Top 10 shopping opportunities in Florence

The San Lorenzo leather market - The streets around the Medici family church are now filled with a daily outdoor market of leather goods, T-shirts, and other excellent Florentine souvenirs.

I get much of my holiday shopping done here (who doesn't appreciate a leather wallet or belt straight from Florence?)

... » more

For great picnic pickings—not to mention photo ops—head to Florence's 19th-century covered food market, snuggled behind the outdoor stalls of the San Lorenzo leather market. It looks a bit like a old grandiose train station inside, all dingy glass and steel struts, but actually was purpose-designed to be a market in 1870–74... » more

Fashion boutiques around Via Tornabuoni - Via de' Tornabuoni is the main shopping drag of Florence when it comes to high fashion. It is anchored at the southern end by the castle-like Palazzo Ferragamo (Via de' Tornabuoni 4–14r, tel. +39-055-292-123, www.ferragamo.it), a museum (and sales outlet) for the footwear company started by that world-famous cobbler to the stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. This is but one of many international fashion flagship stores on—or in the general vicinity of—this street, including: Gucci, Roberto Cavalli and more! And that's just the top names in homegrown fashion talent! Get your credit cards ready ... » more

Unassuming, not overpriced, and just two blocks south of the Duomo—in short, the perfect store to shop for Tuscan wines. Don't be discouraged by the paucity of bottles you'll see when you first enter. The large ground floor room is reserved more for chocolates and other fine edibles. The bulk of the wines—from refined vintages to excellent Tuscan table vino—are in the large cellars downstairs. ... » more

Most stationery stories in Florence are obsessed with marbleized papers—which is fine and all, but I like this one for its focus on notebooks, photo albums, and journals filled with thick, creamy paper and bound in buttery leather covers. Calligraphy and signet wax sealing tools complete the medieval feel of the place. ... » more

Tiny shop that does one thing and one thing only: make the supplest, most gorgeous hand-crafted leather gloves in the world. They have been doing so since 1919 from a jewelbox-sized shop at the corner just across the Ponte Vecchio on the Oltrarno side. Just walk in, lay your hand on a velvet cushion, and they will instantly and perfectly eyeball your size (and start guessing at your style) and begin taking down thin boxes of potential purchases from the floor-to-ceiling shelves. ... » more

La Botteghina del Ceramista - My personal choice for the best prices on a variety of exquisite hand-painted Tuscan ceramics. Small shop, but with an excellent selection. They buy their wares directly from the top potters in the surrounding region, and as a admitted ceramics lover who has personally visited many of their providers, I can vouch that their markup is minimal—and well worth it for the convenience of instant comparison shopping (though you can also use their showroom to get a sense of which ceramicists you might want to visit in person later in your travels). ... » more

Great pietra dura stone inlay—a dying Florentine art that dated back to Renaissance times—from a workshop established in the 19th century ... » more

English-language bookseller with an excellent selection of books about Florence, Tuscany, and Italy, from novels to cookbooks to art histories. ... » more

Florence's old covered "Straw Market" actually dates back to the 11th century, but has been called the "New Market" since 1551, when it became shaded by a lovely Renaissance loggia. It still has a stall or two selling straw hats and bags, but mostly it's tourist souvenirs now (plus a Renaissance bronze boar everyone rubs on the snout for good luck). Good bookshop across from it, too... ... » more

Good quality jewelry at astronomical prices in one of the planet's most amazing shopping settings—a gaggle of teensy shops lining both sides of a medieval bridge... ... » more