Today we are going to the San Lorenzo Market. It is comprised of two separate markets. The first is the outdoor portion, which is where you will find leather of all sorts, as well as clothing and souvenirs. The indoor market is named Mercato Centrale and is the home to all things food.
The building of the Mercato Centrale was designed by Giuseppe Mengoni. It was built from 1870-1874, when Florence was still the capital of Italy.
Lining the streets around the Mercato Centrale is the outdoor market. It runs from the Church of San Lorenzo along Via Ariento to Via Nazionale. Here you can find a variety of things that can range from 2 euro to hundreds of euro. Be sure that you bargain with the vendors to try and snag a deal because a lot of the prices are marked up from the beginning. It is important to know that the vendors may seem stiff on their initial prices, but stay firm and don’t back down.
The outdoor portion is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 am to 7 pm.
Once you have walked through the outdoor market, it is time to enter the Mercato Centrale. It is a two-level food market. There are two entrances, one on Via di Ariento and one on Piazza del Mercato Centrale. The ground floor is home to butchers, fishmongers, fruit and vegetable vendors and small specialty shops. These shops sell local products, such as olive oil, meats, cheeses and wines. If you are interested in buying some of these food items, but are concerned with bringing them back into the states, the vendors usually know what products are allowed back into what countries. They will even vacuum pack some items for you. This floor is open Monday through Friday from 7 am to 2 pm, and Saturday from 7 am to 5 pm.
The second level to the Mercato Centrale is where you can actually sit down and eat. It has 3000 square meters of space and is open 7 days a week from 8 am to midnight. There are 12 individual sections which are each dedicated to some Italian specialty. For example there is a gelato and chocolate stall, as well as a pizza and pasta stall, the meat stall and the vegetable stall. Each stall has clear glass windows that allows you to see the processes of making their food first hand. Many of these specialty stalls represent different methods of production that call upon old Italian traditions. For example the pizza stand makes their food using a technique born in Naples, which is where pizza is said to be invented. Some defining characteristics of this method is that there is more sauce than cheese, they are generally only about 10-12 inches and are cooked at very high temperatures for no more than 90 seconds.
The visual openness of the Mercato Centrale to act as a hub and a cultural center for culinary traditons all throughout Italy.
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