Is there any ritual more Italian than aperitivo? Florentines adore nothing more than an early evening spent with friends around big goblets of red wine or fiery Aperol spritz, picking at piles of olives or hot pans of pane con pomodoro flecked with garlic. Only steps away from the lively Piazza Santo Spirito, cosy Il Santino serves top-quality wines accompanied by cured meat and crostini bubbling with crumbled sausage and melted pecorino.

In the folds of Florence’s leather market, you will find this tiny bar filled with locals who come to sip wine from around 10AM. Along with a wine list that reads like a map of the region, Casa del Vino serves little plates to accompany each glass – expect silvery anchovies, truffle crostini, pickled artichokes and strings of milky stracciatella di bufala cheese, served with a trickle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.

Combining all the best aspects of a library, café, bar and event space, La Cite is the sort of place you can stay for hours without feeling pressured to leave (or buy another coffee). Designed to feel like somebody’s home, there are plenty of hideaways in which to work, study or socialise. They often host events in the evenings, including book launches, talks and live performances.

If you’re renting a place in the city for a few days and want to drink top-notch table wine at home like a local, Bacco Nudo is a great place to have up your sleeve. A traditional vino sfuso – offering wine on tap in refillable glass bottles – it’s home to a huge selection of wines and spirits from Tuscany and other Italian winemaking regions.

Come for the ever-so-elegant art-deco interiors and champagne; stay for the moreish butter-and-truffle-stuffed brioche buns – mini mouthfuls of heaven for £1.70 a pop. This might just be the most civilised aperitivo hour you’ll ever have the joy of sampling, which is perhaps unsurprising given that Procacci is owned by the Antinori wine dynasty, as old-school Florentine as it gets, and is popular with a well-heeled local crowd.

You’re paying for the view here – and it’s worth it for a fifth-floor spot overlooking the Ponte Vecchio, River Arno and Tuscan hills beyond. There is possibly nowhere in Florence with such a lookout, perched atop the medieval Consorti tower, and, boy, do people know it. Book in advance for a sunset spot, and settle in with a Lucky Smoke – a Laphroig 10-based cocktail blended with maple syrup and aromatic bitters.

This Venetian-inspired cocktail bar specialises in spritzes, serving up a vast selection featuring the likes of Aperol and Campari. Our favourite? The Hugo – akin to an elderflower mojito. Priced at an irresistible £3.50, the refreshing drinks go nicely alongside a tempting menu of cicchetti, Venice’s answer to tapas.

A natural wine bar that wouldn’t be out of place in Shoreditch, this chic new spot prides itself on an exclusively Italian collection of organic and biodynamic wines, including a number of orange wines available by the glass. Take-away bottles are all well and good, but we suggest bagging one of the high tables outside on a warm evening and enjoying whatever’s playing on the record player as you sip.

Tucked away in a tiny piazza near the Ponte Vecchio, this wine bar is a perennial favourite that lives up to its rave reviews. The wine list includes vintages from across the whole of Italy, with special attention paid to unsung terroirs. Peckish? The toast with melted Asiago cheese, speck and honey is sublime.