A typical street food in Florence? lampredotto rolls. It can be bought from the trippai (literally tripe sellers), stalls permanently spread in various parts of the city that serve and prepare bovine offal, the so-called "quinto quarto" (literally the fifth quarter).
Poor but very tasty, this kind of food is cooked in large steaming pots and then taken out when it is very hot, cut into thin slices with skill, served in a rosetta (a crispy bread roll) or rather, in the Tuscan way, sèmelle (it seems that it comes from the Semmel, introduced in the city by Austrian Peter Leopold of Lorraine) and dressed with salt, oil and more or less spicy sauces, according to everyone’s taste.
Some people say that this is real Florentine food: other than the steak!
In any case, either the lampredotto rolls or a portion of Florentine tripe, another typical kind of food coming from different parts of the bovine digestive system, can be bought and eaten rigorously standing in front of the stall, while the trippaio is working and talking to his customers at the same time.
Places where the trippai are located in the centre of Florence: Piazza Cimatori; Market of San Lorenzo also known as Mercato Centrale (both inside & outside: via dell'Ariento); Market of Sant'Ambrogio (inside & nearby via de' Macci), Loggia del Porcellino; via Maso Finiguerra,
Piazza del Mercato Centrale, Via dell'Ariento, 50123 Firenze FI, Italia
Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti, 50122 Firenze FI, Italia
Piazza del Mercato Nuovo, Firenze FI, Italia
