Florence’s Summer Food Kiosks: A Guide to the City’s Chioschini

From the city center out to the lungarni (the riverside avenues that line the Arno), Florence’s many summer chioschini — the little open-air food kiosks — come back to life every year: places to eat, sip an aperitivo with friends, unwind, and catch some live music.

The season of events under the stars returns, and with it the many summer chioschini that bring the city’s gardens and squares to life, open daily (weather permitting), often with free programming too: kids’ workshops, yoga, craft markets, and open-air film clubs. Here is our neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide to the best of Florence’s outdoor summer venues.

The lungarno remains one of the favorite places in Florence to cool off or grab a drink with friends. Let’s start with the stretch closest to Santa Croce. The green space of lungarno Pecori Giraldi, near Ponte San Niccolò, sets a Latin rhythm with Habana 500: Cuban cocktails and flavors, free dance lessons, and live music.

A few steps away, in the same riverfront garden, you’ll also find Fiorino sull’Arno, with loungers to relax on, a food area, and a zone for concerts and DJ sets.

Heading south, on lungarno del Tempio you’ll come to a longtime classic: Chiosco il Tempio in the Giardini Capponeto, perfect for a moment of calm and for watching the sunset over the banks of the Arno, with music, games, cocktails, and cold beers. A little farther on, the summer kiosks of Dogana Beach and La Toraia are back too, with plenty of street food, outdoor tables, events, and shows, every day from 6 p.m. until 1 a.m.

Continuing along the riverside venues, another summer fixture is Molo 5, on lungarno Colombo. Every evening brings something different — DJ sets, live music, vintage markets, capoeira classes, yoga, artist residencies, and even T-rafting descents that launch straight from the dock across from the venue.

Moving toward the Cascine, the season of Ultravox gets underway — the open-air venue in the Cascine park. Its big concerts are hosted in the Cascine’s Ernesto De Pascale amphitheater, while a village with food and a stage for free shows sets up in the Prato della Tinaia, the green area on the square across from Agraria, between via degli Olmi and the Ippodromo del Visarno. Every evening from 6 p.m. there’s a different event, from concerts to open-air cinema to festivals. There’s also a kids’ area with shows and educational activities for the little ones.

The village serves up a different evening every night — jazz, “vintage” music nights, DJ sets, concerts, and the much-loved free open-air cinema. Behind the stadium, Light is back too, the summer spot in the gardens of Campo di Marte. It’s an urban garden for warm evenings of cocktails, music, free programming, and a varied street-food offering. Over the years this kiosk has become a real landmark for the area.

Not far off, among Florence’s outdoor venues there’s another welcome return: the Montagnola summer space, in the public gardens of Coverciano. In the park bounded by via Salvi Cristiani, via Gabriele D’Annunzio, and via Augusto Novelli, the kiosks are open for an aperitivo or dinner (pizza, burgers, fish on the menu), alongside plenty of programming: workshops for kids, yoga, kickboxing, live music, puppet shows, workshops for all, and free open-air cinema.

Toward Settignano, inside the Mensola park, you’ll find another must among Florence’s outdoor summer venues: Lumen. This cultural space, run by the “Icché Ci Vah Ci Vole” association, programs concerts, talks, meetups, screenings, kids’ workshops, and free activities. Beside the stages (some covered) are tables and kiosks for eating and enjoying an aperitivo surrounded by greenery.

Over in the Cure district, at aperitivo hour the Pettini area comes alive thanks to Fico Bistrò, one of the outlying summer venues well worth discovering. Outdoor tables, good music, up-and-coming bands, book presentations, street food, reading workshops, yoga, and creative writing. The cultural calendar is curated by the Kaleido cultural association, in collaboration with Spazio Giovani C.U.R.E.

In the heart of Quartiere 5, the summer space at the Giardino dell’Orticoltura returns as well. Its packed calendar runs all season long: botanical-art workshops, yoga in nature, dance and theater performances, puppet shows, and also photography courses, book presentations, foosball and ping-pong tournaments, swing nights, pizzica and Taranta (traditional folk dances of southern Italy), English classes, and workshops in model-making, sewing, and crafts. Also on hand is Love, the cultural bistro inside the garden on Via Vittorio Emanuele II, offering a wide selection of dishes that range from Italian tradition to New York–style creativity.

The Anconella Garden reopens for the season too, the summer venue in the park of the same name in southern Florence. On the “menu,” a full season of shows, live music, sport, open-air cinema, and kids’ activities — but also pizzica workshops, book presentations at sunset, and theatrical improv.

Crossing the Arno, near the Rai headquarters, Atollo reopens as well, run by the Feeling cultural association, which breathed new life into a garden of roughly 1,000 square meters. On the program: music, downtime, workshops, events, DJ sets, and markets, with an artisan market held on set weekdays each month. The headline music program is curated by Lattexplus, a project devoted to electronic music.

Next to Atollo you’ll find the Festa del Mugello: a sort of permanent Mugello-style country fair, set up in the open-air space beside the Teatro Cartiere Carrara in southern Florence (the former Tuscany Hall). The Festa del Mugello serves up regional specialties from its grill and restaurant, to be enjoyed at long communal tables set outdoors or under cover, from the classic homemade potato tortelli to rosticciana (grilled pork ribs). There’s also a stage for events and a play area for children.

Still in the Teatro Tenda area is another of Florence’s summer spots for an aperitivo or an outdoor dinner set to DJ sets and steeped in a kind of “urban jungle.” Fuoribordo, between Via Fabrizio de André and via De Nicola, offers six food islands with pizza, chicken, toasted sandwiches, poké, and burgers. There’s also a minigolf course and a spot for human foosball.

A stone’s throw from Fuoribordo, the big tent of InStabile keeps its program of events and initiatives thick with things to do. In this cultural space beneath the Varlungo bridge, the undisputed stars are contemporary circus, theater, music, and the performing arts. InStabile — which is also a cocktail bar, bistro, restaurant, pizzeria, and grill — is, as always, open every day.

In short, Florence offers a vast choice of open-air spaces for spending the warm season amid events, shows, music, great food, and good times. There’s something for every taste and every age — you’re spoiled for choice!