When I say that finding work-friendly cafés in Florence specifically isn’t an easy task, I truly mean it! And this statement comes from experience, because Florence, Italy is where I spend 4 months each Winter.
As I have described in my previous post covering the Italian lifestyle, they see food, socialising and living in the moment (all of this together is called dolce vita) as way more important than work. Thus, in many cafés there you will find that laptops are not welcome.
At first this irritated me greatly. As a Digital Nomad I prefer working in a bustling, inspiring environment rather than my house. I get three times more shiz done! But I quickly adjusted to the local customs and found a new appreciation for enjoying my lunch in peace.
While in most European countries you work wherever without a second thought, in Italy this is not a privilege you can take for granted. In fact, I’ve come as far as to think it’s a privilege to be forced off your laptop and focus on more important things, like LIFE.
Café Aesthetic – ACTUAL Work-Friendly Cafés in Florence
When I moved to Florence I headed to Google to find the perfect café aesthetic for myself. And I found an article listing plenty of places that the author claimed to be work-friendly cafés in Florence. In 4 months I obviously had time to find them all, and guess what?
Over half of them didn’t actually allow laptops or work in their premises at all. Couple places that were listed in the article didn’t exist at all. One of them had never existed. Clearly this person had just taken a quick look at Google Maps and listed random cafés.
So, here is an actual and factual list of cafés in Florence that allow you to work. All of them tested by yours truly. Let’s get to it!
Ditta Artigianale Riva d’Arno
This brand has (at least) two cafés in Florence, and both of them allow laptops. Like the name suggests, this one is right by the Arno river on Lungarno Soderini street.
The café aesthetic here is jolly, colourful and fun. They offer breakfast and brunch, and they also have a counter of fresh pastries and sandwiches to choose from.
You will most probably see people tip-tapping away on their laptops here at any time of the day. Another hint of this one being one of the rare work-friendly cafés in Florence are all the plugs for keeping your laptops and phones charged.
It’s a small and very popular café, though, with a terrace outside. So, in case you’re like me and prefer to work indoors, it’s best to book a place here instead of walking there just to find it full, as yours truly did…
Ditta Artigianale Neri
This one is part of the same chain as the previous candidate on our list of work-friendly cafés in Florence. But this one is located in the Old Town just two streets down from the Palazzo Vecchio.
This one is also a busy one, mainly because it’s on a street, Via dei Neri, that is always extra busy! There are plenty of very popular sandwich shops on this street (sandwiches are a big deal in Florence!), and you’ll see massive queues there every single day all year round.
NOTE: while this café does allow you to work there, this permission is only granted from Monday to Friday. Laptops are banned on weekends here. This is probably due to the massive amounts of tourists that descend on Firenze every weekend. Laptops take too much space in a busy, tiny café.
This was another place where yours truly dragged her laptop on a Saturday morning to work on her own website, just to be told that I’m not allowed to take the laptop out of my bag at all…
La Cité
Now, for honesty’s sake, I didn’t actually have time to visit this place, but I walked past it almost weekly. It’s an extremely cosy, a bit hipstery café, that does allow laptops.
Now, if it turns out that it’s one of those work-friendly cafés in Florence that only allow laptops on weekdays, I offer my apologies. But according to my research, you should be fine all week.
The café aesthetic here is absolutely delightful and very inspiring (in my opinion). As a female-owned place this should not come as a surprise, though.
La Cité offers fresh pastries and sandwiches with coffee or signature cocktails to keep you going. They also have a lunch menu that changes daily. If you end up there before next Winter, let me know how it was!
Menchetti
Now, finding work-friendly cafés in Florence doesn’t need to be as difficult as it seems at first. If you exercise a bit of cunning, you can be allowed to work in places where it’s not necessarily accepted as a rule.
Menchetti is one such place! An absolutely gorgeous terrace on a small, decked courtyard surrounded by tall, ancient pillars. It’s a majestic, and thus extremely inspiring surrounding to work in. BUT, when you pull out your laptop, they will come and ask you
“Excuse me, what are you doing?”
The trick is to answer ‘NOT working’. Instead you can go for something like this:
- I’m going through some photos from this trip, there’s a lot of them
- I find it easier to check and book flights/trains/etc. on a laptop rather than my phone
- There’s so much to see and do here, I need to plan my itinerary for the week, so please sir, could I?
There’s a high probability that they will then direct you to a table that has been installed with plenty of plugs. So, they test you, but the staff there are absolutely brilliant!
It’s also one of the best places for people watching. Menchetti is right behind the corner from the Uffici Gallery and just a street away from the Palazzo Vecchio.
Work-Friendly Cafés in Florence – Conclusion
I’m not going to lie, when the supposedly work-friendly cafés in Florence turned out to not be so one after the other, or didn’t even exist, I was quite frustrated with the disinformation some people willingly share online.
So, to battle that, and to offer people like me genuine, truthful information, that does not waste their time, I came up with my own list. The café aesthetic is something that really inspires me to work more and better. If you can relate, then this article is definitely made for you.
I hope you have the best time in Florence and embrace dolce vita to the fullest! I can guarantee from experience, it’s so worth it. 
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