What are Your Favorite "Secret" Places to Go or Eat at in Florence?
 

I will be visiting Florence to visit my daughter in October/November and would like to see some sights and eat at some restaurants that are relatively unknown by tourists and in the guidebooks. So what are your favorite "secret"/off the radar places in Florence?

Have a couple of days each in Como, Modena/Bologna, and Venice, too, so feel free to make recommendations for them, too! And thanks in advance for your insights and advice!

Hi Mikester,

We liked Da Carletto in Venice. Check out the Venice dining thread that I started too for more great ideas. There is also a thread within the thread
which is also worth reading in the Venice dining thread.

I'd venture to say I doubt there's anything in the historic center of Florence unknown by tourists. I don't think there'd be enough locals living in the area to support it.

That said, if you push out just a little bit, there are some places that are less traveled by tourists because you wouldn't just stumble past them. Santarpia makes very good pizza, for instance, which is a rarity for Florence. It's just a little east of Mercato Sant'Ambrogio, which itself is more of a "real" day to day type market than San Lorenzo/Mercato Centrale (which is a total tourist magnet, but also has a wonderful set of food stalls upstairs and is still worth visiting). Trattoria Ruggero is south past Porta Roma, and is a great place to have a lot of the Florentine classics.

All that said, October and November aren't bad to visit even the busy places. The crowds die down quite a bit after September.

Mercato Centrale
 

I 2nd the suggestion to eat at the Mercato Centrale. The stalls are very popular with locals, BTW.