Specialty coffee / Brunch / Aperitivo
Address: Via Pisana 48R, 50143 Firenze
Instagram: @manlytheoffice
Manly The Office sits on busy Via Pisana, far enough from the postcard center that San Frediano starts to feel like a neighborhood again. The café was opened in 2023 by Maykol Martino and Alice Risani, two Florentine baristas whose time in Manly, Australia, changed the way they thought about coffee, breakfast, and what a neighborhood café could be.
The space is tiny, just a handful of seats inside and a few tables outside, but it has the warm, relaxed energy of somewhere designed with real affection. A large image of Manly recalls the Australian beach town where Maykol and Alice lived, worked, and turned their friendship into both a relationship and a shared project. The colors are warm, the mood is informal, and the whole place still feels like a Florentine neighborhood bar.
Coffee is the heart of the offer. Manly works with Florentine micro-roastery D612, using a house espresso blend called L’Australiano, made with Brazilian and Ethiopian beans. It is balanced and aromatic, with notes of hazelnut, dark chocolate, and red berries, and it works beautifully in espresso, cappuccino, flat white, and the kind of milk-based drinks that are still not always easy to find done properly in Florence. There are also filter options, cold brew, matcha, chai, golden latte, iced coffee, and plenty of plant-based milk choices.
Food runs from Italian-style breakfast to full Australian-inspired brunch. In the morning there are croissants and coffee; later, the menu shifts toward avocado toast, salmon bagels, chicken wraps, roast beef sandwiches, yogurt bowls, granola, pancakes, banana bread, cheesecake, carrot cake, and other homemade sweets. The kitchen is small, but the menu feels generous and flexible, with vegan and gluten-free options also available. Later in the day, Manly moves naturally into aperitivo, with wine, spritzes, classic cocktails, craft beer, nachos with guacamole, and cicchetti.
WHY IT MATTERS: Manly The Office does not feel like an imitation of Australia; it feels like something Maykol and Alice brought back with them, adapted to San Frediano, and made genuinely their own. It is small, personal, and unusually convincing.
PERSONAL TIP: Come in the late morning, when you can move slowly from coffee into brunch. Order a flat white or cappuccino, then go for the avocado toast, a salmon bagel, or whatever homemade cake is on the counter. If you are nearby later in the day, come back for aperitivo: it is the kind of place that changes rhythm without losing its warmth.
