Shopping in Florence, Italy

Via Tornabuoni

Via Tornabuoni is Florence's luxury street and the home of the big brands, with Ferragamo, Cartier, Gucci, Hermès and Cavalli among them, and the boutiques continue through Via della Vigna Nuova, Via del Parione and Via della Spada, according to Italy's tourism board. The reason it stays that way is written down. Article 8 of the Comune's historic-centre regulation restricts street-front premises on Tornabuoni and its neighbours to alta moda and designer clothing, bookshops, galleries and antiques, design, banks, jewellery, watches, traditional artisan crafts and florists.

A souvenir shop cannot open here. It is the answer to both the famous shopping street in Florence and the designer one, a short way from Piazza della Signoria in the centro storico. Once the boutique windows have done their work, florence guided tours and sightseeing tours are an easy next step, and tours in Florence make it simple to trade the shopping streets for the rest of the centro storico.

Via Roma, Via Calimala and Via dei Calzaiuoli

This is the high-street spine for clothes shopping in Florence, running between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. Article 8 of the same regulation names Via Roma, Calimala, Via Strozzi and Via Porta Rossa too, so these blocks are also limited to the approved trades: designer clothing, jewellery, books, crafts, galleries and the rest of the list. We name no chain store here, because no source we can cite lists them.

What the street gives you is range within a few minutes' walk. For everyday clothes rather than labels, time your visit for the regional sales described in the tax-free and sales section, when shops may discount for a fixed 60-day window.

Ponte Vecchio

The jewellers on Ponte Vecchio are there by law. Article 8 limits the bridge's shops to jewellers, watchmakers and dealers in precious objects (oggetti preziosi), art, antiques and coins, and bans food and drink service on the bridge outright. That is why every window sells gold and none sells sandwiches.

The workshops sell handmade jewellery, diamonds, cameos and micro-mosaics in the Tuscan goldsmithing tradition, so jewelry shopping in Florence means this one bridge first. It is also the most expensive stretch of shopping in the city, and the one where a named workshop matters most. Our page on the jewellers on Ponte Vecchio covers the bridge and its shops in depth.

The Oltrarno

Cross the river and the character changes from retail to craft. The Oltrarno, near Palazzo Pitti, is where Italy's tourism board places the artisan workshops for Florentine bookbinding, leather shoes, gemstones and silver. This is where shopping in Florence comes closest to buying from the maker, and it sits next to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, so it fits a morning of sightseeing on the same side of the Arno.

Several of the streets on the Article 8 list are here too, Borgo San Iacopo, Via di Santo Spirito and Via Maggio among them, so the same trade limits apply. Our page on Oltrarno workshops covers the district.

Scuola del Cuoio

Scuola del Cuoio is the place to watch leather being worked before you buy it. It was founded in 1950 by Marcello Gori and his brother-in-law Silvano Casini to teach leatherwork to war orphans in the Franciscan novitiate of Santa Croce, according to the school's own site. The address is Via San Giuseppe 5R, 50122, and the entrance is from the garden around the apse of the Santa Croce monastery.

It opens 10:00-18:30, Monday to Saturday from November to March and every day from April to October, with artisans at work Monday to Friday, and the school warns that times may vary. An item out of stock is made to order in about 150 days, so order early if you want it shipped home. It is next to the Santa Croce basilica.

The Santa Croce leather district

Italy's tourism board describes Santa Croce as a leather neighbourhood, with stores, workshops and artisans in the streets around the square. It is the part of the centre where a leather shop is more likely to be the workshop itself than a reseller, and the Scuola del Cuoio above is its anchor. Our page on the leather district around Santa Croce covers the streets and the rest of the neighbourhood.

If you want someone to show you what to look for, the leather shopping tour spends three hours with a leather researcher guide, runs an interactive quality masterclass and takes you into family-run leather workshops.

The San Lorenzo stalls

San Lorenzo is the less luxurious option, the street market around the Mercato Centrale, as Italy's tourism board puts it. The range is wide and the quality varies from stall to stall, so press the leather, check the stitching and the lining, and ask what the piece is made of before you agree a price. The stalls are the place people come for small goods and a bargain, which is exactly why a trained eye pays off there.

What sells at the market and how the building works is on our page on the San Lorenzo stalls, and the city's other markets are on Florence markets.

The counterfeit rule

Buying counterfeit goods for personal use is not a grey area in Italy. It is an administrative offence with a fine from €100 (about $117) to €7,000 (about $8,190), set by Law 99/2009, which amended article 1 of D.L. 35/2005, as this legal summary explains. The fine falls on the buyer, not only the seller, so a fake bag from a pavement blanket is a risk you carry home.

The rule applies anywhere in Italy, not just in Florence. Walk past, and read our page on counterfeit and leather scams before you shop, so you know the tricks the scams page describes and which sellers to avoid.

Two ways to do more than buy: make something, or learn to judge it.

• Craft a leather wallet in a real artisan studio: 2.5 hours, maximum 4 people, all materials, coffee and your finished wallet included, €84 (about $98)
• The leather-buying tour: 3 hours with a leather researcher guide, a quality masterclass and family-run workshops, €36 (about $42)
• Make your own accessory in a Palazzo Gondi workshop: 90 minutes with Rereri designer assistants and a welcome drink, €68 (about $80), with the finished item bought separately at the end

Marbled Paper at Il Papiro

Florentine hand-decorated paper is marbled paper, made with techniques from the 17th century, and Il Papiro is the name most associated with it, celebrating fifty years according to its own site. The shop runs workshops as well as selling, so the souvenir and the afternoon can be the same thing. Paper goods are light and flat, which makes them the easiest thing on this list to carry home, and they cost far less than a leather bag.

That makes marbled paper the best answer to what to buy in Florence cheaply. We did not capture the shop addresses, so check the store list on the Il Papiro site before you go.

The Santa Maria Novella pharmacy

The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella at Via della Scala 16 has been a pharmacy since 1612, on a site where the Dominicans have been since 1221. It is the perfume souvenir of Florence, and it is a shop, so there is no ticket to buy. We do not print its hours because the official site did not give them to us, so check before you go.

Our page on the Santa Maria Novella pharmacy covers the rooms and the history. If you would rather make a scent than buy one, the perfume masterclass runs 1.5 hours with a master perfumer at Antica Spezieria Erboristeria San Simone and ends with a personalised 30ml bottle.

Food and wine finish the list. Olive oil and a bottle of Chianti travel well, and the details of where to buy them live on where to eat in Florence and Mercato Centrale. The table below sums up the rest: what each souvenir is, where the real version is sold, and the page that covers it.

The Mall by Bus

THE MALL BY BUS leaves from the Piazzale Montelungo bus terminal, a few minutes' walk from Santa Maria Novella station, and runs direct with no intermediate stops. The operator's daily timetable from 31st August 2026 runs Florence to The Mall at 08:40, 09:10, 09:30, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:30, 16:00 and 17:00, and back at 09:45, 10:10, 13:00, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00 and 19:20. Tickets are €9.50 (about $11) one way or €18.00 (about $21) same-day return, reduced €5.00 (about $6) and €9.00 (about $11) for under-12s, and under-4s ride free.

Buy online at busitaliashop.it or from the driver at no extra cost. Online buyers board first. The Mall is open every day 10AM - 7PM.

See getting to the bus terminal.

Barberino by Shuttle

The Barberino shuttle leaves from the Sightseeing Visitor Center in the main ticket hall at Firenze Santa Maria Novella, and you check in 20 minutes before departure. In summer, June to September, it leaves Florence at 10:00, 12:00 and 15:00 and returns from Barberino at 14:00, 17:00 and 20:00. In winter, October to May, it leaves at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 and 14:00 and returns at 13:00, 15:00 and 6:30 p.m.

That is three round trips a day. A combined train and shuttle ticket exists, the shuttle fare is not published on the outlet's page, and a wheelchair ramp is available on request a few days ahead. The shops are open 10:00 - 20:00 every day.

The Private Option

If you would rather go door to door than work around a timetable, the private outlet tour from Florence is a 4-hour round trip to The Mall with hotel pickup within the listing's highlighted area. It costs €379 (about $443), priced per group of up to 2 passengers rather than per person, and it cancels free up to 2 days before the start time. It is rated 4.9 from 7 reviews.

The four hours are the whole trip, including the drive, so it suits a shopper who knows which stores they want. The pickup point is confirmed at checkout, so you do not need to reach the bus terminal at all.

The €70 Rule

Non-EU residents can reclaim Italian VAT, and each invoice must exceed €70 (about $82), which the customs agency ADM writes as 70 euro. It was €154.94 until 31 January 2024, so smaller purchases now qualify. The goods must be for personal or family use, your passport details go on the invoice, and the goods must leave the EU by the end of the third month after the invoice date, proven by the customs stamp.

Invoices have been electronic since 1 September 2018, and the stamp is applied digitally through ADM's OTELLO system at Italian exit points, as ADM explains. The validation happens when you leave, not in the shop.

The Tax Refund App

ADM's Tax Refund app (App Tax Refund) lets non-EU buyers see all their tax-free invoices together and request the VAT refund whichever operator handles it. A single-validation procedure (validazione unica) for invoices to the same buyer at exit started on 1 July 2026, and Fisco Oggi notes it is optional and works only between participating intermediaries. The practical line: ask each shop for a tax-free invoice with your passport details at the till, keep every invoice above €70 (about $82) together, and check the app before you reach the exit point.

For the payment side, see paying by card in Florence.

When the Sales Run

Tuscany sets its sale dates by regional decree, 60 days each time. The winter 2026 sales started on Saturday 3 January for 60 days (delibera n. 1617). The summer 2026 sales ran 4 July to 1 September, set by Giunta delibera n. 607 of 18 May 2026, and promotional sales of the same goods were banned in the 30 days before, from 4 June to 3 July.

That is the catch for clothes shopping in Florence: in the month before the summer sales, shops cannot discount the goods they will put on sale. Brands in Italy are cheapest in those sale windows and at the outlets above. The Region sets the winter date each December, per the Comune's notice.