Stefano Bemer

Boboli & San Miniato al Monte


Bespoke shoes for gents – complete with original sixpence coin embedded in the sole of the left shoe for good luck – is what this Florentine shoemaker does best. Pick from 40 basic styles, fashioned in a remarkable choice of leather, including deer, bull, shark, hippopotamus or Russian reindeer, preserved since 1786 using traditional tanning methods.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Boboli & San Miniato al Monte attractions

1. Torre San Niccolò

0.05 MILES

Built in 1324, the best preserved of the city’s medieval gates stands sentinel on the banks of the Arno. In summer, with a guide you can scale the steep…

2. Piazzale Michelangelo

0.16 MILES

Turn your back on the bevy of ticky-tacky souvenir stalls flogging David statues and boxer shorts and take in the spectacular city panorama from this vast…

3. Clet

0.16 MILES

Should you notice something gone awry with street signs in Oltrarno – on a No Entry sign, a tiny black figure stealthily sneaking away with the white bar…

4. Basilica di Santa Croce

0.3 MILES

The austere interior of this Franciscan basilica is a shock after the magnificent neo-Gothic facade enlivened by varying shades of coloured marble. Most…

5. Palazzo de' Mozzi

0.31 MILES

Pope Gregory X stayed at this early-Renaissance palazzo (palace) when brokering peace between the Guelps and Ghibellines in the 13th century.

6. Museo Horne

0.31 MILES

One of the many eccentric Brits who made Florence home in the early 20th century, Herbert Percy Horne bought and renovated this Renaissance palazzo, then…

7. Piazza di Santa Croce

0.33 MILES

This square was cleared in the Middle Ages to allow the faithful to gather when the church itself was full. In Savonarola's day, heretics were executed…

8. Basilica di San Miniato al Monte

0.34 MILES

Five minutes' walk uphill from Piazzale Michelangelo is this wonderful Romanesque church, dedicated to St Minius, an early-Christian martyr in Florence…