What to do in Florence on a Sunday: a local's plan

Sunday in Florence is the opposite of Monday. On a Monday the big galleries are shut and the city is open for business. On a Sunday the Uffizi and the Accademia are open, but much of the everyday city takes the day off: the food markets close, neighbourhood shops pull their shutters down, and half of Florence disappears into a long family lunch.

Plan the day around that rhythm and Sunday is one of the best days of the week here. Fight it and you will spend the afternoon reading “chiuso” signs.

What is open in Florence on a Sunday?

The state museums. The Uffizi, the Accademia and Palazzo Pitti close on Mondays, not Sundays, so Sunday is a normal day for them. If you only have a weekend, this is the day for the David or the Botticellis, booked for the first slot of the morning.

One Sunday a month is different. On the first Sunday of the month Italy’s state museums are free for everyone. That sounds like a gift and mostly works as a queue: entry is first come, first served, and the line for the Uffizi can run across the piazza. If your Sunday is a first Sunday, either go at opening time or save the museum for another day.

Churches, with a caveat. The Duomo, Santa Croce and the other big churches are working churches, and Sunday morning belongs to mass. The cathedral itself is closed to visitors all day on Sunday, and the dome climb only runs in the afternoon, from 12:45, so book a slot ahead. The baptistery, Giotto’s bell tower and the Duomo museum keep their normal hours.

The gardens and the viewpoints. The Boboli Gardens are open on Sundays, and the walk up to San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michelangelo is free and open every day. San Miniato on a Sunday evening, with the monks singing the 17:30 Mass in Gregorian chant and the city going gold below, is one of the best free hours in Florence.

Shops in the centre. Around the Duomo, Via de’ Tornabuoni and the San Lorenzo leather stalls, most shops open on Sunday, usually from late morning.

What is closed on a Sunday?

The food markets. The Sant’Ambrogio market is closed, and so are the butchers, cheesemongers and produce stalls on the ground floor of the Mercato Centrale. The food hall upstairs at the Mercato Centrale stays open, which is useful for a quick lunch but is not the same thing as the market below it.

Neighbourhood life. Bakeries, small grocers and many artisan workshops in the Oltrarno close or open only in the morning. If you were hoping to watch a bookbinder or a gilder at work, do it on Saturday or Monday.

Some trattorias. Many small family places close on Sunday evening, and some close all day. Lunch is easy to find; dinner needs a booking or a backup.

Why Sunday lunch is the meal of the week

In Tuscany, Sunday is the day the fresh pasta comes out. A ragù goes on the stove in the morning and cooks for hours; in the Mugello, north of Florence, the Sunday dish is tortelli di patate under a little meat sauce; in the city it might be pappardelle with wild boar in autumn. Lunch starts late, around one, and nobody has anywhere else to be until four.

That is the meal to copy. Book a trattoria for 13:00 rather than 20:00, order the fresh pasta, and let the afternoon go slowly. If you want to know what to look for on the menu, my guide to handmade pasta in Florence covers how to tell the real thing from the frozen kind.

And if you want fresh pasta to cook yourself on Sunday, buy it on Saturday: see where to buy fresh pasta in Florence.

Or make the Sunday lunch yourself

We teach our pasta class every day of the week, Sunday included, at 10:00, 14:30 and 18:00. The 10:00 class is, in practice, a Sunday lunch: three hours in our Oltrarno kitchen rolling fettuccine and folding ravioli by hand, making your own tiramisù, then sitting down at one long table to eat all of it with a glass of Tuscan wine. Max eight people, €95.

It also solves the Sunday problem of a city half-closed for lunch: the one meal you would have had to hunt for is the one you made.

Travelling with children? The family class runs on Sundays too, from age six.

And if the Sunday lunch is meant as a present, a cooking class gift voucher works for any of our classes, starts at €68, arrives by email and leaves the date to them.

Things to do in Florence on a Sunday: an itinerary that works

• Morning: the Uffizi or the Accademia at opening time (unless it is a free first Sunday, in which case swap this with the afternoon).
• Late morning: a slow walk through the Oltrarno while it is quiet, to Piazza Santo Spirito and its craft market if it is the second Sunday of the month, or the organic Fierucola if it is the third.
• Lunch: a long trattoria lunch at 13:00, or a pasta class at 10:00 that ends at the table.
• Afternoon: the Boboli Gardens, or the dome climb (Sunday slots start at 12:45; the cathedral below stays closed to visitors).
• Evening: walk up to San Miniato al Monte for sunset. Book dinner ahead, because Sunday night is when the small places close.

Arriving on a Monday instead? That is a different city, worked out in what to do in Florence on a Monday.