By: Courtney Byrne

Every time I forward this email to another person I think “I need to make this a blog post”. So today I am finally sitting down to share some of my favorite places to eat in Florence with kids. I say places to eat with kids, because I write about family travel and because most of the people that have asked me for recommendations have kids… but really these are awesome places for everyone to eat in Florence. As for family friendly: Italians love children (and babies!) so really we found the entire country family friendly.

We were staying in Via dei Neri. If you need a spot to stay, visit this post. I mention where we stayed because you’ll see a few of these spots are right on Via dei Neri. We were very lucky to have so many awesome spots on our street and it gave us a chance to try them a number of times. We rented the apartment for 20 days, so we really got to know some of the restaurants and never had a bad experience or meal! Everywhere else on the list we could walk to. Florence is a very walkable city. Here are 10 must try places to eat in Florence

10 Places to Eat in Florence with Kids:

1. Breakfast: Most common in Italy is to grab a pastry while drinking your coffee. Most mornings we did just that or ate breakfast at the apartment. But we did find one awesome spot for breakfast: Ditta Artigianale: great spot for coffee and breakfast or brunch. One of the few spots we found with a breakfast menu (besides pastries). In our month abroad my kids had their favorite, pancakes and I had my favorite, avocado toast only a few times: all of those times were at Ditta Artigianale. Delicious food and great staff. Location: Via dei Neri, 30/32 R

2. Lunch: All’Antico Vinaio: for sandwiches. It’s a famous spot and there will be lines. Worth the wait and the lines go fast because there are now 2 shops (same owners, same exact menu) right across from each other. They serve giant sandwiches for 5 euro… so big Tom & I split one and still could not finish it! Where else can you eat an amazing lunch for $2.50?! You won’t have any trouble finding it when you walk onto Via dei Neri as the entire wide walk will have people sitting and eating All’Antico sandwiches. Location: Via dei Neri, 65R

3. Foody Farm: This is a new, pretty popular place. We went for lunch. It’s a great spot to “switch it up” after days of pasta because you can get Italian food and also great burgers, fries and chicken fingers, etc. It’s a fun atmosphere and a different vibe than other spots we tried. They also serve dinner and have a great drink menu. Location: Corso dei Tintori, 10/R

Dinner in Florence

4. Il Gatto e la Volpe: Probably my favorite spot to eat in Florence. I have eaten there on each trip I’ve made to Italy for over 15 years. It’s very casual. They are known for their balsamic. If you like spicy food try their “house pasta”. It’s also a great spot to try the “wild boar sauce” of Tuscany (Miles ate an adult portion on his first trip to this restaurant, see below). It’s just really a fun spot with great food in pretty central location. It’s a wonderful atmosphere and the staff is great with kids. You can’t beat it! If you google the restaurant there will be a site (like our version of open table) to make a reservation. Location: Via Ghibellina, 151/r,

5. I Latini: Fun fact: I’ve eaten Thanksgiving dinner here twice! They are only open 2 days a week so you might want to book this one first when planning your itinerary. I have been here many times over the years and we have always had the best experience. It’s been run by the same family forever – on a small side street and people gather waiting for them to open the doors. I would recommend doing the “family style” option because they bring out lots of things to try and take great pride in telling you about them! Also, their house wine is awesome (we always buy an extra bottle or 2 to take home). You can make a reservation by emailing info@illatini.com Location: Via dei Palchetti, 6R

6. ZaZa: This a really fun spot with some more unique things on the menu than you’ll see at other Italian spots. You can eat inside or outside. It’s in the leather markets if you plan to go walk around/shop there at all this is a great time to visit ZaZa. I loved this spot back when I studied abroad in Florence and loved it just as much with a table full of little kids. Make a reservation on their website in advance. Location: Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 26r

7. Al Fresco at Four Seasons Florence: This is the best pizza we had in Florence. It’s also the only place we ate that had a kids menu. Al Fresco is located outside on the Four Season’s incredible property. I have been to Florence many times and have never seen such a large, beautiful sprawling garden like theirs. There’s even a playground. I would highly recommend a visit here for dinner. The kids will be especially excited to see the way the little cones of gelato arrive to the table@ Location: Borgo Pinti, 99

Best Gelato in Florence

So if you’re going to trust our opinion on anything food related in Florence, go with the gelato recommendations since we ate more of that than anything ha! We ate a lot of our breakfast, lunch and dinner in the apartment. I loved shopping the markets and cooking in the neat little kitchen we had. Plus, groceries (and fresh, delicious groceries) were so much less expensive then we are used to at home. But gelato… that we had every.single.day for 30+ days (or at least the kids did!). The girls actually kept a gelato journal to remember the best places. The 3 below were our favorites and ones we visited a few times.

8. Gelato dei Neri: Lucky for us, this gelato spot was 2 doors away from our apartment. We had a pretty crazy & tiresome journey from the Italian Riviera (where we were before Florence) to our apartment there. I kept telling the kids: once we arrive, we have 20 days next door to a gelato shop. It’s what got them through the journey! We thought it was the best and also cheaper than most places. They also have a strawberry fruit flavor (and a few others) infused with wine for the grownups – that was my personal favorite. It’s a lovely local spot and the people were very patient while my girls practiced their Italian speaking to them. Location: Via dei Neri, 9

9. Gelateria La Carraia: This was our 2nd favorite and we loved trying their “specials”. It’s a tiny place but worth a visit for sure! Perfect spot to visit en route to Santa Croce. We’d get gelato there and then let the kids run it off in the large open space in front of Santa Croce. Piazza Nazario Sauro, 25/r

10. Festival del Gelato: a fun bright spot to try with lots of seating. Close to all the shopping, near the Duomo. Via del Corso, 75/red

And if you’d like to do some cooking or snacking at home:

Grocery Store: there’s a Conad (a chain) Their grocery stores are inexpensive and good to stock up on waters and snacks (and wine) or to cook meals if you have a kitchen.