FLORENCE MEDIA

Where to escape the crowds in Florence

🚪 hide from the crowd

The quietest places in central Florence are the hillside gardens on the south bank and the courtyards attached to churches. Giardino Bardini, Giardino delle Rose and San Miniato al Monte all sit within a twenty minute walk of Ponte Vecchio and hold a fraction of the crowd.

The written guide Cool things to do in Florence, away from the tourist track

The places

Chalet Fontana €€

A literary cafe founded in 1896 on the hill road to Piazzale Michelangelo, with a garden, a vegetable plot and a restaurant behind it.

Area
Oltrarno
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August 2026
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Erta Canina

A steep walled lane climbing out of San Niccolo through olive terraces, with a gap in the wall halfway up that frames the whole city.

Area
San Niccolo
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August 2026
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Floret €€

A cafe on the first floor of the LuisaViaRoma shop, under tropical plants and Patricia Urquiola furniture, serving juices, bowls and organic food.

Area
Centro
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August 2026
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Giardino Bardini €€

A terraced hillside garden in the Oltrarno with a belvedere that frames the Duomo, and a fraction of the crowd of the Boboli Gardens next door.

Area
San Niccolo
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August 2026
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Giardino dell'Orticoltura

A neighbourhood garden north of the centre with an 1880 glasshouse, a playground, and a stone dragon on a staircase five minutes uphill.

Area
Rifredi
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August 2026
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Giardino delle Rose

The same panorama as Piazzale Michelangelo, one terrace lower and with a fraction of the people. Free, with roses from May and bronze figures by Folon through the grounds.

Area
San Niccolo
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August 2026
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Giunti Odeon €€

An Art Deco cinema inside a Renaissance palazzo, now half bookshop and half screening room, showing films in their original language.

Area
Duomo
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August 2026
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Il Conventino Caffe Letterario €

A cafe in the cloister of the former Santa Teresa monastery in Oltrarno, surrounded by working artisan studios, with a garden you can sit in all day.

Area
Oltrarno
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August 2026
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Le Murate Caffe Letterario €€

A cafe and bar in the courtyard of a former prison, now a cultural centre, with tables under the arches and events most weeks.

Area
Santa Croce
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August 2026
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Monte Ceceri

The hill above Fiesole where Leonardo is said to have tested his flying machine, with a loop walk through old sandstone quarries and a view down the Arno valley.

Area
Fiesole
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August 2026
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Museo Stibbert €€

A Victorian collector's house on a hill north of the centre, with a hall of life sized armoured knights on horseback and a park with an Egyptian temple.

Area
Montughi
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August 2026
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Piazza d'Azeglio

A square of plane trees fifteen minutes east of the Duomo with a fenced playground in the middle and a bar on the corner.

Area
Santa Croce
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August 2026
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Rifrullo €

A San Niccolo bar with a garden, a fireplace and a terrace under the old walls, open from breakfast to late.

Area
San Niccolo
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August 2026
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San Miniato al Monte

An eleventh century basilica eight minutes uphill from Piazzale Michelangelo. Free, higher than the Piazzale, and the framing is cleaner because there are no stalls in the foreground.

Area
San Niccolo
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August 2026
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The Viale dei Colli walk

A tree lined boulevard along the hills of the south bank, laid out in the 1860s, running from Porta Romana to Piazza Ferrucci by way of Piazzale Michelangelo.

Area
Oltrarno
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August 2026
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Vallombrosa Abbey and forest

An eleventh century abbey in a fir forest an hour east of Florence, with shaded trails, small cascades and the tallest tree in Italy.

Area
Outside the centre
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August 2026
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20 places in this collection.