Melaleuca
An Australian bakery on the Arno that opens at half past seven and serves the breakfast Italy does not: eggs, sourdough, house smoked bacon, and a cinnamon roll people plan their morning around.
- Area
- Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella
- Opens
- 7:30 daily
- Kitchen
- Closes at 15:00
- Checked
- August 2026
- Price
- €
- Go for
- A real cooked breakfast before the city wakes up, and coffee made by people who care about coffee.
- Skip if
- You came to Italy for an Italian breakfast, or you are six people without time to wait.
Two addresses
- By the river
- Lungarno delle Grazie 18, Santa Croce Open in Google Maps This is the busy one. A QR queue forms at the door at peak times.
- In the centre
- Piazza degli Ottaviani 1, near Santa Maria Novella Open in Google Maps Newer and calmer. No queue system.
What everybody agrees on
Read across roughly 2,500 public reviews on Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp and Reddit in September 2026. The labels are how often each point comes up, not a rating.
- Nearly all
The cinnamon roll is the reason people come, and the thing they tell others about afterwards.
- Most
The coffee is the second reason. Flat whites and cappuccini with oat or almond milk, made properly, in handmade cups.
- Often
Almost everything is made on the premises, down to the bacon, the butter and the buttermilk.
- Often
At the river address the room is small and it fills. The QR queue moves faster than it looks.
- Some
The menu is short and the plates are moderate rather than generous.
- A few
The cinnamon rolls sell out, sometimes well before closing. This produces the angriest reviews on the page.
What to order
The cinnamon roll first, before it goes. The bagels are the quiet triumph here and almost nobody mentions them: dense, chewy, properly boiled. Then Turkish eggs or the poached egg on sourdough if you want a full plate.
Before you go
- Getting in
- Walk in. At the river address you join a QR queue at busy times.
- Best time
- Before nine, or after two when the brunch crowd thins.
- Kitchen
- Stops at three, though pastries and coffee run later.
- Ordering ahead
- Baked goods can be ordered online for collection the next day.
- With children
- Yes. Small pancakes on the menu and a room that tolerates noise.
- Access
- Step free entrance. Dogs allowed.
Everything is made on site: sourdough, bagels, cured salmon, smoked bacon, the cakes. The coffee is roasted locally. No bookings, so at weekends there is a queue and a wait, and the riverside tables go first. The crowd is students, expats and Florentines who want a break from a standing espresso and a cornetto. Closes mid-afternoon.