Sarzana, Liguria.

Osteria Candalla On The Liguria Tuscany Border

Piazza Santo Spirito Artisans’ Market

Ristorante Pizzeria – Piazzale Michelangelo, Firenze

This restaurant is just off Piazzale Michelangelo on Via Galileo in Florence and has lovely views of the hills and large houses on the Southern outskirts of the city. It’s slightly more expensive than restaurants in town for the food (a standard pizza is €3 or €4 more than in town) but it’s worth it for the view and location. I’d avoid the soft drinks at €6 each though as that’s a bit steep even for Florence tourist-central.

You can exit the restaurant, turn left and then walk down the steps almost immediately on your left and they will take you down to the heart of San Niccolo. Keep going towards the gate and just before you reach it, there is the Bar “Fuori Porta” or Outside the Gate; perfect for an after lunch/dinner drink!

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Las Palmas Bar – Piazza Ghiberti

Las Palmas Bar is open in the summer and has been running in Piazza Ghiberti in the east of Florence since 2001. There’s music most evenings and unlike a lot of more touristy places the aperitivo is free if you buy a drink; hold on to your receipt though because they’ll ask for it before you get a plate!

On Tuesday night there was Jazz, which was an ideal soundtrack as the place started to fill up with locals. Like the other places in my “Undiscovered Florence” category, I only heard Italian spoken and that’s a good sign! You can find a full listing of what’s happening at the official site (in Italian)

Pavoniere Firenze

A beautiful old villa with two outside bars and a swimming pool is something you would assume that you have to drive out to Chianti to see. But on Thursday night, I met up with some locals at Pavoniere in Florence. It’s just a 10 minute taxi ride or 30 minute walk along the Arno in the setting sun of the evening. Amongst trees and opposite the Hippodrome (or horse track) you could be in the countryside. In fact it is so well hidden that you could drive on by without realising that a drink, food and a free swim is just the other side of the fence.

This has to be one of the Top Undiscovered Things in Florence; the only language I heard all night was Italian. The locals know it’s a great place for an evening out and now you do too!

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