The historic centre of Florence was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982: along with this important recognition comes great responsibility and a series of challenges, including the safeguarding of the city's identity.
Florence is all about museums, churches, architecture, art and craftsmanship, but its identity also rests on tradition, on the daily lifestyle, made up of meetings in piazzas, roads linked to trade for centuries, consolidated rituals and habits like having a coffee in the favourite venue.
Shops, cafes, pharmacies, bookshops, historic hotels and artisan workshops; many businesses boast a tradition in the territory lasting decades and, in some cases, even centuries, businesses that are part of the city’s most authentic soul and that, along with the many monuments, are its identifying trademark, making it unique both for its inhabitants and for those coming to visit.
In the field of craftsmanship in particular, Florence has been a producer of excellence since the Middle Ages and preserves ancient crafting techniques that have often been handed down from father to son. The artistic crafts encompass a wide range from jewellery to ceramics, fashion, paper-making, semi-precious stone marquetry, and work in leather, glass, marble and metals.
A visit to the Florentine Historical Businesses ("Attività Economiche Storiche e Tradizionali Fiorentine") is a different way to approach Florence, getting to know the city through the historical production and traditions that have made it famous the world over.
We invite you then to stop and enjoy one of the great nineteenth-century cafes, have lunch in one of the local trattorias where artists and market vendors mingle, stay in a historic hotel, or stroll through the numerous shops of goldsmiths and watchmakers, into the heavenly worlds of ancient papers and fabrics, meeting artists, blacksmiths, ceramists, framers: you’ll discover the centuries-old traditions of a city that jealously preserves its past while presenting itself in a modern new light.
For more information, go to the dedicated link
