Tuscany
Florence Christmas Market 2026: Santa Croce Dates, Hours and the Other Fairs
Florence's Christmas market runs 14 November to 20 December 2026 on Piazza Santa Croce, with more than 50 stalls, free entry and late hours at weekends.
Florence's Christmas market runs from 14 November to 20 December 2026 on Piazza Santa Croce.
It is a German market in a Tuscan square, and it closes five days before Christmas.
More than 50 wooden stalls stand in front of the basilica, with free entry, as the Tuscany region's portal intoscana lists. They open from 10:00 to 22:00 from Monday to Thursday and until 23:00 from Friday to Sunday, according to the city calendar published by Il Reporter.
Quick answer
Dates: 14 November to 20 December 2026.
Hours: 10:00 to 22:00 Monday to Thursday, 10:00 to 23:00 Friday to Sunday.
Where: Piazza Santa Croce, in front of the basilica. Entry is free.
What: more than 50 wooden stalls of German food, crafts and decorations, with concerts and a box for letters to Father Christmas.
The trap: the last day is Sunday 20 December. There is no market in Christmas week.
A Weihnachtsmarkt under Santa Croce
The market is called the Weihnachtsmarkt, and the name is honest. The stalls sell bratwurst, pretzels, strudel and mulled wine beside wooden toys, candles and glass decorations, the same things as a square in Bavaria. What changes is the backdrop. The white and green marble front of Santa Croce closes one side of the piazza, and the stalls line up in rows beneath it.
Inside the basilica are the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli, so the visit pairs easily with an hour in the church, which keeps its own ticket and opening hours. The piazza is at its best in the evening, when the lights are on and the facade is lit behind the stalls.
The other fairs on the calendar
Santa Croce is the long one. Around it the city runs a string of short markets, most of them over a single weekend. Joulutori, a Nordic market with nearly 40 exhibitors, is at The Social Hub on Viale Lavagnini on 28 and 29 November. A craft market fills the Manifattura Tabacchi from 6 to 8 December.
The most Florentine of them is the Fierucola, the fair of small organic farmers and craftsmen. Its Immacolata edition is on Piazza Santissima Annunziata on Tuesday 8 December, from 9:00 to 19:00, and the Christmas edition moves to Piazza Ognissanti on Sunday 20 December, the day the Santa Croce stalls close.
Reaching Santa Croce by train
Florence Santa Maria Novella is on the high-speed line between Milan and Rome. Fast trains take about an hour and a half from Rome, under two hours from Milan and about 40 minutes from Bologna. From the station the walk to Santa Croce takes around 20 minutes, past the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria, and it is the best way to see the lights in the centre. Do it after dark.
The centre is closed to visitors' cars, so the train is the practical choice. Timetables are on the Trenitalia and Italo sites.
Where to stay in Florence
Santa Croce itself is a good base, a neighbourhood of small streets, leather workshops and trattorias a few minutes from the Uffizi. It is quieter than the blocks around the Duomo once the market closes for the night. December weekends book early.
Around Santa Maria Novella is the choice for a short trip by train, close to the platforms and a flat walk from everything in the centre.
The mistake to avoid
Do not plan the market for Christmas week. It ends on 20 December, and a visitor who arrives on the 22nd finds an empty square. The weeks that work are the last two of November and the first three of December.
The second mistake is the long weekend of the Immacolata. From Saturday 5 to Tuesday 8 December the centre is at its fullest, the queues at the food stalls are long and rooms cost more. A weekday evening gives the same square with far fewer people.
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