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News & Events
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TIPICAL MARKETS IN FLORENCE
SAN LORENZO MARKET: From Piazza S. Lorenzo to Via dell'Ariento, all around the Basilica of San Lorenzo (in the very historical center of the city) you can find probably the most important market of the city. Just walk around searching for clothing, articles in leather, souvenirs, etc. It is Closed on Sundays and Mondays.
MERCATO CENTRALE: Stalls inside the San Lorenzo central market, in Via dell'Ariento you'll find the best food market of the city. Walk in and discover. It opens every morning from 7.00 to 14.00, except for Sunday and public holidays. In winter it is open only on Saturdays and days before holidays.
SANT'AMBROGIO
Located in Piazza Ghiberti and Piazza Sant'Ambrogio, the market is either indoor or outdoor. Just walk around it and discover fresh fruits and vegetables, clothes, flowers, shoes and houseware stands, then enter on it if you're searchinf for fresh meat or fish, pasta, general groceries or good cheeses. You're hungry? Then you've to take a seat in the inside restaurant (good and cheap). The merket it's open every weekday (except for Sunday) from 7 to 14.
MERCATO "DELLE CASCINE"
Situated in the very beautiful Parco delle Cascine (the bigger "park" of Florence) each Tuesday morning opens (from 7 to 14) the probably biggest and cheapest market in town! If you're searching for fruits, vegetables, clothing, general groceries, houseware stands, antiquities, telephone cards, shoes and whatever you can need than come here. And after shooping don't forget to take a walk on the park :)
MERCATO DELLE "PULCI"
The famous FLEA MARKET of Florence is located in Piazza dei Ciompi and it's opens (every day from 9 to 19.30. An if you're lucky go there on the last Sunday of every month, when the stalls extend into the surrounding streets. On it you can find furniture and objects from the past, prints, coins and jewellery. You can also find affordable treasures amidst the bric-a-brac and dusty books. It's worth a trip if only to get insights on Italy's past through the artifacts displayed in these cluttered stalls.
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Welcome to Florence Old Bridge!
Your Rooms in Florence
The Florence Old Bridge gets its name from one of the most beautiful and famous bridges in the world, the Ponte Vecchio, from which is close by (less than 100 mt).
Also nearby is the Palazzo Pitti, with the Boboli Gardens.
Within comfortable walking distance are the main monuments and museums of the historical center, like the Uffizi's Gallery [Galleria degli Uffizi], Palazzo Vecchio, the museum of the Academy (David by Michelangelo), the Basilica of Santa Croce, the Baptistery, and the Cathedral (Dome by Brunelleschi).
In this part of the city, one of the most beautiful ih the heart of the city, there are plenty of shops and by historical craftsmen's studios, as well as bars and restaurants, the ideal place from which you can reach anything without needing the car. For those who look for a room on the very heart of the most beautiful renaissance city of Italy, our Inn is the perfect place where staying even only couple of days you can have the chance to discover the art city and its mervellous monuments. |
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Special Offers
From the 11th to the 19th May 2008(included):
DOUBLE ROOM with private bathroom and tv - Euro 60,00 per room per night breakfast not included!!!
T H E P O N T E V E C C H I O (O L D B R I D G E)
The oldest and most famous bridge across the Arno, the Ponte Vecchio we know today was built in 1345 by Taddeo Gaddi to replace an earlier version. The characteristic overhanging shops have lined the bridge since at least the 12th century. In the 16th century, it was home to butchers until Cosimo I moved into the Palazzo Pitti across the river. He couldn't stand the stench as he crossed the bridge from on high in the Corridorio Vasariano every day, so he evicted the meat cutters and moved in the classier gold- and silversmiths, tradesmen who occupy the bridge to this day.
A bust of the most famous Florentine goldsmith, the swashbuckling autobiographer and Perseus sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, stands off to the side of the bridge's center, in a small piazza overlooking the Arno. From this vantage point Mark Twain, spoiled by the mighty Mississippi, once wryly commented, "It is popular to admire the Arno. It is a great historical creek, with four feet in the channel and some scows floating about. It would be a very plausible river if they would pump some water into it. They call it a river, and they honestly think it is a river . . . They even help out the delusion by building bridges over it. I do not see why they are too good to wade."
The Ponte Vecchio's fame saved it in 1944 from the Nazis, who had orders to blow up all the bridges before retreating out of Florence as Allied forces advanced. They couldn't bring themselves to reduce this span to rubble -- so they blew up the ancient buildings on either end instead to block it off. The Arno flood of 1966 wasn't so discriminating, however, and severely damaged the shops. Apparently, a private night watchman saw the waters rising alarmingly and called many of the goldsmiths at home, who rushed to remove their valuable stock before it was washed away.
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