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Lochness
Look for the green door. You'll need to pay a one-off membership fee of around €8 . Those with unlimited drinking capacity, but who are short on cash, could combine the Loonees happy hour, from to , with more of the same until at Lochness.
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Loonees
You wouldn't know this place existed if you hadn't been told. Walk into the building and the door is to the left of the staircase. It's a fairly small 'club' - basically just a bar with an expat bent and occasional live music of dubious taste. Still it's a personable enough spot for a pint.
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Mamma
On those warm summer nights half of Florence seems to be here (the other half is probably on holiday). Tables on the grass in the shadow of the illuminated city walls, a series of bars and even some Bedouin-style tent space attract hordes of tanned and showy locals.
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Mayday
This stylish lounge bar, often the scene of art exhibitions, is primarily a funky stage for an evening out, with great music and even the occasional live show. Much of the décor comes from bits and pieces donated by the mostly foreign punters at the end of their Florentine sojourns.
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Meccanò
Of the three sprawling dance spaces the main one is given over to a rhythmic crew of go-go dancers. Thursday is house night but any day is quite all right too. And you may well find a good sprinkling of locals in here alongside the inevitable foreign student brigade.
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Montecarla
Leopard skins, gaudy cushions, plush drapes, plastic flowers and moody corners abound if you don't mind the membership here. They say it was never a bordello but we're not convinced.
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Moyo
This trendy number has a mixed crowd of arty, grungy Florentines, as well as students and a sprinkling of the fashion set quaffing from its tumblers. For cocktail-sipping you can opt to perch on high stools, lounge out the back or sit on outdoor tables. Occasionally you'll strike live music and when the sounds are vinyl-based, the sounds are eclectic.
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Negroni
One of the city's hippest bars for sipping, well, a Negroni (a Campari and gin-based cocktail) and tucking into the Milan-style bar buffet at the generously long aperitivo hour. A DJ spins some not-too-intense club sounds out the back.
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Novabar
The waiters are in black, the walls are black, even the floor is black in parts. Red lights and loud DJ-spun tracks of a distinctly hippity hoppity nature all go towards attracting a predominantly foreign crowd into this watering hole, divided into two separate drinking spaces.
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Piccolo Café
Relaxed and unruffled, this bar has a cool metallic ceiling adorned with phallic light bulbs, and attracts a mixed crowd of gays and lesbians, young and old.
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Rex Caffè
Smooth cocktails, big beats, friendly staff and a cosy back room (perhaps in that order) combine to make this one of the best bars in Florence. The Gaudí-esque interior is an elegant, colourful mess, but the vibe is convivial and the tunes are guaranteed to make your bum wiggle.
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Rose's
A casual and smoke-free New York-style café, with salads and pastas available during the day, Rose's undergoes a metamorphosis after dark, when it turns into a hip and lively sushi bar (food on until ) and fills up with a trendy crowd.
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Salamanca
This pseudo-Spanish joint has an attractive horseshoe bar but you won't get near it at weekends when the place reverberates to flamenco rock and fills to the rafters with foreign girls and local boys. Dress to sweat and don't underestimate the cocktails.
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Sant'Ambrogio Caffè
A truly local bar, this place draws a congenial crew of smart 30-somethings and funkier arty types. Tables are set up outside in summer, and there are reasonable snacks during the day.
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Tabasco
Only boys get the nod at Italy's oldest gay disco, the perfect place if you're feeling frisky. There's a disco, cocktail bar and dark room in the most central location, just off Piazza della Signoria. Dress code is as loose as the behaviour.
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Universale
The owners have converted this old cinema, putting a restaurant upstairs and a bar in the middle of the downstairs area, around which gathers a mixed set of locals tending towards the beautiful people. In the background a screen plays classic black and white movie clips.
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Universo Sanchez
Florentines in their finest frippery flock here (but not in summer, when it is usually half-empty) to sip cocktails in a series of different bars, stretching back from the vaguely North African-styled chill area in the front. There are dance spaces, the chance to do a little yoga and more intimate rooms towards the back, for couples with eyes (and hands) only for one another.
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Vinarius
If you're after a civilised wine stop in the course of the day, drop by here and indulge in a little tasting. They put out more than a dozen reds and several whites by the glass for you to choose from - a combination of Tuscan and national labels.
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William
Although it's another of the English-style contingent (of which you may have noticed there is no shortage), this cavernous drinking den tends to attract groups of young Florentines in search of a pint of ale rather than gangs of holiday-makers in search of six.
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Y.A.G. Bar
There's a warm and fuzzy atmosphere at this spacious dance bar, invariably full of cute young boys and a sprinkling of lesbians. It gets packed by midnight.
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Yab
Older clubbers flock to this central favourite where there's a good mix of top-drawer sounds throughout the week and on-the-minute hip-hop Mondays. A huge dance floor is flanked with raised bars perfect for wiggling and watching.
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Zoe
Zoe is popular with a sexy student crowd who come for the fruitylicous cocktails and the glowing red interior, bedecked with changing art exhibitions. The bar is so popular with young locals that they are known to spill out onto the street.
