La Rinascente

La Rinascente is a decent enough department store that's like Macy's in the states.

Lots of food, drink, and expensive clothes to be had, but it might be better to get the luxury goods down the street.

This department store is saved only by the views form the 4th floor terrace. Skip the shopping and head to the top for moderately priced food and a million dollar view of the square.

I don't usually share my thoughts/reviews but I was so disappointed and disrespected by the staff, I just had to warn others.
This was my first day in Florence. I looked on Yelp for recommendations and found this one with good reviews.
We were there's around 3:00 so not very busy. Our waitress was rude & short (attitude). I gave her the benefit of the doubt because she was eager to go home. She was so eager she never brought us water ($3.50) which we paid for and forgot about our order. Our salad finally came but with the wrong dinner we returned the incorrect order and started on the salad with bread that was brought to our table (we didn't order). Salad was pretty good but bread was dry and hard. When we finally got our correct order, the pasta was undercooked. It was hard so I had to return also. We decide we were done and asked the waiter for the check ($10 salad, $6 for 4 small pieces of hard/tasteless bread and $3.50 water). As we we're getting ready to pay, a man comes to argue with me that pasta is fine, he said I didn't know how pasta is cooked. He was so rude he started chanting "go home, hurry up and just go home". I guess he didn't like the fact , we are American. I asked for a manager but
he just kept yelling. We decided just to leave and give an honest review to this poorly run restaurant and horrible staff.

La Rinascente by the Duomo in Milan is a large, high-end department store located right across the street from the Duomo (I think it's comparable to a Neiman Marcus, it sells mostly expensive brands.) Luxury shopping heaven! There are 7 floors plus the ground floor; the ground floor is mostly comprised of cosmetic and perfume counters. The 3rd and 4th floors are dedicated to women's clothing. There is also a floor for men's clothing/accessories and at least half a floor dedicated to women's shoes. The 1st and 2nd floors look like a mini luxury mall with small boutiques of all the major high-end brands (Gucci, Ferragamo, etc.) The prices seem to be the same as the stand alone retail stores (a pair of Ferragamo Varina flats were 460 Euros in La Rinascente and the same price in the Ferragamo store in Milan.) American brands are definitely more expensive there, I saw a Polo Ralph Lauren sweater for 135 Euros, yikes!

The 6th floor has a Global Blue office with about 4-5 machines that look like ATMs which can give you an automatic refund onto your credit card; they also have a few employees to help you in person. However, even if you get a refund on your La Rinascente/outside purchases there, you still need to get a customs stamp at the airport. Only seems helpful if you have purchases made outside of Italy (so instead of standing in both the customs and tax-return lines at the airport, you would eliminate having to stand in the tax-return line.) However, if you purchase something at La Rinascente and choose to get your tax refund back onto a La Rinascente gift card, they add 10% of the refund to the value of the gift card! Sweet deal if you plan on making a few big purchases.

The 7th floor has luxury food items (like a mini grocery store!) full of various balsamic vinegars, olive oils, biscotti, chocolates, and other wonderful gifts! There is also a Moet & Chandon bar (drinks were 12 Euros and up) and a huge dessert case filled with macarons, eclairs, and any other dessert your heart desires! Quite pricey though. There were small restaurants there as well.

If you are not from Italy you can sign up online for a free La Rinascente International Visitor's card, which gives you 10% off on purchases (excluding the high-end luxury brands and 7th floor food purchases.)

Restrooms are located on 4th and 7th floors and are FREE to use! A good place to stop after visiting the Duomo!

This is a small La Rinascente compared to other stores in Italy. They have a nice offering in all departments for men, women, and children. Perfect stop if you forgot to pack something.

If I had to make a comparison of the Rinascente, I'd say it's the Italian version of Saks or Macy's type department store. There are a lot of mid to high end merchandise here. The store is in the heart of Florence's shopping district and the amazing thing about Florence is that it's full of tourists but doesn't feel overrun by tourists like Venice.

The store has multiple levels of clothing, designer goods and housewares. The top level houses a cafe with a beautiful view of Florence and the mountains that are in the distance. I believe it overlooks the hospital but I could be seriously wrong about this! The view into the courtyard of what I thought is the hospital has a lot of buskers and tourists watching buskers.

The reason for the low rating is if you have gone to the Rinascente in Milan this is a smaller more run down version of that store with a lot less items.

The staff upstairs at the wine bar were super rude and ridiculous. There was not a whole lot of people there and we could not sit three at a four top for more than four minutes. I've been in the service industry for decades and these people had no interest in accommodating whatsoever. Who in their right mind offers a table that we can sit out for four minutes?

Come for the sensational views and some drinks. It's a small space but people didn't seem to wait long. The food is average at best but I guess you're paying for the view!

Oh how I love this place! Basically this is the harrods and galerie Lafayette of Florence and on the cafe terrace a beautiful surprise (the duomo right there on your face while you enjoy a nice glass of prosecco or tea and yummy sandwiches). My fav part of the store is the home goods. Amazing designers selling the coolest stuff for you kitchen (pictures attached). And the windows of this department store also have cool designs and videos during the holiday season just like harrods and gallery Lafayette...I love Florence and this place is one of the reason's why :)

Very nice view and staff. Drinks were priced appropriately. Only downside was the wait. You go up 4 levels to find the stairs and only then do you see the line for tables.
We had beer, wine, and mixed drinks. All were cold and well sized.