Florence Food Tours: Street Food, Markets and a Steak Dinner

As of October 2026, all five food tours on this page were taking bookings, with dates on 7 or 8 October when we checked. They are walks with tastings: market stalls and counters, a trattoria or two, and the centre on foot between stops. None of their listings includes a museum ticket, and none needs one.

Markets in the morning

Florence’s two big food markets keep shop hours, and those hours shape the tours. The historic market on the ground floor of the Mercato Centrale opens Monday to Friday from 7:00 to 15:00 and on Saturday from 7:00 to 17:00, by its own site; the food hall on the floor above is open every day from 9:00 to 23:00. Sant’Ambrogio, on Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti, calls itself Florence’s oldest market. It trades Monday to Saturday from 7:00 to 14:00 and closes on Sundays.

That is why the street-food walks split by time of day. Food Raphael Tours and Events, which runs the tour on this page, visits the Mercato Centrale on morning departures; its evening departures are timed for sunset instead, after the historic ground floor has closed (15:00 on weekdays, 17:00 on Saturdays). Hili srl’s walk works the same way, starting at the San Lorenzo market in the morning, while the market is closed for the afternoon tour. If the stalls are the reason you are booking, choose a morning.

The words on the menu

Some Florentine food words are easy to mix up. Lampredotto is the abomasum, the fourth stomach, and in Tuscany the word trippa covers only two other parts, the croce and the cuffia. The Regione Toscana’s register of traditional products calls lampredotto the undisputed star of the steaming sandwiches that tripe vendors still sell from carts in the old streets.

Schiacciata alla fiorentina is a sweet cake, golden with saffron and dusted with icing sugar, which Florence makes only at Carnival. The schiacciata on the street-food walks is the flatbread; Hili’s tour serves it filled with cured meats or cheese, with a glass of red or white Tuscan wine. Bistecca alla fiorentina is the dish the tour guy’s evening walk builds its dinner around.

Eating in the street

Eating as you walk is what these tours are for, and a few city rules frame it. The standing police rules ban lying on the steps of monuments and churches and eating, drinking or sleeping in public in a plainly indecent way; they also ban feeding pigeons. On Ponte Vecchio, food and drink may not be served at all: the Comune’s regulation for the historic centre keeps the bridge for jewellers, watchmakers, art and antiques dealers. The mealtime eating ban in Via de’ Neri was a run of temporary ordinances between 2018 and 2020, and we found no renewal for 2025 or 2026.

The walk on this page

Food Raphael Tours and Events’ street food tour costs from $47 as of October 2026, and it is rated 4.8 from 1,943 reviews. You meet the guide under the obelisk in the middle of Piazza dell’Unità Italiana, where the guide holds a “Street Food Tour” sign.

On a morning departure the first long stop is about 30 minutes in the Mercato Centrale. Then come the Basilica di San Lorenzo, a bakery, local restaurants, Palazzo Medici Riccardi and Piazza del Duomo, and a last stop for dessert, before the walk finishes in Piazza di Santa Croce about 2.5 hours after the start. The listing names schiacciata with Tuscan wine, cantucci with vin santo and fresh homemade pasta among the foods, and says the stops change with the season.

The price covers the guide, the tastings and a sip of local wine. Extra drinks and tips are not included. Vegetarian options can be arranged if you say so when booking, but the walk is not suitable for vegans or people with gluten intolerance. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

If you want a first taste of Florence’s street food in a morning or at sunset, for the lowest price of the five food tours here, this is the walk to book.

See dates for the street food walk →

When another tour fits better

For a steak dinner, book the tour guy’s food walking tour (from $78, 4.9 from 777 reviews). It meets in the centre of Piazza della Signoria, by the equestrian monument of Cosimo I, 15 minutes before the start, and makes 14 tastings at 4 stops with 4 glasses of wine: an aperitivo at a wine window, cured meats and cheeses at a small wine bar in Via dei Neri, then across Ponte Vecchio to a trattoria in the Oltrarno for bistecca alla fiorentina with roast potatoes, and gelato to finish. The walk ends at Santo Spirito. It has stairs and uneven ground, so it is not wheelchair accessible; wine is for over-18s only, with ID; and guide tips are extra.

For wine and a cocktail, Eating Europe Food Tours’ sunset tour (from $123, 4.9 from 162) stays in the Oltrarno, starting at Piazza Santo Spirito on its itinerary. It pours a welcome Prosecco and 4 Chianti and regional wines, serves 9 to 10 specialties from handmade pasta and pecorino to cured meats and gelato, steps into a centuries-old wine cellar and teaches you to mix a Negroni. It needs at least 2 guests, children under 4 go free but get no food, and it is not suitable for anyone with severe food allergies.

For a longer tour with everything paid for, Cooking Italy’s food and wine tour (from $94, 4.9 from 363) is billed as 4 hours, with all food and drink included: regional cheeses, salami, truffle specialties and fresh pasta, 30-year-aged balsamic vinegar, a glass through one of the city’s wine windows and gelato. Its title names Fiorentina steak, which the description does not list, and the meeting point depends on the option, so check both with the operator before you book.

For the same idea as the walk on this page from a different start, Hili srl’s street food walk (from $55, 4.9 from 1,098) runs 2.5 hours with a licensed guide, who meets you outside the entrance to the Medici Chapels under a “Hili Travel” sign. It serves schiacciata with a glass of Tuscan wine, passes the Cathedral, the Baptistery and Brunelleschi’s dome, and ends with gelato near Ponte Vecchio. Tips are extra.

If you are vegan or cannot eat gluten, read the listing before you book: Food Raphael’s and Hili’s walks say they are not suitable for either, the tour guy’s is not suitable for gluten intolerance, and Eating Europe does its best for gluten-free guests.

How long to allow

The two street-food walks take about 2.5 hours, so a morning departure leaves the afternoon for a museum; Cooking Italy’s tour is billed as 4 hours. The tour guy’s walk and Eating Europe’s tour are sold as dinners, so keep that evening free.

If you would rather make the food yourself, the cooking classes page compares the pasta and pizza classes, and the day trips page covers wine tastings in Chianti. For the sights you pass between the tastings, see the walking tours.