Caruso Jazz Cafe ★ 4.1
$$Centro StoricoThu-Sat 19:00 to 01:00, sets from 21:00
Caruso Jazz Cafe occupies a brick-vaulted basement on Via Lambertesca a step from the Uffizi, with live jazz sets Thursday through Saturday starting around 21:00 and a small Italian kitchen that runs through service for early-evening diners.
Tip: Italian and touring jazz players cycle through weekly; reserve a table close to the stage for sightlines in the narrow vault. The Risotto Caruso with prawns and prosecco is the house plate.
NOF Club ★ 4.4
$$San FredianoTue-Sun 19:00 to 02:00, closed Mon
NOF runs a small Borgo San Frediano room with nightly live music since September 2011, programming Italian songwriters, rock, blues, funk and jazz quartets across a free-entry calendar that has logged more than a thousand concerts in its first decade.
Tip: Doors at 19:00 for aperitivo, sets from 22:00. The room fits perhaps fifty so arrive early on weekends. Cocktails and a short small-plates kitchen run through service.
701 Rooftop Bar ★ 4.6
$$$$Centro StoricoTue-Sat 16:00 to 22:30, closed Sun-Mon
701 Rooftop opened in summer 2024 on the seventh floor of the Lungarno Collection's Gallery Hotel Art a step from Ponte Vecchio, with two panoramic terraces pointing at Brunelleschi's Duomo, Giotto's Tower and Palazzo Vecchio and an interior by architect Michele Bonan in warm boiserie and English-club lines.
Tip: Cocktails sit around 22 euros and the bar opens for sunset only, Tuesday to Saturday. Book a terrace table well ahead for the Duomo sightline; the room is small and reserves out fast.
Empireo at Plaza Hotel Lucchesi ★ 4.4
$$$Santa CroceMay to Sep daily 19:00 to 24:00, seasonal opening
Empireo has run on the rooftop of the Plaza Hotel Lucchesi since 2014, with a pool deck, an American bar and a wraparound terrace that takes in the Duomo, Santa Croce and the Arno bend, paired with the Segno kitchen for an early-evening dinner service through the warm months.
Tip: Non-guests need a reservation after 19:30; the pool is hotel-guest only. The view across to Santa Croce works best at sunset with a Negroni in hand.
Sesto on Arno ★ 4.5
$$$$Santa Maria NovellaDaily 12:30 to 14:30 and 19:30 to 22:30
Sesto on Arno sits on the sixth floor of the Westin Excelsior on Piazza Ognissanti, with a glass-walled dining room, two open-air terraces split between bar and restaurant, and a sightline that picks up the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and the Oltrarno hills across the Arno.
Tip: Bar service runs during dinner hours; book the bar terrace if you only want a drink. The west-facing terrace is the seat for sunset; cocktails sit around 22 euros.
Divina Terrazza at Grand Hotel Cavour ★ 4.3
$$$Centro StoricoTue-Sun 17:00 to 23:00, closed Mon
Divina Terrazza crowns the Grand Hotel Cavour on Via del Proconsolo with a covered sixth-floor terrace that frames the Bargello, the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio, running year-round with heat lamps in winter and vaporizers in summer alongside an American bar programme.
Tip: Reservations are essential since the deck is small; cocktails sit around 18 to 20 euros. The covered terrace works in the cooler months when other Florence rooftops shut.