Saper Fare: Artisan Traditions of Florence

The art of creation is omnipresent in Florence. One of the most rewarding and surprising discoveries one can have roaming the streets of the city center is stumbling upon a traditional workshop, producing exquisite handmade goods with centuries-old methods. Father and son working side by side, using tools handed down from generations past.

A tour of centuries' old workshops in Florence

As part of our “Made in Florence” program (which also includes our Oltrarno Artisans walk), this walk will veer through the crowded streets surrounding the Duomo, one of the areas of the city most negatively affected by mass tourism, in order to uncover authentic and, often, hidden botteghe who maintain the truly Florentine talent of saper fare, pure know-how.

After meeting our docent, an expert of artisan craftsmanship in the city, in Piazza della Repubblica, a site that has always been important for the city's trade and commerce, we will be led on an exploration of a few historic workshops, including; a labyrinthine textile shop, where two brothers have been supplying top fashion houses, the crowned heads of Europe and mere mortals with the choicest silks and cottons for more than 80 years; a jewelry boutique, where traditional methods (harking all the way back to the Etruscans) are joined by cutting edge technology; and a family-run laboratory where the dying art of mosaico fiorentino, better known as pietre dura inlay, is being preserved. This last shop and its proximity to the Medici Chapels of San Lorenzo, whose Cappella dei Principi (Prince's Chapels) is a paean to the art of pietre dure, shows the direct links local, handmade crafts have with Florentine high art.

This walk is not designed to be a shopping expedition (though you are more than welcome to make purchases along the way), but as a way to encounter some of the exceptional people and places that make up Florence's artisan community- a breed that, despite a contemporary tendency towards the ephemeral, has preserved dying artistic traditions.

Oltrarno Artisans, the other walk in this program, differs in that the Oltrarno is an area of town renowned for its heavy density of artisan workshops, making this the go-to destination for artisinal craftsmanship. “Saper Fare: Artisan Traditions of Florence”, instead, focuses on an area of the city known more for large tour groups and tumultuous traffic- proving that scratching the surface of even the most commercialized areas allows the true character of a place to shine through.

Cancellation Policies