Lidia

Best Panini in Florence. I lived in Florence in 2009 as an NYU student and still dream about their sandwiches. Giorgio and his family are great make the whole experience even better. Suggested sandwich: Stracchino, Pesto and Salsiccia on the Foccacia bread.

As a student at NYU Florence I find it quite difficult to imagine surviving without this shop. Located just a five minutes from the NYU campus it has become accustomed to frequent business in large numbers.
What is also striking and consistently impressive is the high quality ingredients for such a low price. At € 5 you can get an incredible tuna, buffalo mozzarella, pomodoro (tomato) and home made pesto. Now I’m sorry but what is not to like in that. The bread is all fresh and everyday they make you a sandwich with a different style of bread. It makes my day very exciting indeed.
The owners are all older genuine Italians who know exactly how food should be prepared. On this note, every day they make a special pasta (It can be literally anything), from simple spaghetti bolognese to incredible pesto Gnocchi.
Ah but there is more, apart from the fun local scene in the sandwich shop there is also a sneaky garden area behind the shop. Here you walk out into a beautiful flower grove with fresh lime’s and grapes growing all around you. I mean really, as a student what more can you really ask for?
Sorry I take that back, not just as a student, as a human. What more can you really ask for.
P.S they have a huge collection of Red Wine ;) so have fun with that!

I had a really delicious pesto, sundried tomato, and mozzarella panini with a bottle of red wine. Very welcoming atmosphere where older locals seemed to gather to drink, talk, and smoke. Very casual and friendly, overall.

Oh Bar Lidia, how I still dream of your sandwiches. This place is roughly a 10min walk from the NYU Florence campus. Be warned if you are walking that there are lots of curves and turns and cars speeding past you, so be alert!
Bar Lidia, is not… a bar where people get together and drink alcohol. We learned that lesson our first or second night in Florence. However it is a place where old Italian grandma and grandpas make on the spot for you the best sandwiches and pastas you could imagine! You can literally pick up a box of pasta from the store and they will whip up some pasta for you.
I always got the pesto, mozzarella and prosciutto sandwiches for lunch between classes. The ingredients are so authentic!!! I have yet to find a place anywhere else that served sandwiches as good as Bar Lidia. I would definitely consider going to Florence again… just to visit Bar Lidia. Also, if you are a female and the old grandpa is working, you can be sure he will charge you a couple euros less for your sandwich ;)
The store also has things like paper towels, toilet paper, candy, cookies, etc. I would say it is closest to an American «deli».