Mercato Centrale
An 1874 cast-iron hall, tripe butchers downstairs and kitchens on the upper floor.
Duration
45 min – 2 hrs
Best time
Mornings for the ground floor
Open
Closed Sunday
Entry price
Free
The hall was built in 1874 by Giuseppe Mengoni, architect of the Milan gallery, in cast iron and glass: an industrial-age building set down in the middle of a medieval city.
The ground floor is still a fresh-produce market, with the tripe sellers who serve lampredotto — cow's fourth stomach in a bun, the Florentine street dish. The upper floor was converted in 2014 into a food hall, open late, with some twenty counters.
Getting there
Piazza del Mercato Centrale, behind San Lorenzo, ten minutes on foot from the Duomo.
Rules on site
The ground floor closes in the early afternoon; the upper floor stays open late. The leather street market around the hall sells mostly factory goods, whatever the labels say.