We’ll start right at the Duomo. As we walk past it, we’ll chat about the color‑coded marble, the Florentine family whose name became an unflattering nickname, and Brunelleschi’s terracotta dome — a feat of engineering a few know it is connected to a delicious local dish. It’s a perfect place to begin your walk through the real Firenze of the Florentines.

Palazzo Pazzi Quaratesi is next on our tour — one of the many buildings a non-Florentine could easily overlook. Built in the 15th century, the palace features distinctive architectural details that make it a classic Renaissance building. To a local, the building is noteworthy because it was home to the Pazzi family, the family who organized an assassination attempt on Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici in the Duomo on Easter Sunday, 1478. Giuliano was stabbed to death in the Duomo, but Lorenzo survived and became an even more powerful ruler. Every Florentine knows about the Pazzi family.

The Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio is the oldest functioning covered market in Firenze, and it is as popular with locals today as it was when it opened in 1873. This is a place where you hear the real Florentine accent and everybody seems to know each other. The market is not in the tourism business and makes no effort to impress anyone. Its purpose is to offer the freshest food to locals and traditional meals inside, and it is cherished by Florentines for both.

Food time! The first of our two food tastings will be at a historic tripe stall in the Sant’Ambrogio area at one of Firenze’s most authentic food institutions. Here, you will enjoy the classic lampredotto panino (sandwich). I’ll explain the history of the sandwich, and how by eating it you couldn’t be more like a Florentine. The ingredients for the lampredotto sandwich never change, allowing you to enjoy the past, present, and future all in one bite.

Piazza Santa Croce is one of the few squares in the city center that unmistakably belongs to the Florentines. Beyond the church and the elegant buildings, it carries the energy of an active open square — a place where local kids learn to ride bikes or kick a ball around. Every June, the square is also home to the famous Calcio Storico, the centuries-old tournament in which the four quarters of the city compete against one another. For locals, these matches are identity, neighborhood pride, and a connection to the past. Piazza Santa Croce is a square that divides and unites Florentines, and it is a place that will forever feel like it is theirs.

Via de’ Neri is a street where you can see the current evolution of the city. The schiacciata shops here have gone viral on social media, so we will likely see long lines of people waiting for these stuffed sandwiches. These are the new Florentine sandwiches, and they are quickly becoming part of the identity of modern Firenze. It is rare to see a Florentine walking down this street or eating at one of these spots — but not because the food isn't good. A Florentine will enjoy an old-style schiacciata with just one ingredient inside, not the new five or six, and they definitely would not stand in a long line for it. We will walk down this street because it perfectly shows how the old and the new coexist.

Piazza della Signoria is the political center of the city, and therefore the home of multiple historic events. The square is filled with beauty, but at every turn, there is evidence of the power struggles between civilians and those who tried to dominate them — and between Firenze and those who tried to dominate it. The plaque marking where Savonarola was burned at the stake for his Bonfire of the Vanities is just one of the many details overlooked by tourists, but serves as a permanent reminder to Florentines of the power of the people.

Although inside the Uffizi Gallery you find the greatest and most concentrated collection of Italian Renaissance art in the world, we choose to be like the typical Florentine and stay outside and appreciate the free and magnificent art in the U-shaped courtyard. The Uffizi and the courtyard were designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 and included intentional empty niches, and in 1834 they were filled with statues of historical figures from Tuscany. Crossing through the courtyard is a favorite among Florentines because it is an ego boost of Florentine and Tuscan excellence.

From the street view, the Vasari Corridor goes almost unnoticed: it begins one floor above the ground floor in the Uffizi Gallery and continues beyond the museum to cross over the Ponte Vecchio bridge and end at the Palazzo Pitti. The passageway was created to allow the Medici to travel securely from their uffizi (offices) to their palazzo (palace). This necessity of the Medici shaped what was to become the iconic Ponte Vecchio, and displaced specifically what they did not want to see on the streets below them, including tripe sellers.

Next, we cross the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) the way locals do — quickly, weaving through the tourists and noticing the gold shops in our peripheral vision. From a distance, the Ponte Vecchio looks almost like a tiny village suspended over the river, with its wooden shutters and colorful shops. What matters here isn’t the jewelry — it’s the feeling of a place that has always been part of Firenze. First a wooden and stone bridge in Roman times, then home to tripe sellers, butchers and fishmongers, it eventually became the elegant bridge lined with jewelry shops that we see today. The bridge is the pride of the city; Florentines offer it to tourists during the busy months and reclaim it for themselves in the off-season.

We continue down the street until we reach Palazzo Pitti. There is a lot to consider about this palace: the design, the Pitti family, the Medici family, the museums inside, and the beautiful garden in the back. Yet, to locals, it is simply the place where middle school students hang out in the evenings. We will admire the grandeur of the building while chatting about what it was like to be a Florentine teenager in my day, and how that compares with the experience of kids today.

Looking at all the beautiful buildings in Firenze it is almost impossible for one to stand out, but the Palazzo Bianca Cappello does exactly that. We’ll admire this Renaissance building and look at its unique black-and-white façade. The exterior of the building is as dramatic as the scandalous love story that took place inside — there were lovers, a secret passageway, a murder, and the rise of a woman who would become Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

Via de' Tornabuoni is undeniably the fashion runway of Firenze. It’s hard to imagine that the street was once a muddy riverbed and then the location for carpenters and lumber merchants before it changed during the Renaissance. During that time, the Tornabuoni, the Strozzi, and the Antinori families transformed the street into the residence for the elite, and since that time it has always been the street of the wealthy. Florentines like the street because it is closed to traffic — and who doesn’t enjoy passing display windows with shocking prices?

The Palazzo Strozzi is a magnificent Renaissance palace: perfect symmetry, a grand courtyard, and completely constructed out of spite. In the 15th century, the Medici and the Strozzi battled for control over the city. The Medici won and exiled the Strozzi, but when the family returned, they constructed a building that was to be a statement to the Medici and beyond. We will look at the history of the building as well as how Florentines use it today. As for spite, it turns out to be a recurring theme in Firenze's history that we will discuss.

Food time! The second of our two food tastings will be at the Trippaio del Porcellino. This beloved street food stall has been in operation by the same family since 1893. There are fewer than 10 outside tripe stalls in the city center, and the location of this one fits perfectly with the open-air market and popular Fontana del Porcellino (the bronze wild boar statue). You can get all three in one picture, and you will have successfully captured Firenze.