Florence

Law Enforcement

In Florence the busiest tourist spots felt the most watched: Piazza della Signoria, the Uffizi and the Duomo. Smoking in the open seemed easier away from that part of the center. The cops might be quiet, but they’re still cops.

Some people remember officers throwing away a small piece and giving a warning. The newer Marijuana Laws section explains how Italy treats small personal amounts and how that differs from a street encounter.

Where to Buy Marijuana

Santa Maria Novella split opinion. Around the quarter, a gram of good African hash could go for €6–7, but the station was crowded, heavily patrolled and a bad place to get ripped off with oregano. Many tourists arrived there by train from Pisa while Florence’s airport was being renovated. At night the area felt particularly unsafe.

Florence is small enough to walk most places. Near Santa Croce, clubs drew college students from around the world, mostly around 20, and American students who’d been there a few weeks sometimes knew their way around. A few blocks north, a headshop painted with colorful pot leaves sold me a one-foot bong that looked like an ancient Roman vase for €6. The cashier might have tips if you bought something.

Locals pointed to Santo Spirito at night for hash and students, university gatherings in Piazza Brunelleschi for weed, and squatted social centers for hash. San Lorenzo, a North African quarter, was another possibility but felt dangerous even to some Florentines, especially if you couldn’t speak Italian. In the evening there was Brunelleschi or Santissima Annunziata, though the stuff could be bad. Santa Croce could mean a rip-off or medium-grade hash depending on whom you met. Don’t go alone if you’re uneasy, keep an eye on the police and stay calm if you bargain. The Lions, Cathedral and Andromeda came up as places to avoid for deals.

Other places people mentioned were the African market in San Niccolò, San Salvi park with the bar Ulisse and a squat putting on anarcho-punk shows, and the alley by Caffè Notte off Santo Spirito. A hemp shop near Sant’Ambrogio sold seeds. Le Piagge in northwest Florence had lower prices but felt risky without someone from town. At Lungarno, two Moroccan sellers often sat on a wall near a bus stop by Lungarno Cristoforo Colombo. I’d ask for cinquanta, fifty, and figured anything bigger was asking to get ripped off. I sometimes went past looking like a jogger and carried on running afterward.

Florence marijuana prices

Nothing in Florence comes cheap. These were the prices at the time:

• €15–20 a gram for mediocre weed.
• €20 for two grams or €50 for five.
• Good hash or weed at €10–12 a gram.

North African street hash could be €10 a gram or €5–6 if you knew somebody. Indian hash was €10–12, with much more enthusiasm for the taste. Ordinary weed was also quoted at €10 a gram. People often smoked hash in a chillum.

Types of Marijuana

Marocchino: North African hash, described as common and comparatively inexpensive, with quality ranging widely.

Borbuka: Strong, tasty African hash. Expensive.

Charas: Indian hash. Fantastic, strong and full of flavor. Expensive, and often smoked in a chillum.

Polline: another commonly mentioned hash, generally described as relatively affordable.

Weed: Homegrown could be fantastic or awful. Swiss and Dutch weed was fairly common, generally loved more than homegrown and usually expensive, depending on quality.

More Information

Florence likes a drink. Bars, pubs and clubs cater to just about every crowd. I walked down the street with a litre of Heineken. People talked about a drinking age of 16 and few open-container restrictions in those days. Cannabis felt riskier and harder to find. If you didn’t speak Italian, Andromeda and Lochness had plenty of English-speaking students, even if locals had a different take on Andromeda.

At night the squares filled up with hippies, jugglers and students playing music, drinking Chianti and passing a strong, tasty chillum. People came from Pisa or Siena because hash and weed were cheaper, especially in amounts of 50 grams or more. Clubs and squats put on plenty of reggae and dub. Florence loves reggae.

A resident's reply

“I’m Italian and I’ve lived in Florence for several years. You’ll hear two completely different things about how easy it is to find weed here. A lot depends on who you spend time with.”

“There are lots of foreign students, many of them American. Some stay together and go to the same English-speaking pubs and clubs—the Lions, Cathedral or Fish, for example. I rarely met them at university parties, social centers or the bars I usually visited.

“That could make it hard for them to find decent hash at a reasonable price. A piece sold to a local for €10 might be offered to a tourist for €25. Arguing didn't necessarily help, especially in places where tempers could flare. My advice was to meet people and make friends.”

Santo Spirito is calmer. Every night the square fills up and it’s easier to meet people. University parties and squats are part of that side of Florence. I’ve rarely met Americans at the bars I go to, and never at a squat or university party. San Lorenzo and Santa Croce can be another story: haggling doesn’t always help, and brawls weren’t unusual. Making friends makes it easier to get good hash at a fair price.

Around 25 April there was 72 Ore, a three-day rave against Italy’s prohibitionist drug laws. People came from across Italy. Sound systems played reggae, tekno, drum ’n’ bass, Goa and breakbeat. “Three days of total madness. Enjoy it!”