Alva Guide
Local eating and drinking guide
This is not a tourist guide. You won't find endless lists or Instagram-driven spots. What's here is Empoli from the inside: real places, frequented by locals, chosen because we like it, not because they try to please everyone.
From breakfast to dinner, with stops for wine, quick lunches, and neighborhood shops, this is a lean map for eating and drinking well without wasting time.
What to Do
Empoli is not a destination city. It doesn't ask to be explored — it rewards those who bother. These routes are for people who have a few hours, a curiosity about what's actually here, and no interest in doing what everyone else does. On foot, by bike, or with a car: each route has a logic, a rhythm, and an honest note about when it doesn't work. Also explore neighbouring towns like Montelupo and San Miniato. Seasonality legend: numbers indicate the best months (e.g., 4=April).
Seasonality
Piazza Farinata degli Uberti → Porta Pisana (the only surviving medieval gate) → Museo della Collegiata di Sant'Andrea → Chiostro degli Agostiniani (free entry, guaranteed quiet) → Giardino del Torrione. One hour, all on foot.
Seasonality
Oasi Arnovecchio (natural wetland with lakes and wildlife) → Parco dell'Ambrogiana with the Medici Villa → Montelupo centre for the Museo Archeologico e della Ceramica — one of the best ceramics museums in Tuscany, medieval and Renaissance collections. Car or train from Empoli.
Seasonality
Cycle path along the Arno from Empoli to Montelupo and back — flat, along the river, views of the Montalbano hills. Elerent bike sharing available in town (Elerent app, €1 unlock + €0.20/min). Best in spring and autumn.
Seasonality
Medieval hilltop village between the Arno and Elsa rivers. 360° views over Tuscany. Famous for white truffle. Don't miss: the Rocca di Federico II and the sunset from the tower. 10 minutes by car or train from Empoli.
Seasonality
Beat Festival (music festival, late August/early September); Empoli Città del Natale (Christmas activities and markets, Nov-Dec); Ludicomix (pop culture and comics, Spring).
Where to Sleep
Empoli is not a hotel city. It's a city where you sleep well without spending much — as long as you know where to look.
Short-term rental · apartment
Empoli, zona centrale
A 50sqm apartment run with method — not on autopilot. Irene has another job, but she looks after this place as if it were the only thing she does. The difference shows: instructions are clear, recommendations are genuine, the space is clean without feeling sterile. Perfect for anyone who wants to be inside the fabric of the city, not in an anonymous corridor between a bed and a bathroom.
Why it works
Not right for you if
€50–80 / night
double room
3-star hotel · historic
Via Giuseppe Del Papa, 50 — centro storico
Empoli's oldest hotel, built in the early 1900s. Not glamorous — solid. Fifty rooms across singles, doubles, triples and quads, a good breakfast, and staff who are genuinely helpful and competent. For those arriving by car, the hotel provides a temporary ZTL pass for unloading luggage: you stop, drop your bags, then park in the supervised lot 200 metres away. A small detail that makes a real difference when you arrive with suitcases. Accessible: there's a lift, which is rare in a historic centre. Honest prices.
Why it works
Not right for you if
Check online
double room
Rural hamlet · rooms, suites and apartments
Via Salaiola, 149 — Monterappoli, Empoli · 5 min by car
A restored rural hamlet that kept its soul — exposed wooden beams, original parquet floors, olive groves surrounding the property. Rooms, suites and well-equipped mini-apartments, an excellent breakfast, a restaurant on site for evenings when you don't want to move. The enoteca sells wines and products from the Fattoria Bini farm. Free bicycles available. Views over the Montalbano hills and the Apennines. You arrive via the Via Salaiola — the ancient salt route from Volterra to the Arno. Not steep, not narrow: a typically Tuscan road.
Why it works
Not right for you if
~€90–130 / night
double — verify at borgosangiusto.it
Agriturismo · apartments · San Miniato
Via Cafaggio, 10 — San Miniato · 10–15 min by car from Empoli
A family-run agriturismo with the kind of care you notice from the moment you arrive. Four apartments of various sizes, sleeping up to 14 guests total: ideal for families or groups. Excellent breakfast with homemade products. The restaurant cooks Tuscan with a genuinely good vegetarian option — rare around here, though perhaps not surprising in San Miniato, where Maggese has been leading the way. The pool is private and reserved for guests, with hill views. Farm animals to meet: donkeys, heritage hens, pigs. For animal lovers this is a real draw, not just a detail.
Why it works
Not right for you if
Flexible pricing
contact directly
Empoli (and surroundings) is not for you if you're looking for a design hotel with a rooftop bar and multilingual concierge. They don't exist here. If luxury is your primary criterion, base yourself in Florence and come for the day. But if you want to sleep where people actually live, eat where locals eat, move around without queuing — or let your kids feed donkeys on a hillside farm — you're in the right place.
Where to Eat
Start Well
The breakfast chapter is about places people actually return to: pastries that hold up, bars with neighborhood rhythm, and a few addresses worth getting out of bed for.
5 places
Via Roma, 24 Empoli
An in-house pastry shop that would hold its own even in a capital city. Croissants, pain au chocolat, and French-style pastries are genuinely well made: the kind of breakfast you remember, at prices that don't make you feel guilty. Extremely popular with locals, still largely off the radar for outsiders. Dogs are welcome and even get a biscuit made just for them.
Small room, seven or eight tables, but the best place to start your morning in Empoli.
Via del Giglio, 8 Empoli
A classic in the historic center: two floors, with that good kind of 1980s feel, solid, familiar, always open. In-house pastries, standard prices, and plenty of space. If you arrive late for breakfast or want something savory, you'll find focaccia and sandwiches without issue.
The right place when you want to stay central without overthinking it.
Località Vl. Petrarca, 130 Empoli
Not in the center, but easily reachable on foot. Its strength is variety: plenty of both sweet and savory options, a broader selection than average. Very busy, with a well-worn neighborhood bar atmosphere. Don't expect revelations, but a solid, satisfying breakfast is guaranteed.
Via Jacopo Carrucci, 99 Empoli
A modern pastry shop specializing in contemporary cakes. Breakfast is more classic, but well executed. The right place if you're looking for something beyond traditional aesthetics.
Via dei Cappuccini, 22, Empoli
A truly original Sicilian pastry shop and delicatessen. A little outside the city center, it's easily accessible on foot or by car. Spacious spaces and a wide selection of sweet and savory treats (including arancini or arancine).
Midday
Quick doesn't mean generic. These are the places for a focused lunch: a schiacciata worth the stop and fresh pasta that locals have already figured out.
2 places
Via Jacopo Carrucci, 99 Empoli
If this were in Florence, there would be a line out the door. The schiacciata is exceptional: crisp, ultra-fresh, always made to order, with a selection of cured meats that leaves nothing to chance. One of the best you can eat in Tuscany, without exaggeration.
Limited seating; in good weather lunch spills naturally into Piazza della Vittoria.
Via Cosimo Ridolfi, 59 Empoli
A pasta workshop that turns into a small fresh pasta trattoria at lunchtime. Ravioli, lasagna, classic sauces done properly: the kind of place office workers have already discovered on their own, recognizable by the fact that it fills up at the same time every day.
No frills, plenty of substance.
Golden Hour
In Empoli, there are several ways to drink well: curated wine, craft beer, Tuscan-rooted pubs, generous buffets. It depends on the evening.
4 places
Via dei Neri, 32, Empoli
The go-to spot. When locals want to drink well, this is where they end up. The wine selection is curated with real passion, no obvious labels and nothing you find everywhere. Cocktails are excellent too, and the outside energy at the end of the day feels unmistakably Tuscan.
Also a great place to pick up a good bottle to take home.
Via Cosimo Ridolfi, 55 Empoli
Tables right on the main street, well-selected craft beers, and an atmosphere that creates itself. The people running it bring genuine friendliness: the kind of place where you end up staying longer than planned.
No kitchen, but nearby food can be ordered in and eaten here.
Piazza Guido Guerra, 52 Empoli
A proper pub with a serious selection of draft and bottled beers. What sets it apart is the food: pub-style sandwiches and fried dishes, but with a Tuscan twist that changes everything.
A place that knows exactly where it comes from.
Piazza della Vittoria, 36, Empoli
Large, always open. From breakfast to dinner, but it's at aperitivo time that it shines: buffet, good cocktails, and a wine list with labels chosen with care. There is even champagne if you want to raise the bar.
Convenient, central, reliable.
Evening Table
Empoli doesn't have showpiece restaurants, but it knows how to feed those who know where to go. This section ranges from polished dining rooms to neighborhood institutions and pizza.
9 places
Via Jacopo Chimenti, 7/11 Empoli
A hard-to-beat quality-price ratio, impeccable management, modern cuisine without pretension, not revolutionary, but different enough and carefully presented. The menu is short, and that's a good thing: few dishes, all on point, both fish and meat.
Booking is essential: it is always full, for good reason.
Via Vincenzo Salvagnoli, 47, Empoli
Right in the historic center, inside a beautiful space with exposed 1600 wall that does half the work. The cuisine is classic, meat and fish, with some modern touches that update without overturning. Everything works: the food, the service, the atmosphere.
A historic, reliable place recommended for a family dinner and a romantic ones.
Via d'Ormicello, 18, 50053 Pozzale-Case Nuove FI
An institution. If you want to understand what Tuscan cuisine really is, this is the place. Huge, classic but well-kept space, with a visible grill that says everything about the approach. You eat meat, a lot, and well: steaks, stews, game, wild boar and duck ragu, fried chicken and rabbit.
Outside the center; car recommended.
Piazza Farinata degli Uberti, 2, 50053 Empoli FI
The name says it all, but the seafood says more. Right in one of the most beautiful squares in Empoli, with outdoor tables when the weather allows. Seafood dishes are not obvious and are well executed: fresh, cooked with a modern approach that works.
Also offers seafood sandwiches for something more casual.
Via Andrea Bonistalli, 20/a, Empoli
A successful bet. A young couple pursuing research-driven cuisine without betraying Tuscan roots. They experiment, propose, and introduce a different way of eating to an audience that often doesn't expect it. Wines are natural and highly curated.
The most distinctive detail is the counter-style chef's table experience.
Via Cosimo Ridolfi, 36 Empoli FI
Neapolitan pizza, done right. Small, often full, which says everything. Friendly management and fair prices. Nothing more needs to be said.
P.za XXIV Luglio, 14, Empoli
A modern, spacious pizzeria with real research behind dough and pairings. The result is an interesting hybrid between Neapolitan and Tuscan traditions, not a compromise, but a synthesis that works.
Very popular, and for good reason.
Something different. Not a restaurant, not a sit-down. Fish, fried, in a paper cone.
Via Chiara, 30 Empoli
Via Chiara runs parallel to the main pedestrian streets of the centro storico — off the classic 'Giro d'Empoli' circuit of the Historic centre. Which is exactly the point. Pesciolino is a fish street food counter on a quiet side street: fish sandwiches, fried fish, some meat options, honest prices. Weekly menus and family deals make it a regular for locals.
Worth the ten minutes. San Miniato is ten minutes away by car. One restaurant there is worth knowing about.
Via IV Novembre 29, San Miniato (10 min da Empoli)
Chef Fabrizio Marino spent eight years at Joia in Milan — Italy's only Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant — before coming back to open this. The menu is fully plant-based, seasonal, and genuinely surprising: not a compromise for those who don't eat meat, but a reason in itself to make the trip. Tasting menus of four or six courses. Vegan and gluten-free options available. Book ahead.
Booking recommended. Closed Thursday.
Elsewhere, Nearby
Empoli is more multicultural than many expect, and the table shows it. These are the two names surfaced clearly in the guide's extractable text.
2 places
Via Campania, 16, Empoli
An authentic Indian kitchen in a well-kept setting that feels nothing like a thrown-together spot. The cuisine is traditional but refined, less home-style and more accessible to diners less familiar with the subcontinent's flavors.
About a 15-minute walk from the center, close to Serravalle Park.
Piazza Guido Guerra, 40, Empoli FI
Classic Chinese. Nothing revolutionary, but very popular for a clear reason: affordable and satisfying. Honest cooking that does exactly what it's meant to do, without pretension.
Useful Stops
A good guide also needs practical suggestions: bakeries, produce, simple provisions, and reliable places for a quick pickup during the day.
3 places
Via Leonardo Da Vinci, 30, Empoli FI
A small shop with a wide selection of fruit, vegetables, and food specialties, carefully chosen to ensure quality and freshness, always at fair prices, all within just 22 square meters. Milk, vegetarian products, cheeses, and more.
Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, 2, Empoli FI
Local bakery right on Piazza Matteotti, offering schiacciata, oven-baked pizzas, and a variety of freshly made breads. You'll also find cured meats and simple, well-made sandwiches: the kind of place you can rely on for a quick, satisfying bite at any time of day.
Via Piave, 40 Empoli
A bakery bringing the flavors of Southern Italy to Empoli, with a selection of regional breads, pizzas, and traditional baked specialties. Alongside the savory offerings, you'll also find classic Southern sweets: simple, generous, and rooted in tradition.
Move Smarter
Empoli is a central hub for reaching the main Tuscan cities: the train reaches Florence in 25 minutes and Pisa in 35. Bike sharing has been active in the city since 2024
By train
Empoli station is a junction on the Florence–Pisa and Florence–Siena lines. From here: Florence in 25 minutes, Pisa in 35, San Miniato in 10, Siena in about 50. The most practical option if you want to explore the region without a car.
Bike sharing — Elerent
20 electric bikes across 10 stations — train station, hospital, Piazza della Vittoria and others. Free-floating: pick up and leave anywhere within city limits, 24 hours a day. App: Elerent (download, register, scan the QR on the bike). Cost: €1 unlock + €0.20/minute.
Delivery
The main delivery platforms operate in Empoli (Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats — verify current coverage).
Two places in this guide also have their own delivery: Pesciolino (Via Chiara 30) and Le Maison Pizza & Pesce.
Taxi
Radio Taxi Empoli. Station right outside the train station.
Phone: +39 0571 73100
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Alva Guide, Empoli edition. Editorial selection based on verified local knowledge.
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