The best places to have breakfast in Florence
Don’t expect the classic pastry shop, where you can get cappuccino and croissant at the counter and then run away to the office. What we have selected for you is definitely out of the ordinary. Our tour includes a former convent, a bookshop, a bakery, a museum and other special places, where you can enjoy the first meal of the day slowly and in total relaxation.
Coffee in the convent
“Amor, Amore, Amour… for Coffee” whoever enters this café is greeted by this large neon sign. And you immediately understand the passion that reigns in this place for coffee. Have breakfast in theformer monastery of Sant’Ambrogio it is an experience to try. We are in the last shop opened by Ditta Artigianale, a line of cafes dedicated to the conscious consumption of coffee and micro roasteries, founded by Francesco Sanapo in the heart of Florence. In this place that is also home to the Scuola del Caffè, an international academy, the morning is a feast of sweet and savory. It ranges from Scrambled Eggs, Croque Monsieur and Pastrami Bagel with horseradish robiola cream and homemade Roman-style artichokes. Those who love sweets will not be able to resist in front of the more classic American Pancakes and the original Cinnamon French Toast. While those who are more attentive to the line can turn to Greek yogurt with homemade granola. In addition to this point there are two other cafes, the New York-style one in via dei Neri 30r, and the rationalist one inspired by Michelucci in via dello Sprone 5r. Address: via Carducci 2 / 4r
True bistro
If you woke up wanting to take care of yourself, the right address could be the Cibreo Caffè. We are in the heart of Sant’Ambrogio, a kingdom created by chef Fabio Picchi where a few tens of meters away are: the Restaurant and the Trattoria, Teatro del Sale, Ciblèo and C.BIO. In a bohemian atmosphere typical of Parisian bistros, seated on red velvet armchairs, surrounded by the warmth of wood. You can order the egg in the “I love you” way: toasted crusty bread, organic eggs, parmesan flakes and ground pepper. A dish made with the affection of a grandmother who prepares breakfast for her granddaughter who has just woken up. From the counter you can choose from the selection of duchesse and sandwiches stuffed with mortadella, raw ham, mackerel or butter and anchovies… Obviously there is no shortage of freshly baked croissants, rice puddings and bull’s eyes with jam. Address: Via del Verrocchio, 5r
Concept store
In the district of San Lorenzo a few steps from the Duomo we find The Menagere 1896. A space that in 1896 housed a housewares shop, while today it hosts many “places”: restaurant, cocktail bar, café, flower shop and a bookshop offering art publishing, botany and gardening. Here breakfast is a real ritual to be enjoyed: seated on the large tables in front of the table, outside where a wall of red roses stands out, or at the floral arrangements in one of the rooms. Once you have chosen the space you like best, you can choose between excellent pancakes, hot baguettes served with eggs, vegetables or salmon, or omelettes, avocado toast, French toast or cinnamon rolls. A piece of advice that we would like to dare is to not have appointments for the next hour in order to enjoy this moment in total relaxation. Address: Via de’Ginori 8 / R
Arno view
To better enjoy a dish or a wine, sight, smell and taste are activated. If you choose to have breakfast at Caffè dell’Oro; as soon as you sit down your view will be captivated by a unique spectacle. The 7 outdoor lounges on Lungarno Acciaiuoli are a few tens of meters from Ponte Vecchio. So you can start your breakfast, in front of one of the symbols of Florence. If, on the other hand, you want to choose to stay inside, it will be composed of vintage-style furnishings from the 1950s, reinterpreted in a contemporary key. To an excellent American coffee, a frothy cappuccino or a cold juice, you can choose to combine one of the various hot dishes such as Oat porridge, waffles, French toast, bacon and vegetables from the garden. For egg lovers, try the “Signature Portrait Eggs” a poached egg with smoked salmon, avocado and a mix of seeds. In addition to desserts, you can choose from platters with a selection of cheeses or cured meats. Address: Lungarno degli Acciaiuoli, 4.
In the name of veg
In Piazza Santa Maria Novella next to the Museum of the 900 is located Cortese Novecento coffee, the café of Vito Cortese, the most important raw-food pastry chef in Italy. Read that all products are vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free and without animal derivatives such as milk and grapes, but above all sugar-free. It should not scare you, indeed it will be an opportunity to embark on a gustatory journey to rediscover the raw material. And even the most suspicious will be speechless. Breakfast can start with a coffee or a cappuccino made with self-produced almond milk every morning, a centrifuged or an organic fruit juice. Biscuits, cookies and dried sweets made with almonds, hazelnuts, cashews processed at low temperatures, without the use of ovens and cooking of any kind. You will discover a new way of understanding dessert: no longer a sin of gluttony, but an experience of pleasure that is also healthy. Address: piazza Santa Maria Novella, 12r
Among the books
Another experience to try is having breakfast in the bookshop. In via dei Fossi, the street of the antique dealers that leads from Piazza Santa Maria Novella towards the Arno, there is the independent bookshop Todo Modo. Books, coffee, theater is what you read on the sign. Here you have breakfast surrounded by 20 thousand titles, national and international magazines and a department dedicated to stationery. If you can resist the temptation to browse the books you will find in the first room, you will arrive at the Uqbar. Here you can choose between bread with wine and sugar, butter and salt, jam, chocolate but also yogurt with fruit, honey, cereals and whatever is as written on the menu. And for lovers of salty cornetto with cereals with culatello or salami. Without giving up the excellent rice puddings. All bought in the best shops in the neighborhood. Next to you to keep you company students who study on their PCs and the notes of Jazz music from Radio Todo Modo. Address: via dei Fossi 15r.
At the old oven
Crossing the Arno, between the Basilica of Santo Spirito and the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine is S.forno, the bakery opened by the owners of the restaurant The Holy Drinker. A bakery opened a century ago that with the passage of time has remained a local shop, also very popular with the Florentines of the area. You have breakfast as in the past with bread, butter and jam, bread and chocolate, milk and biscuits or yogurt and muesli, but also with excellent rice or ricotta puddings. Being a bakery there is no shortage of focaccia, Tuscan flat bread to be stuffed with salami and pizza alla pala. Instead of cappuccino, you can drink coffee, milk, orange juice as well as teas from the Florentine La Via del Tè. In short, it is a place where time stands still a little thanks to memory, furnishings made with recycled furniture and the scent of bread. Address: via di Santa Monaca 3r