San Lorenzo / Mercato Centrale

The Medici quarter built itself around San Lorenzo, and its pulse today is the cast-iron Mercato Centrale, where Nerbone's marble counter has been slinging boiled-beef panini since 1872. It is street-food heritage worth one well-chosen visit, ground-floor stalls over the upper-floor food court, before you move on. The surrounding leather-market streets are loud and best treated as a pass-through rather than a destination.