Santo Spirito is a district of Florence that differs from the rest of the city. This area is not part of the classic tourist routes but it is frequented by foreigners who usually stop in Florence for longer periods.

The charm of Florence that attract people is beyond its artistic, historic downtown area of Florence. The city still seems to live in an ancient atmosphere. It is hard to find this flavor in other places: there are many foreigners who decide to spend long periods in Florence if not even move permanently to the Tuscan town.

Living in Florence for long periods you get in contact more and more with a unique part of the city, hard to find in other places, although the newer parts have the characteristics of a modern city, some neighborhoods of the old town have retained features giving us today the emotion of living in another age.

One of the most characteristic neighborhoods is Santo Spirito, where people still perceive the atmosphere of another era: the San Frediano Oltrarno area holds back the years!

This area of Florence has been dubbed by the Florentines the Left Bank for its artistic and intellectual vitality that still allows those who participate in the life of this area of Florence a typically bohemian lifestyle.

Santo Spirito in the various forms of art mingle with the life of a popular neighborhood that has always lived in the shadow of the most famous central areas that are located across the river Arno, Florence areas that have always been in the world relying on monuments, museums and works of art of inestimable value.

The absence of important monuments and museums has denied the Oltrarno area to be included in the classic routes of tourism which mainly focus on visits to major monuments and museums of Florence. This condition led to an alternative development of the Santo Spirito that has become the meeting point not only of artists but also of those who love fun and transgressive nights, beyond the traditional places of the city.

When night falls the neighborhoods of Santo Spirito and San Frediano are transformed, the streets and squares such as Piazza Santo Spirito, Piazza del Carmine, Piazza San Frediano and the whole Oltrarno (beyond the Arno river) turn into a meeting place with many restaurants where you can eat typical Tuscan food and excellent wines.

In addition to the taverns and restaurants this area is also famous for the presence of many bar with Tuscan wines as well as offering all kinds of cocktails until late at night. Many foreigners and Florentines attend Santo Spirito and the whole area of Oltrarno: among these young people there are also many foreign students studying in Florence, including a large community of Americans who are eager to have fun in the Florentine night society and spend there many night hours during the year.