Perini

The samples of ham on the counter are for customers only and are given to you on request… a man from a tour group waling by got his hand slapped when he reached out for one… and was waved on by the server behind the counter while muttering Italian
Get the «orgasmic sandwich», 6 €, aka «wonderful» or «marvelous»
The server prepared for us on the fly, loaded with prosciutto, topped with cheese, tomato, mushroom, and pesto sauce
(this entry was written by my husband)

Perini ist eines der Highlights im Mercato.
Ein Feinkosthändler, der einfach alles hat, was in der Toscana gut ist!

Great place to start your day…
Good cappuccino and great paninis :)

une découverte dans Florence: le mercato centrale !
un peu comme les Halles à Paris dans l’ancien temps jadis (avant Rungis.) mais en plus petit.
Perini est l’un des traiteurs florentins qui officie dans les meilleures maisons.
le midi, c’est le rendez-​vous des cadres travaillant dans le quartier de Santa Maria Novella pour le sandwich fait devant vous avec les différentes sortes de jambons ou de saucissons (ça va du porc en passant par le sanglier, la biche et encore d’autres spécialités: les forêts des Appenins sont à deux pas), de fromage (pecorino, provolone, parmiggianno,…) et les tomates fraîches. il y a en face du stand un coin pour déguster son sandwich avec une bouteille de derrière les fagots dénichée par le patron chez les viticulteurs du coin.
à noter, il est possible de commander sur le site internet et de se faire livrer en France !

imagine the best cold cuts, the best cheese, the best breads, the best home made dressings for sandwiches, for pasta dishes, imagine a very high concentration of the best food possible. this is perini, an institution in florence, a must see and must shop for tourists.
behind the 2 huge counters, with a world of delicatessen between customers and traders, you will be greeted the italian way, and invited to sample everything. they will feed you samples till you are full and then you will want more. bread, for example: they have the best breads ever, baked on the mountains around florence, where the water is purer, baked in traditional wood ovens, following recipes that have not changed in centuries. cold cuts: you will find the best of the cold cuts, local to tuscany and from other parts of italy; and you will find the most unusual of them, like the donkey balls, which are NOT donkey balls, but just a testicle shaped salami, actually not so fat, with just a stripe of lard inside it. A specialty of Umbria, the neighboring region of Toscana. Mostarda in italian means many things: one of this is a spicy fruit compote to be eaten with Pecorino cheese; Perini carries some delicious Mostarda, like the figue mostarda; simply delicious.
You can buy to take away, if you are lucky enough to have the possibility to sample these products in your own place; or you can ask for a sandwich to take away; there aren’t ready made sandwich; each sandwich is made on demand on the spot, and you will be satisfied to your desire; be it a home made sauce, or cold cuts, cheese, pickle, oil preserves etc.etc. or you can mix and match. a glass of red wine will probably be the most common choice to accompany the sandwich. there is no seating accommodation, nor inside the market, nor outside;
unfortunately florence, from this point of view, is not a very tourist friendly city, and i cannot even think of any place close to perini worth walking to to enjoy the sandwich.
However Perini will kindly provide napkins, cutlery if needed, and plastic cup and you can eat standing up mixing with the many locals and the many tourists attracted here.
INside the market there are some toilets, not free, but just a small offer will do.