The pretext was the International Agricultural Exhibition, thanks to which it was necessary to create a structure that could welcome exhibitors from all over the world. To create to create in the maze of narrow streets it was necessary to demolish an entire block of very old and rather unhealthy houses, in the perimeter that goes from Ariento street, Panicale street, Chiara street to Sant’Antonino road an area of ​​over 5,000 square meters.

The architect Giuseppe Mengoni was chosen for the design of the building (who later created the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan), and who took inspiration from Les Halles in Paris. Thanks to the use of the most modern materials of the time (iron, glass, cast iron) a loggia took shape with an ashlar base of pietra serena, a tradition of Florentine palaces, and composed of ten arches, while inside the light filtered through the large windows and a canopy supported by pillars and iron and cast iron structures.

The inauguration took place in May 1874. Since then, when the structure was transformed into a “market”, the quiet neighborhood where the Zà Zà restaurant is also located has been transformed into the vital center of Florence, a metropolitan square where the life of every day and the tourist one mix and meet among handicraft products, food delicacies and artistic genius.

As someone wrote, in fact “in Florence art and tripe are good neighbors”.

To celebrate the important milestone, the Central Market will celebrate throughout 2024, in the neighborhood of the Medici family, and the nineteenth-century structure of the Market, with the participation of 10 famous markets from all over the world, will host a series of events and which will culminate with the presentation of a documentary film and a book that tells the stories of those who live it every day.