Cheap Eats in Florence: Five Lunches Under €25

A Florentine lunch need not turn into a long restaurant sitting. For around €25 per person or less, choose a sandwich at a counter or one simple course at a market trattoria. Da Nerbone makes a compelling stop if you want to try lampredotto, while the other addresses offer cured meats, vegetables or a hot dish when that is not your lunch of choice.

Choose a lunch for around €25

Lunch stop	Area	What to order	Typical lunch per person
Da Nerbone	San Lorenzo	Lampredotto panino	€7–12
I Fratellini	Historic centre	Cured-meat and pecorino roll; wine	€10–18
I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti	Historic centre	Beatrice schiacciata	€8–14
Trattoria da Rocco	Sant’Ambrogio	Ribollita or pappa al pomodoro	€14–23
Trattoria Sabatino	San Frediano	A modest home-style course	€15–25

Pick a counter for a quick walk-up lunch, or a trattoria for a hot course at a table. The ranges estimate a simple order, not a fixed menu. Extra courses or drinks can push the bill higher. Sabatino’s Florentine steak is a separate, potentially dearer order. I Fratellini and I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti share Via dei Cimatori, but offer different fillings.

Sabatino suits a weekday seated lunch, but on Sunday, choose a counter rather than the Sant’Ambrogio market table. Arrange a table ahead if you need a definite seated lunch. At a sandwich counter, join the walk-up queue. If you would rather skip offal, choose the Beatrice flatbread or vegetable soup at Da Rocco. For a wholly vegetarian seated meal, explore vegetarian restaurants in Florence. For a fuller restaurant meal at a higher budget, compare places to eat in Florence by neighbourhood.

Da Nerbone, San Lorenzo

Da Nerbone is the stop for a lampredotto panino, a bread roll filled with slowly cooked beef stomach. It is a particular Florentine lunch, rather than a generic beef sandwich: choose it if the filling itself is what you came to try. A simple roll makes this a brief, inexpensive meal rather than a multi-course pause.

Find the counter on the ground floor of the historic Central Market in San Lorenzo, among the market stalls, not in the upstairs food hall. This distinction matters if you enter the market looking for a named stall rather than a choice of upstairs food counters. Order at the counter and allow room for the market crowd. This is better suited to a quick stop than a leisurely seated lunch.

I Fratellini, the historic centre

I Fratellini makes sense when you are near Piazza della Signoria and want lunch without sitting through restaurant service. Its tiny Via dei Cimatori counter sells sandwiches and wine by the glass: try a roll with Tuscan cured meat and pecorino, then add a glass if you want one. The wine makes this a different choice from a sandwich grabbed simply to keep moving.

There is little space to stand beside the counter, and no conventional dining room to settle into. Take the sandwich away if the standing area is crowded. The short stop leaves you free to choose where to pause afterwards. If you want a cooked dish or a guaranteed table, save this address for another day and choose one of the trattorias instead.

I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti, the historic centre

I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti is a second Via dei Cimatori counter, but its draw is schiacciata, Tuscan flatbread, filled with your choice of ingredients. For a lunch without offal, order the Beatrice: pecorino, artichoke cream, aubergine, courgette and spicy olive oil. This is a more vegetable-led order than the cured-meat roll at nearby I Fratellini, although the pecorino means it is not vegan.

The flatbread is filled when you order, so allow a short pause at the counter while yours is made. You can ask about changing the filling if an ingredient does not suit you. The counter serves throughout the week, including Sunday, making it useful when the Sant’Ambrogio market trattoria is closed. Its appeal is a substantial hand-held lunch, not a seated meal. If you want vegetables without committing to a soup at a table, this is the counter to choose.

Trattoria da Rocco, Sant’Ambrogio

Trattoria da Rocco sits inside Sant’Ambrogio Market, where lunch can mean a hot Tuscan dish at a table instead of another sandwich. Order ribollita, a bread-and-vegetable soup, or pappa al pomodoro, a thick tomato-and-bread soup. Either gives you a cooked, spoonable lunch, and the menu also includes Florentine tripe if you do want an offal dish.

Lunch is served Monday to Saturday, 11:30–14:30; the trattoria is closed on Sundays. Go here when you want a seated break during the market day, not a late-afternoon meal. A simple soup keeps the order within the modest-lunch range; extra courses change the bill. The market setting is part of the reason to choose Rocco, but it is a different sort of pause from standing beside a sandwich counter. Ribollita and pappa al pomodoro both make bread central to the dish, so either is a substantial choice without ordering a separate sandwich.

Trattoria Sabatino, San Frediano

Trattoria Sabatino, at the San Frediano end of Via Pisana, is the choice for a seated, home-style lunch on the Oltrarno side of Florence. Choose a modest course from the changing menu rather than building your lunch around bistecca alla Fiorentina, Florentine steak. Steak is a speciality here, but an order of it should be treated as a separate, potentially dearer meal.

Lunch runs Monday to Friday, 12:00–14:30. Sabatino is closed at weekends. Tables are often shared with other diners, though where you sit depends on the space available. That arrangement suits a straightforward trattoria meal more than a private, lingering lunch. If you are crossing into San Frediano for lunch, the location near Porta San Frediano makes this an alternative to the busy counters around Piazza della Signoria.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: key figures and closures.

• Trattoria da Rocco — key figures
• I’ GIRONE DE’ GHIOTTI — closures
• I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti — key figures
• I Fratellini — key figures