Shopping in Florence

Florence treats craft as a civic religion. Leather is cut behind Santa Croce as it was for guild masters, perfume has been compounded since 1221, and the Tornabuoni carries fashion in a medieval palace. Both banks of the Arno are working workshops before they are shopping streets.

The walk: Florence — Leather, Perfume and the Tornabuoni — half day.

Tiered houses of Florence

• Burberry Icon
  The trench itself — Thomas Burberry’s gabardine since 1856, the check, and the flagship house of British luxury. Past-season collections at The Mall luxury outlet, Leccio Reggello, burberry.com
• Cartier Icon
  The jeweler of kings — Love bracelets, Tank watches, panthers. cartier.com
• Dior Icon
  The New Look house — Lady Dior bags and couture romance. dior.com
• Ferragamo Icon
  Shoemaker to Hollywood from Palazzo Spini Feroni — Florentine footwear artistry since 1927. ferragamo.com
• Gilli's Heritage House
  Florence's oldest café (1733) — gilded rooms and pasticceria in Piazza della Repubblica. gilli.it
• Gucci Icon
  Founded as a Florentine leather house in 1921 — the double-G empire still rooted in Tuscan workshops. gucci.com
• Louis Vuitton Icon
  The trunk-maker of 1854 turned luxury’s superpower — monogram canvas, artist collabs and the world’s most valuable maison. louisvuitton.com
• Montblanc Icon
  Hamburg’s Meisterstück since 1924 — the snow-cap emblem on fountain pens, leather and increasingly serious watchmaking from Villeret heritage. montblanc.com
• Paszkowski Heritage House
  Florence's literary caffè-concerto (1846) in Piazza della Repubblica. paszkowski.com
• Pineider Heritage House
  Florentine stationer since 1774 — Napoleon and Byron ordered here; engraved paper and pens still do the talking. pineider.com
• Saint Laurent Icon
  The house of le smoking — Anthony Vaccarello’s sharp-shouldered Parisian seduction on Rive Gauche foundations laid in 1961. Past-season collections at The Mall luxury outlet, Lecci ysl.com
• Simone Abbarchi Hidden Gem
  Florentine bespoke shirtmaker beloved for value — visits London and New York; one-piece collar cut on request. simoneabbarchi.com
• Tiffany & Co Heritage House
  New York’s blue-box jeweler since 1837 — the Tiffany Setting, Elsa Peretti and Schlumberger under LVMH stewardship. tiffany.com
• Il Micio Hidden Gem
  Hidetaka Fukaya — the Japanese master shoemaker of Florence, bespoke East-West perfection. ilmicio.com
• Sartoria Corcos Hidden Gem
  Kotaro Miyahira’s Florentine atelier — Japanese precision in Tuscan tailoring, cult waiting list. sartoriacorcos.com
• Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella Icon
  The world’s oldest pharmacy — Dominican friars’ herb garden, 1221; Caterina de’ Medici’s Acqua della Regina still on the shelf; frescoed sales rooms that outrank most museums. smnovella.com