Caffè Gilli

Caffè Gilli is the oldest café in Florence and one of the city's listed historic venues. Its story begins in 1733, under the last Medici grand duke, Gian Gastone, when the Swiss Gilli family opened a shop selling sweet breads and pastries on Via dei Calzaiuoli, which became popular with the Florentine nobility. In the late 19th century, after the old market area was cleared to create the square now called Piazza della Repubblica, the café moved to nearby Via degli Speziali, and by the 1910s it had settled in its present home on the corner of the square and Via Roma, in the Palazzo Levi.

The interior is the main reason to step inside. Much of the original furniture survives, said to have come from the Coppedè workshop, and the ceiling has four painted panels with portraits of elegant women by Ezio Giovannozzi from the early 1900s. Glass counters display pastries, cakes, chocolates and sweets, and the long bar serves coffee to customers standing in the Italian way. In the early 20th century the café was a meeting place for the Futurists, including Marinetti and Ardengo Soffici, and Ruth Orkin's famous 1951 photograph American Girl in Italy was taken outside.

Gilli works well at any time of day: a cappuccino and pastry at the bar in the morning, a slice of cake or hot chocolate in the afternoon, or an aperitivo on the large terrace on the square in the evening. Prices depend on where you consume. Standing at the bar is the traditional and cheapest option, while table service on the terrace or in the inner rooms costs considerably more, as at all the historic cafés on the main squares. Check the menu before you sit down.

It suits anyone who enjoys historic interiors, couples, and visitors who want a break with a view of the square, its carousel and the triumphal arch. Families with children will enjoy the pastry counters.

The café is on Piazza della Repubblica, about three minutes' walk from the Duomo and five minutes from Piazza della Signoria. The luxury shops of Via de' Tornabuoni and the Palazzo Strozzi are just to the west, and the covered market of the Mercato Nuovo is a short walk south.