of these two camps, indifference not being a widely experienced reaction.

It is the Capella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes) which has generated the greatest distaste. Mark Twain, constantly struggling to keep his tongue out of his cheek, professed his outrage with the mausoleum, the Medici, and the artists who did their bidding, such as Michelangelo and Raphael. In The Innocents Abroad, published in 1869, Twain proclaims that the only reason the chapel's large central space is empty is because the Medici had planned on stealing the Holy Sepulchre from Jerusalem and having it placed in their midst.

Despite the failure of this attempted, blasphemous larceny, Twain maintains that the opulence of the interior still tends to overwhelm. 'It is as large as a church; its pavement is rich enough for the pavement of a king's palace; its great dome is gorgeous with frescoes...the vast walls made wholly of precious stones...polished till they glow like great mirrors...and before the statue of one of these dead Medicis reposes a crown that blazes with diamonds and emeralds...and a happy thing it will be for Italy when they melt away in the public treasury.'

Byron's more economical but no less scathing judgment was that the chapel was comprised of 'fine frippery in great slabs of various expensive stones, to commemorate fifty rotten and forgotten carcases.'

I must confess that neither the blasphemy and rotten corpses, or even the dubious historical reputation of the Medici dynasty, significantly affected my own reaction to the ostentation and opulence which confronts the visitor. Artistic merit or lack of it is not determined by the worthiness of those to whom it is dedicated. What did occur to me, however, was how much Cosimo il Vecchio, buried in the Old Sacristy next door and his even more modest father Giovanni, would have hated it.

In contrast to the Chapel of the Princes, Michelangelo's New Sacristy has been widely admired. Ironically, some of his most venerated statuary, Day, Night, Dawn, and Dusk adorns the tombs of a pair of Medicean nonentities while the tombs of Lorenzo the Magnificent and Pope Leo X were never completed.

The admission charge of Euro 6 may seem a little steep but take a look in case Signore Berlusconi decides to follow Mark Twain's advice and melt the whole edifice down for the public treasury.

Cosimo il Vecchio commisioned Michelozzo to build this protypical Florentine palazzo in the 1440's, having rejected a Brunelleschi design as too flamboyant, (the early Medici firmly believing that one way to hold onto your wealth and power was not to flaunt it). Given its location most visitors to Florence will pass close-by its formidable rusticated exterior while on the way to somewhere else; you may even rest on one of the well-worn stone seats built into the base of the Palazzo's wall. I'd done this myself many times before finally deciding to take a look inside.

On balance Palazzo Medici-Riccardi must be considered one of Florence's second tier attractions. With its limited (though excellent) artistic content it cannot compete with the Pitti Palace, the Uffizi, or the Accademia. But for those with historical and political interests it is worth an hour of your time.

Most visitors are interested in only two rooms. The first is the original chapel adorned by Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes. His magnificent and large Journey of the Magi (1460) could be considered one of the first celebrity works of art in so far as it portrays numerous members of the Medici household, including an 11-year-old Lorenzo the Magnificent as pilgrims en route to Bethlehem. Gozzoli has even included himself in the entourage, (a practice not uncommon amongst renaissance artists,) and helpfully inscribes his cap with his name lest we miss him. You may have to wait a few minutes for entry to this chapel as space restrictions only permit seven people inside at any one time.

The other much-visited room is the Gallery, the ceiling of which is covered by Luca Giordano's fresco, The Apotheosis of the Medici. I have no idea whether Mark Twain gazed on this during his visit to Florence but if he did he was no doubt apoplectic with rage at this sycophantic glorification of the fat and the useless.

One other work of art is worthy of mention, a beautiful Virgin and Child by Filippo Lippi (who you may remember used to be locked in here by Cosimo il Vecchio to stop his drinking and womanizing). Apparently it's been shifted about from room to room over the past 500 or so years and when I saw it was displayed in a hall outside the chamber of Florence's provincial assembly which meets here. Unusually, you can walk round the back of the painting, which I did and discovered Lippi had sketched a man's face on the rear of the canvass. Who is it, I wonder?

Finally, there is a small but pleasant outdoor cloister and garden, peaceful and quiet, where you can sit and read if you wish. And recall that Mussolini and Hitler took drinks here before a banquet in 1938.

I could happily live in Florence without ever leaving this vibrant neighbourhood. Busy, often chaotic, the daytime population is swelled by thousands of tourists, most searching for bargains, some seeking to explore part of Florence's political and cultural history, others seeking food and drink. Large numbers of students add to the lively milieu in these narrow cobbled streets squeezed between Fortezza da Basso, V.Panzani, V.Cerretani, and VMartelli and V.Cavour.

You can eat, drink, and sleep here. You can shop in Europe's largest indoor food market (Mercato Centrale), which is cosily enclosed by one of Europe's largest outdoor leather goods and clothing markets (Mercato di San Lorenzo). You can shop in dozens of small, family-run businesses. There are bakers and pasticerria selling delicious breads, pizza slices, savoury snacks, biscotti for dipping in wine, dolce made with fresh fruits, cream, mascarpone, and displayed with typical Italian flair.

There's a shop selling exquisite hand-painted ceramics on Via Guelfa and another in Piazza di San Lorenzo specializing in tapestries, brocaded cushions, and wall hangings, many embroidered with the purple Florentine lily, symbol of the city. You can buy notebooks, pens, pencils, postcards, cheap framed pictures, calendars, and prints of Florence at the cartoleria on Via Faenze. You can buy newspapers and magazines, Italian and foreign, at the newsstand close to the Medici chapels or the shop on the corner of Via Nazionale and Via Faenza, which also sells 'phone cards, film, tourist guides, cigarettes, and chocolate bars. There's an excellent shop on Viale Strozzi which meets all your photographic needs. You can get your watch repaired at a tiny shop in Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini and keys cut at the heel bar and key cutting shop on Via Faenze.

Fifty yards away you can take courses in Italian Language, Culture, and Cooking at Centro Lorenzo de Medici. When you leave class, cross the street for a look round Alice's Mask Shop, where Alice and her father practice the ancient craft of moulding papier-mache masks typical of 18th century Venice. Feltrinelli's bookshop on Via Cavour has a collection of English language books.

Buy a corkscrew at the kitchen equipment shop on Via dell'Ariento so you can use it to open the wine you bought at Casa del Vino on the same street. In this attractively simple enoteca with its dark wood and marble furnishings, there are always wines to taste before you buy and you can order a sandwich while you're making your mind up. Gianni, who runs the place with his father, will be happy to share his expertise with you. There's another excellent wine shop adjacent to Palle D'Oro (see above) where there are always a few regulars standing at the bar enjoying a glass of chianti. There's a laundromat on Via Nazionale and a smaller one on Via Faenza. Using the latter you could cross over to the bar on the corner of Faenza and San Antonino for a coffee, beer, or glass of wine while you wait. Or visit the neighbourhood barbiere a little further up Via Faenza and get your hair trimmed. Or drop into Your Virtual Office a few doors from the barbiere and get up to date with your e-mails. Alternatively, you could just sit and watch your underwear swirling round while contemplating the serious matter of where to wine and dine tonight.

There's an inviting array of traditional Tuscan trattorias to choose from and the amount you spend is very much a matter of choice.

For a good start to your evening, head for the Newsbar at the end of Via dell'Amorino. Oddly, since this area is frequented by so many tourists, the clientele is almost exclusively Italian, perhaps because they know something most tourists don't. There's nothing particularly striking about the Newsbar, except that in addition to having open bottles of wine on the bar from which one can choose to order a glass, there are also plates full of small panini and other little appetizers on which you can feast while enjoying your drink. This can save you the cost of an antipasto at the ristorante.

Where to eat? This is not the place for lengthy reviews. Some of these I'll describe more fully elsewhere, but there are some San Lorenzo trattorias I can confidently recommend. Everything in this neighbourhood is minutes away from everything else, so you can check them out first. In no particular order, you can eat well without breaking your budget at Palle D'Oro on Via San Antonino, and on Via Faenza at Antichi Cancelli, Trattoria Enzo e Piero, and Trattoria Antellesi.

On Via Nazionale, La Lampara offers a wide choice within a broad price range, from pizza and pasta to complete four-course meals. Close to the Newsbar, where you've just been indulging in their free nibbles, is Ristorante de'Medici (Via del Giglio). Peering through the windows at the large, high-ceilinged, chandeliered rooms, you may think it stuffy and grand-hotel-ish. Appearances are deceptive, however, and the Medici is another place you can drop into anytime for pizza or a simple pasta dish. If you're determined to have the famous bistecca alla fiorentina before leaving Florence, this is as good a place as any to order it, although your bill will rise considerably.

Over on the other side of the market on Via Guelfa, I'Toscano serves excellent Tuscan fare in two attractive rooms (don't confuse it with the cheap cafe and similar name on the same side of Guelfa), while on the other side of the street, Cafaggi offers a good value menu turistico. Around Piazza San Lorenzo, Trattoria Zaza, with its wooden bench tables, framed film posters, and subdued lighting, is a long-time favourite of mine, and unfortunately of a great many others. Dinner reservations are recommended for all these trattorias, but especially Zaza. Two places on Faenza, neither of which I've been to, have attracted some admiration: Lobs, a fish restaurant adjacent to Centro Lorenzo di Medici; and Maracan, a Brazilian restaurant with Latin dancers to entertain you throughout dinner. At midnight it turns into a disco, open till 4a.m.

For lunch only, don't miss Trattoria Mario on Via Rosina, where you'll mix with market workers and other regulars. It's just outside Mercato Centrale. Just inside the market is Nerbone, which has been serving simple, cheap Tuscan food since 1872.

For slices of pizza, brioche, schiacciata (a rosemary flavoured Tuscan bread baked with olive oil), and a multitude of cakes and fruit tarts, try Il Fornaio di Galli at the intersection of San Antonino and Faenza. On San Antonino, close to the market, is a friggitoria, selling the Italian equivalent of junk food, and where you can buy freshly made donuts and apple fritters.

During the 15th century, this neighbourhood was the political heart of Florence, where the Medici, the city's most enduring dynasty, governed from Palazzo Medici while San Lorenzo was built as their parish church. Most of them are buried in the Medici Chapels, their tombs the work of Michelangelo. It was in the mid-15th century that the tradition of wealthy, ruling families sponsoring art and artists was begun by Cosimo de Medici, named father of the country (the city-state of Florence, not Italy) after his death in 1464.

Two of Florence's greatest Renaissance artists, Donatello and Filippo Lippi, were probably the first ever artists in residence, living in Cosimo's Palazzo. Lippi, a Carmelite monk, had a voracious appetite for wine and women, and Cosimo resorted to locking him in to keep him focused on his painting. Lippi escaped using bedsheets as a rope and eventually Cosimo gave up his attempts at restraint, observing that artistic temperament was uncontrollable.

So when you look at this large, austere Palazzo, now a seat of provincial government as well as a museum, try and imagine one of the Renaissance's greatest religious painters edging down the wall clutching his bedsheets as he headed for a night of debauchery. Lippi eventually absconded with a nun from Prato who bore him several children, including Filippino, who also became a Medici court artist.

I'll tell you why San Lorenzo is my favourite Florentine church in another section and also about the four neighbourhood hotels where I've stayed.

One final recommendation. Don't just be an extra, another walk-on in this extraordinary theatre. There's a bar on Via Faenze where I sit a couple of times a day watching the constant human parade go by while I write my journal. Nobody bothers me. Find somewhere you're comfortable, a bar, the steps of San Lorenzo or the stone seats built into the walls of Palazzo Medici. And observe, reflect, and write.