For the best pasta in Florence, cross the Arno into San Frediano and Santo Spirito, or head for the market streets around Sant’Ambrogio and Mercato Centrale. Those are the streets where trattorias like Trattoria Cammillo, with its wild boar pappardelle, and Alla Vecchia Bettola, with a ragù that cooks all morning, feed their neighbourhoods. For filled pasta made in front of you, Pastificio Urbano near Piazza della Libertà runs its own open lab.
The short list
9 places, in the order they appear below.
- 01Alla Vecchia BettolaPenne alla vodka, ragùSan Frediano, by Piazza Tasso
- 02Il BrindellonePasta e fagioliSan Frediano
- 03Il GuscioSeasonal tasting menuSan Frediano
- 04Trattoria CammilloPappardelle al ragù di cinghialeOltrarno, Borgo San Jacopo
- 05La CasalingaFlorentine home cooking, generous portionsSanto Spirito
- 06Trattoria SabatinoBig portions on a small budgetVia Pisana
- 07Trattoria MarioFlorentine cooking at communal tablesMercato Centrale
- 08Pastificio UrbanoFresh filled pasta, pasta to take homeLibertà
- 09L'OrtoneMarket-driven daily specialsSant'Ambrogio
Where do locals eat pasta in San Frediano?
Artisans still outnumber visitors on its piazzas, and the kitchens turn out ragù that simmers for hours, pasta e fagioli, roast meat. Our three picks run from paper placemats on the viali to a more polished dining room on Via dell’Orto.
Alla Vecchia Bettola is on the viali by Piazza Tasso, far enough from the centre that the tables fill with Florentines. You share a table, and the placemats are paper. The penne alla vodka is what the place is known for; the ragù, cooked all morning, is the slower classic.
Alla Vecchia Bettola
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sat 12:00–14:30, 19:30–22:30 · Sun closed
Address: Viale Vasco Pratolini, 3/5/7, 50124 Firenze FI, Italia
Il Brindellone, on Piazza Piattellina, is a small room of regulars who have eaten there for years. They come back week after week for the pasta e fagioli. Word has spread and the room is small, so reserve your evening table.
Il Brindellone
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Fri 12:00–14:00, 19:15–22:00 · Sat 12:15–14:00, 19:15–22:00 · Sun 12:00–14:00, 19:00–22:00
Address: Piazza Piattellina, 10, 50124 Firenze FI, Italia
Il Guscio has been on Via dell’Orto since the late 1980s. The cooking sits a step above a standard trattoria: more care on the plate, deeper flavours. We’d go for the seasonal tasting menu on an evening when you want something more polished, minus the stiffness of fine dining.
Il Guscio
Hours: Mon–Fri 12:30–14:30, 19:15–22:00 · Sat 19:15–22:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via dell'Orto, 49, 50124 Firenze FI, Italia
Where to eat near Santo Spirito and Borgo San Jacopo?
Trattoria Cammillo has cooked on Borgo San Jacopo since 1945. La Casalinga, just behind Piazza Santo Spirito, feels like a grandmother’s table. Go to La Casalinga at lunch, when it’s at its busiest.
Cammillo’s menu covers the Florentine canon, from bistecca to lampredotto. Decades of cooking the same dishes show in how consistent they are. Reserve for dinner and ask for a window table over the Arno. Order the pappardelle al ragù di cinghiale with the house Chianti.
Trattoria Cammillo
Hours: Mon 12:00–14:30, 19:30–22:30 · Tue–Wed closed · Thu 19:30–22:30 · Fri–Sun 12:00–14:30, 19:30–22:30
Address: Borgo San Iacopo, 57/r, 50125 Firenze FI, Italia
La Casalinga’s draw is the home cooking rather than a signature pasta. Ribollita and trippa alla fiorentina are made with care, at fair prices and in generous portions, and the tripe is a textbook version. At lunch, Santo Spirito regulars pack the room; if the ground floor is full, the upstairs serves the same food with the same warmth.
La Casalinga
Hours: Mon–Sat 12:00–14:30, 19:00–22:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via dei Michelozzi, 9R, 50125 Firenze FI, Italia
Where can you eat cheap pasta in Florence?
The two cheapest trattorias on our list both put diners at shared tables. Trattoria Sabatino on Via Pisana serves huge portions in a room that hasn’t changed since the 1950s. Trattoria Mario, across from Mercato Centrale, has fed market vendors and office workers since 1953.
Sabatino has no sign on its door, so watch the street numbers instead. Pensioners, students and artisans eat ribollita, bollito and pasta here every day. Take whatever is being served.
Trattoria Sabatino
Hours: Mon–Fri 12:00–14:30, 19:15–22:00 · Sat–Sun closed
Address: Via Pisana, 2R, 50143 Firenze FI, Italia
Mario doesn’t take reservations, and the queue builds fast. The bistecca has its fans. The ribollita and pappa al pomodoro tell you more about the kitchen.
Trattoria Mario
Hours: Mon–Thu 12:00–15:00 · Fri 12:00–15:00, 19:30–21:00 · Sat 12:00–15:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via Rosina, 2r, 50123 Firenze FI, Italia
Where can you find fresh pasta and market cooking north of the Arno?
Pastificio Urbano near Piazza della Libertà makes fresh filled pasta in an open lab. L’Ortone cooks from Sant’Ambrogio market, across the street.
Andrea Bartoli, a biologist who left the cosmetics industry to make pasta, started Pastificio Urbano. The first room holds the lab and seven tables, and plates rotate through cappelletti, plin and seasonal sauces. Lunch is weekdays only, so book ahead. In good weather, ask for the small inner garden. In the afternoon the counter turns into a shop selling pasta by weight, and we’d take a bag home to cook.
Pastificio Urbano
Hours: Mon 12:30–14:30, 17:30–19:30 · Tue 10:30–14:30, 17:30–19:30 · Wed–Fri 10:30–14:30, 17:30–20:30 · Sat 10:30–14:30 · Sun closed
Address: Via del Ponte Rosso, 57r, 50129 Firenze FI, Italy
L’Ortone faces Sant’Ambrogio market and writes its daily specials around what the stalls had at their best that morning, so the menu changes with the vendors. On a fine day, sit outside: the tables look straight onto the market.
L'Ortone
Hours: Mon–Sun 12:15–14:30, 19:00–22:30
Address: Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti, 87/red, 50122 Firenze FI, Italia
Most of these kitchens close between lunch and dinner, and several shut one or two days a week, so check each card before you go. Where reservations aren’t taken, turn up when lunch opens.
