Typical products from Florence: leather and paper

Let’s go shopping! Almost everyone likes to bring back something to remember the holiday by. If you’re in Florence, this means that this might be a keyring featuring Michelangelo’s David, a fun souvenir, a silk scarf, an authentic packet of Italian pasta or a leather-bound diary. The cradle of the Renaissance is a great city to go shopping in, where you’ll find a wide variety of trading centres, shops and artisan’s workshops in which you can buy typical products. If you don’t know where to start, here’s some ideas of presents and typical products to buy in Florence.

One of the things Florence is most famous for is its high quality leather goods. One of the most prestigious places to buy leather in Florence at reasonable prices is the Scuola del Cuoio (Piazza di Santa Croce, 16). This leather workshop was originally created to give the city’s orphans a way to earn a living, but with time has become a Florentine institution.

The San Lorenzo market (Piazza di San Lorenzo) is another typical place in which you can buy belts, jackets, wallets, bags, shoes, gloves, wristbands and all kinds of leather-fashioned accessories. Caters well for a cheaper price point, but quality is often lower than in specialised shops.

Some more famous shops for buying leather goods include Madova (Via dè Guicciardini, 1), which specialises in gloves and Ferragamo (Via dè Tornabuoni, 2), famous for having been cobbler to the stars during Hollywood’s golden age.

Around the Plaza de Uffizi, there’s various old-fashioned paper shops which sell real works of art. Among them is typical Florentine decorative paper, leather-bound notebooks, hand-made books, writing sets, glass quills, elegant diaries and striking marbled paper.

Among the most popular shops are Signum (Lungarno Archibusieri, 14/r) and Giulio Giannini e Figlio (Piazza Piti, 37), which has years of tradition at its feet and is a real classic of Florence.

Italy is also famous for its fashion sense, as well as silk scarves and ties. If you want to know more about silk items in Florence, a good place to visit is the Antico Setifício Fiorentino. To buy clothes by renowned Italian designers (if your wallet permits it), head to the Via Tornabuoni.

In the city, you’ll also find various jewellery and antiques shops, wine cellars where you can buy traditional wines and liquors, old engravings and many other interesting items. Enjoy shopping in Florence!