Gilli

touristy with a large outdoor patio facing the carousel… quite busy and crowded during the day… linen covered table set-​up for meals… bare tables for coffee and pastries. beautiful inside, but outdoor patio better for views… cheaper if standing at the bar… quieter in the evening… carousel lights shining and circling… glass of wine and tiramisu 16 €…complimentary salted puff balls and tortilla chips provided… finding the puff balls quite cold… tortilla chips bit stale… the tiramisu below average… basically a place to enjoy the view of the courtyard near duomo… prices are much higher, but the location is fantastic in the heart of florence…

Accessibility (Parking /​Wait Time)
¹⁄₁ Star: I walked here. No wait for to go pastries.
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Service (Waiter /​Cleanness /​Ambiance)
⁰⁄₁ Star: Cockroach on Pastry
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Taste (0=Not Edible /​1=Edible /​2=Good (average) /​3=Must Try!)
⁰⁄₃ Stars: Cockroach on Pastry
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Overall Experience
¹⁄₅ Stars
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Last Words
Lost my appetite instantly…

We came here for a late dinner after most of the other restaurants and trattorias began shutting down their kitchens for the night and were blown away by how amazing and delicious everything was. We were seated in the covered outdoor patio with views all around of the square. Our server was superb, both extremely polite and knowledgeable when it came to food & wine recommendations. Gilli was certainly one of the unexpected surprises we encountered in Florence… our only regret was not getting dessert. The prices were slightly higher here and portions a tad bit smaller than other places but the quality and taste was second to none.

Slow service, cold food, grumpy waiters, over priced tourist trap. Bland. Boring. Don’t bother.

Delicious, service is a little strange but classy and well made pastries! Quality cream stacks and hot chocolate is amazing.

Wunderbares italienisches Café an der Piazza Repubblica. Sehr klassisch, hohe Räume, antik eingerichtet. Gute Auswahl an Likören, fantastischer Espresso. Gute Auswahl an Speisen. Ich war zum Frühstück und auch abends zum Drink da — beides sehr zu empfehlen.

**NICE PLACE FOR COFFEE AND PASTRIES NEAR THE DUOMO**
AMBIANCE
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Belle Époque café preserved in Florence.
Italian upscale café with golds and greens.
A bit snobberish, but that’s fine with me.
They have an inefficient ordering system.
Keep in mind that you pay FIRST before getting your coffee (in two separate lines).
This confused a lot of people who would get in line for coffee,
only to be told that they had to get their paid receipt from the cashier first on the other side.
COFFEE
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ESPRESSO = 1,50
They use illy beans so it’s solid.
Smooth and flavorful.
RATING: ⁴⁄₅
PASTRY
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CHOCOLATE-​FILLED CROISSANT = 1,50
Flaky, but not too buttery.
The oozing chocolate was aces.
RATING: ⁵⁄₅
PRO TIP
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Better service and cheaper prices if you eat and drink at the counter.
OVERALL
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Although touristy, it was still my favorite café with the better pastries in Florence.
Will definitely return.
RECOMMEND.

J’ai pris quelques café. Le meilleur que j’ai bu. Moins d’amertume que les autres.
Aucun café à Florence avec un café artisanal?
Encore une marque de café national ce coup ci cetait du Illy.
Et ces cafés ou le café est déjà moulu ça m’horripile dans le pays du café.
Difficile de note juste avec un café
Le lieu est beau, luxueux, service classieux… du coup le café à 1 euro est à 1,80 ici !

Since 1773, this iconic coffee shop is still «the go to place» when in firenze… great quality, not overly expensive, always fresh

Waited there for 10 minutes and the menu comes after I ask. Nobody gives me a shit, meanwhile an Asian young lady comes in later and got served immediately. This is just ridiculous.

Yes, I agree with an earlier review, this IS THE iconic café of Florence. So, some places like this lose their way and quality deteriorates and some maintain their quality — these guys are still top notch.
If I had to nit-​pick, the bartenders/​baristas can be a bit full of themselves but maybe that is consistent with Gilli in general — it puts itself up on a pedestal, but in my opinion it backs it up!
I started every morning at the bar at Gilli — loved it…

Didn’t have any desserts or pastries which is what they’re known for to be fair but had an 8 euro sprite and a 22 euro overcooked hamburger. IcK.

Je rajoute mes 5 étoiles à cette pâtisserie-​chocolaterie d’une autre époque ! Gilli gâte les florentins depuis 1733 et on comprend pourquoi !
J’ai été ravie de ce que j’ai pu y acheter. Le lieu déjà est magnifique, très chic et très appétissant. Ensuite les petits gâteaux achetés étaient parfaits. J’ai fait simple et pris des petits gâteaux croquants au chocolat et à l’amande, 8 euros pour une boîte de taille moyenne.
Service pas des plus souriants, mais OK !

We came here for a cappuccino and to meet with my Aunt and Uncle. We sat at a table in the piazza. It was starting to be a beautiful sunny day in Florence. We watched as big tour groups and locals with their small dogs walk by in the piazza. It’s a perfect meeting place. Service was good. The cappuccino was the best I’ve ever had. In the U.S. I have never managed to finish one, but here I sipped it all down. Added a pinch or two of their sugar which was pure and looked like crushed crystals. Ate up the foam at the creamy end. I also had a couple of bites of the croissant my Dad got. It was just ok. Morning well spent.

Yes it’s touristy and overpriced, but then again tourist don’t pay for vacations to sit at a shack somewhere right? You can always have your cappuccino at a bar for couple of euros to check out the ambiance, but if you choose to sit outside to get the view of Piazza Repubblica then a tea pot and tiramisu will run you 15 euros, but no rush, the staff are very nice. Don’t sit at reserved tables, if you do, they will ask you to move.

The iconic caffe of Florence. Fabulous pastries and coffee which makes it great for breakfast. Gilli really is two places in one: The inside is relaxed, elegant, and timeless. Locals drink their coffee and eat their pastries at the coffee bar like true Italians while on the piazza a more hip vibe permeates and invites trendy euros and tourists alike a place to hangout. One of Italy’s most beloved caffes.

I think one of the best cafes in Italy. Sitting out viewing a square and eating the best tiramisu ever. Since it is a historic place all the interior looks awesome. I can really recommend it’s pastries and coffees.

It is a very beautiful place to have a tea and some pastries. Even if you are sitting outside, do have a look inside: the décor is amazing, almost looks like a museum. Look up at the ceiling: beautiful.
But this place is not only beautiful, it also serves nice Italian pastries: I had a chocolate tart which was quite good. My only regret is its ridiculous size. They also serve a great baba au rhum that my boyfriend highly recommends… For tea, they offer the «Via del té» teas which are very good.
Either a tourist, or just living here, it is nice to stop by for a pastry and some tea — maybe not every weeks given how expensive it is. For a special occasion if you want an elegant tea-​time!

Wir sind auf ein kurzes Getränk bei Gilli eingekehrt,
Zwei Mal Espresso Doppio, zweimal Aranciata.
In Worten: zwei Kaffee und zwei Orangenlimonaden.
Der Service –in dem Fall der Optik nach der Servicechef– war nicht besonders aufmerksam: eine Limo wurde vergessen.
Fazit: 28 EUR.
Ich will nicht kleinlich sein, aber einen M&A Prozess zur Anteilsübernahme von Gilli hatten wir nicht begonnen. Ist mir künftig etwas zu selektiv.

Ahh yes, one of the oldest cafes in Florence! Actually the oldest, it;s in a great location and has a restaurant section too. We started with the café during the day since we were shopping and had great mini pastries. At night we decided to come back for dinner and it was very romantic. We had a table outside, great for people watching. I had the lasagna and it was very good. Not too cheesy and a lot of meat. The way I liked it, my boyfriend had veal and it was not very appealing. I suggest sticking to pasta.

This is a café located at the dead center of Florence. We were here to get some sweets and coffee after a day of sight-​seeing, and after the experience, I should say I am only giving this 2 stars.
See, I am not complaining about the sweets and the coffee. The sweets were tasty, the coffee was potent. What I am complaining about is the huge difference in price if you consume your sweets sitting down or take-​away. One piece of glazed chestnut coated with chocolate was 4 EUR, when it was just about 2 bites. You can just imagine what the coffee’s price was.
Sure, I was warned. Sure it is historic. Sure it is in the dead center of town. But no matter how much history a place has, there is a limit as to how good the coffee tastes, and how sweet the chocolate is. If I had to pay 4 EUR for a chocolate-​coated glazed chestnut that is smaller than my thumb, then I better expect some age-​reversing potion included in that chestnut. Alas, I ain’t younger after eating it. Or maybe the service should be impeccable, after all, they are carrying it from the counter to the table. But alas, the wait staff was still slow.
Needless to say, I am not impressed, and would be more than willing to find a less historic café, who for all we know, might also be carrying the same chocolate-​coated glazed chestnut, for a way lower price.

I love this place every time I come to Florence I spend most of my time here drinking their amazing hot chocolate and eating the yummy pastries and watching the beautiful city and people. It’s like time stops and I get to enjoy the city a bit more than I should… my nirvana :)

Old school café meets delicious Florence bakery. I would have stopped here more if I could have.
We were looking for good cannoli (which I learned is the plural of cannolo) because it was Italy and it was what I wanted to try. After a few failed attempts at lackluster places before, we were directed here, and was not disappointed.
Gilli is one of the oldest cafes in Florence (opened in 1733!) It’s a lively place with old wood and brass fixtures. There’s the bakery on one side and the café bar on the other, but it looked like you could order from either. We got our cannolo and ate it right there at the glass counter. Delicious, sweet with the best crispy shell I think I’ve ever had. It was just what I had been looking for.
Don’t miss this historic and delicious spot in Florence. You’ll regret if you do.

While you are in Italy, you can smell the history in every aspect and Gilli Café is one the places that you should visit if you are in Firenze. Gilli Café had been opened in 1733 and it is Florence’s oldest and most historic café’s in the city center. It is located in the corner of Pizza della Repubblica which is full of tourists and people.
When you enter Gilli Café you are embraced with the charming atmosphere of the place with its classy decoration, the elegant staff, the qualified ambiance with all delicious desert and coffee. You are surrounded with colored walls, Murano lamps, frescoed ceiling and arches. There is a huge cornered bar in the space which keep Gilli as it was in the early 1900’s. Of course the place is not cheap but it worths to have that experience. In my opinion there is no need to have a lunch or dinner there which I assume costs a lot but I recommend you to pay for your coffee and desert at the cashier and have your coffee at the bar which is much more enjoying and certainly cheaper. You only pay for the coffee and the desert not the service and the table. The café is always crowded and there is always a line at the cashier but it worth to wait a little to try the variety of pastries that seem very seductive and the experience the interior environment.
We had tiramisu and coffee after our lunch. The tiramisu was delicious however it was the first time that I had tiramisu made with mille-​feuille pastry.

Schönes Glotzcafé. Nix zum großartigem Essen, aber gut zum schauen und bei einen Kaffee oder Aperativo eine Pause machen

Au coin de la Piazza Della Repubblica et de la rue qui va de la basilique Santa Maria dei Fiore (le Dôme) la pîazza du Palazzo Vecchio. Cet endroit est une exposition stupéfiante de fenêtres de desserts divers.
Gilli a une atmosphère plus chic que d’autres pâtisseries à Florence, certainement parce que toutes les bonnes familles florentines en ont fait leur fournisseur attitré (il y a meilleur et moins cher si l’on s’aventure de l’autre côté du fleuve notamment vers la piazza San Spirito).
Né pas s’étonner que le personnel soit un peu hautain, c’est le lot pour tous les étrangers qui né parlent pas italien: il faut commander d’abord puis payer à la caisse avant d’être autorisés à avoir vos pâtisseries.
A côté de Gilli, vous avez le café Paszkowski.