Florence’s Best Pastry Shop

In Italy, pastry shops (or pasticcerie) are a dime a dozen. It seems like on every street corner, there is a pasticceria selling an assortment of desserts, sandwiches and coffee. Especially in the touristy areas where obvious, unaware Americans stand out like sore thumbs as they emphatically tell their friends, “this is the best cannoli I ever had,” not realizing that a real Italian wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like that.

As you spend more time in Italy, like anywhere, you learn about the places to stay away from, some as a result of trial and error, and others through recommendations of respected residents. For me, a highlight of all my trips is weeding out the good, and narrowing in on the excellent.

Over the course of the last 5 years, I’ve come to know Florence quite intimately. Having a love affair with both the city, as well as a resident of Florence, I came to learn about places that are seldom explored by tourists. One pastry shop in particular is called Pasticceria Giorgio (or as Florentines refer to it, simply Giorgio). A Florentine friend recommended Giorgio to me once a few years ago, and when I went there one morning for breakfast and took my first bite into a Florentine cremino, I immediately experienced what we call in Italian a colpo di fulmine, or a thunderbolt. Italians use the saying to describe love at first site, and for me it was love at first taste. My knees began to tremble. From that point forward, Giorgio became my new favorite place to eat breakfast and it still is to this day. The pastries are delectable, sandwiches delicious, and coffee on point. I even had my wedding cake made at Giorgio, which was a big hit with my international guests.

Another perk about Giorgio is that it is not saturated with tourists. It is located in a section of Florence called Scandicci, which is approximately 10 minutes from the city center by taxi. The majority of people that frequent Giorgio either live in Scandicci or have their own cars to travel there. Lastly, what sealed my conviction that Giorgio is in fact the best pasticceria in Florence, was the fact that out of every Italian I asked, 100% of them, hands down, agreed that Giorgio is indeed the best.

Giorgio is located at Via Duccio di Buoninsegna, 36. For more information, you can visit their website at: www.pasticceriagiorgio.it.