Trip to Florence

[plei89]



which is the best leather market in florence and where is it located? thanks!

There's only one leather market I believe; Florence isn't really a big city; you can walk across the entire place. Just ask around, it's not far from the duomo. I picked up 4 amazing leather belts at a great price 70 euros I believe. I'm really killing myself over the fact that I passed on a beautiful leather duffel bag for 100 euros.... If someone is willing to proxy for me that'd be awesome

 

[ThinkDerm]



There's only one leather market I believe; Florence isn't really a big city; you can walk across the entire place. Just ask around, it's not far from the duomo. I picked up 4 amazing leather belts at a great price 70 euros I believe. I'm really killing myself over the fact that I passed on a beautiful leather duffel bag for 100 euros.... If someone is willing to proxy for me that'd be awesome

is everyone referring to the leather market by porta rossa?

 

[ThinkDerm]

there are some awesome sutor briefcases here from the new collection, not on sale, that are pretty much identical to hermes sac a depeche from 900 euros and up *1500 usd. In particular there was a black pigskin rugged yet refined one that was amazing.

Anyone want these proxied? Proxy rules are item cost in paypal personal in advance, plus shipping.

Let me know by PM.

 

[plei89]



is everyone referring to the leather market by porta rossa?

Yeah, it's near porta rossa; huge a strip of vendors.

 

[ThinkDerm]

Wanted to give everyone a heads up about a small shop called Bernardo. Great shop, on Porta Rossa for shirts, etc. They have their own shirts made with MOP buttons, etc. very nice! Nice owners. Across from LR basically.

 

[HEARTLESS-531]

Kolecho,
Hope you have a good time. Please post some photos when you get back. Consider the Ferragamo Museum, pretty cool - a few euros to get in.
I took my daughter up there last Easter and made some entries in my blog on bespoke shoes and such. Hope you find it helpful. Cheers
http://solebrothers.blogspot.com/

 

[Ich_Dien]



Kolecho,
Hope you have a good time. Please post some photos when you get back. Consider the Ferragamo Museum, pretty cool - a few euros to get in.
I took my daughter up there last Easter and made some entries in my blog on bespoke shoes and such. Hope you find it helpful. Cheers
http://solebrothers.blogspot.com/

Yes...good luck on your trip to Firenze.

 

[hellodocks]

I spent an entire semester there studying abroad. Phenomenal place.

The leather market everyone is talking about is not actually the best in the city. Yes, it's an open-air market, but the thing is it's incredibly touristy. It's called Mercato Centrale, i.e. the central market (right between the Duomo and Santa Maria Novella station), and they market things specifically to tourists. Go to Scuola del Cuoio, it's the last actual leather artisan workshop in the city. Do the tour, however much it costs, and then shop in the store. Every single thing there is handmade on benches by apprentices, artisans, or masters. You can watch pretty much anything at various stages of being made, whether upstairs in the workshop or downstairs in the student area where they are experimenting with different hides. You can also get small pieces personalized with gold or silver embossing or monogramming and stamping. Their belts will be genuine, Made in Italy quality.

Unfortunately, most of what you purchase in an open-air cart area is not magical quality simply because you're in Florence, the leather capital of the world. There are less stringent rules on what can be legally called Made in Italy than most legitimate shops would like. As a result, a ton of the stuff there is leather grown and tanned outside of Italy (read: Asia or North Africa), shipped in, and assembled there to meet the laxest requirement to state "Made" in Italy.

Would also highly recommend the Ferragamo museum, an absolutely inspiring place. If you get the chance, try to arrange to get up to Villa la Pietra (it's on the NYU campus but a historical site) and see the private Acton collection. For small leather goods (gloves primarily), look at Madova, directly off the southern side of Ponte Vecchio. La Rinascente has many good things for sale, but few remarkably unique pieces.



God, the nostalgia ....

 

[Selvaggio]

Not clothing related (sorry), but I do have a very strong recommendation about a place to eat. Try Il Santo Bevitore in the Oltrarno (Via di Santo Spirito) for a really good, reasonably priced restaurant.

I don't know if it has been mentioned yet but there are a few branches of the "Stockhouse" clearance shops in Florence. The only one I have been to is ....

Stock House Il Giglio, Via Borgo Ognissanti 86 - there is more ladies stuff than mens and a lot of it is a few seasons old Euro tat, but it struck me as the kind of place where you may actually strike a bargain if you look close enough (and it is fairly central, so no disaster if it yeilds nothing).

Also, all the big names are in the area south of the Via Panzani and the Duomo, but I think the area to the North of the Duomo (around San Marco, which is a student precinct) and to the East, just South of the Ospedale are more interesting. No specific suggestions - just a nice place to wander and you may come across little specialty shops selling intersting clothes and crafts.

Also, If you like Allessi stuff, look out for stores that look like a cross between a kitchenware and hardware store - they often have a great range and really good prices.

 

[hellodocks]



Not clothing related (sorry), but I do have a very strong recommendation about a place to eat. Try Il Santo Bevitore in the Oltrarno (Via di Santo Spirito) for a really good, reasonably priced restaurant.

Haha oh my God, I lived around the corner from that. Seconded, a phenomenal place. Seriously, if you just type in "il sant" into Google it's the first autocomplete result...

 

[Selvaggio]

Snap! What I liked about it is that it manages to be very Tuscan in its produce and menu, but with a very much more relaxed and friendly feel than most Florentine restaurants. Plus, they have actually gone to some effort with decor, background music and vibe - which is far from a given in Italy.

I only hope it doesn't become too popular with visitors, because the healthy ratio of visitors to locals is part of its charm. I think being on that side of the river helps, as I'm sure a lot of tourists get to the end of the Ponte Vecchio and then turn around and go back, or maybe go as far as the Pitti Palace. In fact, if OP is still with us, the whole area arounf Santo Spririto is worth a visit as it has, for Italy, and almost inner city, alternative feel.

Okay, this is just making me jealous of OP now...better stop

 

[Seymour]

Drop by the Pineider original store. The leather goods are a whole different league than anything else you can find in the so-called leather shops in Florence.

 

[hellodocks]

Yeah, I actually had little experience doing anything except walking through the city center daily. Everything else I did was in Oltrarno because I lived there.

 

[ThinkDerm]

leather school is awesome. if you want something made by hand, it rocks there - expensive for certain. their belts were meh.

Stock House Il Giglio, Via Borgo Ognissanti 86 - there is more ladies stuff than mens and a lot of it is a few seasons old Euro tat, but it struck me as the kind of place where you may actually strike a bargain if you look close enough (and it is fairly central, so no disaster if it yeilds nothing). - sorry I missed this...

Found some other fake "Stock House" in Naples that had nada.