Rivoire Firenze

It was back in 1872 that in a Florence that had ceased to be the capital of Italy just the year before, Enrico Rivoire opened a chocolate factory in Piazza della Signoria. He wasn’t a common mâitre chocolatier: he was the chocolatier of the Savoy dynasty, the Royal House of Italy, a clientele that certainly didn’t have average standards. Today, almost a hundred and fifty years later, the name Rivoire still stands proud at the same corner of the square. But now it has become much, much more.

The high standards of quality that the founder, more than a century ago, set aren’t changed. Still, the pastry chefs and chocolatiers produce their wonderful creations in the laboratory on the lower floor of the café, all the products are entirely made and packaged by hand following ancient traditional recipes. One thing that’s changed is the breadth of the proposals that today are extended to wines and savory dishes.

Of course, the authentic experience to live at Rivoire would be to enjoy a coffee or a chocolate accompanied by a delicious selection of sweets, pastries and pralines, perhaps sitting in the dehors, enjoying the spectacle of the Palazzo Vecchio casting its shadow over the teeming crowd. But, as we said, the offer of this cafè extends to the gastronomy, so there will be much more to enjoy: a lunch, a snack, an aperitif or a dinner.

The chef Mirko Margheri is behind the stove preparing the great classics of the Italian tradition, surrounded by his brigade and the restaurant staff. A complex organism that found in the art of reception its philosophy and sees its realization in the attention to detail and in the love for the quality raw material. There are countless tourists who decide to enjoy their lunch here in all seasons.

The next time you are in the city center and you want to feel really surrounded by the beauty of timeless elegance, go to Rivoire. In the midst of its period interiors, among the shop windows full of sweets in refined gift boxes and the buzz of the city all around you, you cannot help but feel at home.