‘We’re like an island’: inside Florence’s secret neighbourhood

Only minutes from the centre of one of Italy’s most visited cities, the Sant’Ambrogio district has managed to stay under the tourist radar. Locals in market square tell us what makes it so special

The Florentine neighbourhood of Sant’Ambrogio may only be 10 minutes’ walk east from the landmark Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio, but this part of the Tuscan capital has a distinctive character far removed from the tourist pizza traps and overpriced gelato. It’s a tight-knit community that is still genuinely Florentine but also multi-ethnic. It’s a food nirvana and a favourite student haunt.

The crowds thronging the historical centre quickly thin out as I pass into Sant’Ambrogio and the tranquil gardens of Piazza dei Ciompi. It is noon on Friday, and while Giotto’s bell tower may be chiming back in the Piazza del Duomo, the noise that greets me in the piazza is the muezzin’s call to prayer. Crowds of Muslims unroll their prayer mats in the middle of Piazza dei Ciompi, home to the Masjid Al-Taqwa, Florence’s principal mosque.