Behind the Basilica of the Holy Cross there is the Sant'Ambrogio district. The name derives from both the food market, a beautiful iron structure of the gods early twentieth century both from the church of the same name, which is not known from a tourist point of view but has the Chapel of the Miracle inside with a fresco by Cosimo Rosselli that reproduces the Florence of the late fifteenth century with accurate fidelity and wealth of details about the city and the inhabitants of the epoch.
Il Sant'Ambrogio market takes place inside but also outside the pavilion, it is a cross-section of Florentine genuineness for sellers and patrons, offers fruit and vegetables, meat and bread, fish, legumes and grains of excellent quality and at affordable prices. In the morning (the market closes at 14pm) you can buy them here vegetables and fruit, both organic and traditionally grown. For a different lunch break than usual there is Collection, in via Leopardi. Don't worry, it looks like a grocery store but has an intriguing back room where the restaurant is located.
The kitchen is both vegetarian and vegan, dishes with seasonal vegetables, seitan, whole grains. If you are very hungry, order the complete mixed dish: it costs a little, € 14 but it is truly abundant; or make yourself a compound with three recipes of the day for € 11,50, you will not be dissatisfied. In the afternoon the restaurant space is open to those who want to calmly enjoy a herbal tea or a barley coffee.
If the weather is nice and you want to sit outside or if you have a small child there are the gardens of piazza D'Azeglio, a (unusual for Florence) garden which dates back to the time of Florence, the capital of Italy. An area with games for children - there are not many in the historic center - to let them rest a little. If you don't have children and you are looking for nightlife, you are in the right place. Hundreds of young people gather there for one drink at Caffè Sant'Ambrogio, right in front of the church.
