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of Italy, of the Savoys; today it houses various unmissable museums (www.uffizi.it/palazzo-pitti). Once you have completed the cultural part of your visit, you can browse around the stalls of the many flea markets that, especially in summer, enliven the area, or stop off at the numerous venues that are open till late at night, or take in one of the numerous concerts and performances that make the district one of the liveliest in Florence. Among the venues not to be missed in Santo Spirito is Gurdulù, a gourmet restaurant and cocktail bar offering regional dishes and a drinks menu ranging from the more classic to the more creative (www. gurdulu.com). If you fancy a pizza, you must not miss out on O’ Munaciello, the environments of which echo the alleyways of Naples and which - obviously - offers classic Neapolitan pizza (www.munaciello.com). If you like original cocktails and are a mixology enthusiast, Gosh is the place for you. Its design blends vintage objects, wallpaper with pink flamingos and chairs and lamps designed by the owner, a former fashion stylist (www.facebook.com/ goshfirenze). In Piazza Santo Spirito itself you can also find Volume, a museum-bookshopcafé, hosted in the spaces of a former historic hat shop (www.volume.fi.it).
SAN FREDIANO, A COOL NEIGHBOURHOOD The district of San Frediano stretches, broadly speaking, from Porta San Frediano to Ponte alla Carraia. It is here, over the last twenty years, that one of the most rapid processes
Gurdulù
of gentrification in Florence has taken place: the old artisans’ shops have been transformed into studio workshops, the popular buildings have now become boutique hotels and the old art laboratories host events of international scope. Once considered among the most infamous neighbourhoods in the city, today San Frediano has become fashionable, also thanks to the famous Lonely Planet guide, which defined it as “the coolest neighbourhood in the world”. In particular, the street Borgo San Frediano has become renowned both for its traditional artisan shops and for the many venues spread out among its lanes and alleyways, but there is also no shortage of churches and historical monuments. In Piazza del Cestello, from which you can enjoy magnificent views of the noble palaces on the right bank of the Arno, there is the church of San Frediano in Cestello, with its incomplete bare stone and brick façade, built in the late 17th century. Not far away is Piazza del Carmine, with the Brancacci Chapel inside the Del Carmine church, which has a marvellous cycle of frescos by Masaccio, Filippino Lippi and Masolino da Panicale. Around the picturesque Piazza de’ Nerli, Via dei Cardatori and Via dei Tessitori [which translate as Carders’ Street and Weavers’ Street] harken back to the old trades of the inhabitants of the district. The preparation of tripe, one of Tuscany’s traditional dishes, flourished in Via dell’Orto and Via di Camaldoli until the 1970s. Indeed, in Piazza de’ Nerli there is a Florentine institution: the Tripe Vendor’s Stall of San Frediano, where you can taste the traditional trippa alla Fiorentina or a panino with lampredotto.
Artisans’ workshops
Antico Setificio Fiorentino From a recent census, it seems that there are around 800 artisans’ workshops in the Oltrarno. Via Maggio, in particular, traditionally a temple for antiquarians, is today still a concentration of art and culture. However, if you have a weakness for shoes, you are in the right place, because this zone is the very place where you can see craftsmen busy at work on made-to-measure shoes, such as those of Roberto Ugolini (www.roberto-ugolini. com). Do you love the unmistakable aroma of paper? Then you will not be able to resist going into one of the marbled paper and bookbinding artisan shops in the Oltrarno, such as Il Torchio (www. legatoriailtorchio.com). But this zone is also swarming with goldsmiths’ workshops: for example, drop in at Ugo Bellini, a stone’s throw from Piazza Santo Spirito, where they create exclusive jewellery using ageold methods, also based on customers’ designs. And what can you say about the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, one of the very few silk production workshops left in Europe? Since 1786 they have been spinning precious silk fabrics, today used above all by the houses of haute couture and by architects to furnish residences and boats (anticosetificiofiorentino.com). Roberto Ugolini
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