We will only have a few hours in Florence. We are taking an early morning train from Venice, have a few hours to explore Florence and then pick up a rental and drive down toward Pienza. Obviously a long leisurely lunch will be out of the question on that day so I thought that we would pick up a picnic lunch to eat on the way. I'm sure there are a number of places that sell paninis and other delectibles to go. Can someone recommend their favorite?

I don't know of any place to get a picnic lunch, but I have gotten slices of pizza to go. There is a small pizzeria near the Duomo and you can sit outside along the planters in the Piazza to eat. If you are facing the cathedral entry, it is to your left, across Via de Cerretani. I don't remember the name, but it was very good.

If the central market is open, you can get a lot of prepared food there "to go."

Thank you both for your replies. I have a memory of a trip report, I think perhaps it was MaitaiTom's. He sang the praises of a particular chicken panini that he had longed for since his lat vist. He arrived to find just one left. I'm not sure that it was Tom or even Florence. Does this anecdote ring a bell with anyone? Don't make me go digging through all of the trip reports that I have bookmarked!! LOL!!

Found it. It was Tom and it was Florence. What a hoot!

From Maitaitom's We Didn't Drink all the Vino trip report:

"We made it to the station for the 1 pm train (after a gelato stop) and were back in Florence a little after two. Kim and Mary went off on their own, but I went in search of the greatest chicken sandwiches on the face of the earth at Caffe Giacosa, off the Via Tornabuoni.

This was Tracy and my fourth visit to Florence, and these morsels from heaven are the tastiest, freshest little sandwiches ever made. We have them every time we are here, and this seemed like a nice opportunity for me to do something nice for my wife. I thought, “Tracy will say I am the greatest, most considerate husband on earth (well, she could lie) when I bring these back for her.”

To my horror, they were sold out. Panic set in, because we only had one day left in Florence and had dreamed about these sandwiches from the time we got to Italy (sure that’s weird, but damnit these are GOOD sandwiches!). “We usually put them out at 11,” the woman said. I made a mental note that we should not forget to be here tomorrow morning at 11 am. Remember, however, I am the guy who put Super Gas in a Diesel"
(fast forward to next day)
"Then came another Tom Moment of Terror. I looked at my watch and it was 11:30 am. The chicken sandwiches had been waiting for us for ½ an hour. We hustled over to Café Giacosa, and there was only one left. We bought it, and took it to the nearby bridge. Trading bites, it was if we were about to lose a long lost member of the family, so before the ultimate demise, I got the camera out and shot a picture of the half eaten sandwich with its Cage Giacosa wrapping."

Pardon the ressurection of this thread. I wanted to add some info posted by poster "plafield" in her delicious trip report. Hopefully, future obsessive compulsive planners, much like yours truly, looking for delectable picnic fare in Florence will find these tips helpful.

Now I am torn....the chicken or the beef? See plafield's comments below:

"For lunch we had intended on trying Quatro Leoni for their famous pear and asparagas ravioli, but decided, after our stop at Riviore, to skip a sit down lunch and go to the Central Mercato and have one of Nerboni’s famous boiled beef sandwiches. What a great decision. We found their stall in the huge indoor food market and lined up to order our sandwiches. There’s a guy that stands there just slicing a huge hunk of boiled beef all day long! What a job. He slices it, slaps it onto a big, bulky roll and asks what kind of sauce you want. Both DH and myself had both sauces, a green pesto like sauce and a bright red hot pepper sauce that will cause smoke to come out of you orifices now and maybe a bit later too!

After you get your sandwich you find a seat at one of the 4 or 5 communal tables and dig in. The juice from the meat soaks into the bread and every bite is heaven. The two, huge mouth watering sandwiches were 4.50 E. They also had some delicious looking pasta dishes and wine and other beverages for sale. We bought a water to cool the heat of the pepper sauce. What a delicious lunch and fun experience."