Fiorino

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

From Florence to Chinatown

The story of Fiorino begins with a specific craving. In January 2013, Giovanni Mascagni moved from his native Florence to British Columbia and found that, while most Italian ingredients were available in Vancouver, one essential was missing: authentic Tuscan schiacciata bread. He set about recreating it at home, shared it with family and friends, and the response was unanimous. That bread became the foundation of a restaurant.

To get the recipe right, Gio returned to Florence for a six-month apprenticeship with a well-known baker working inside the Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, learning the centuries-old techniques of Tuscan bread-making. Back in Vancouver, he opened Fiorino on East Georgia Street, in a building that has housed a restaurant since 1910, in the heart of the city's historic Chinatown neighbourhood.

The name carries two references: the Fiat Fiorino, the compact delivery truck that has navigated Florence's narrow streets since the 1970s bringing fresh bread across the city; and the Fiorino d'Oro, the gold coin that served as Florence's main currency from 1252 to 1533. Together they capture the dual identity of the place – a daytime sandwich bar and an evening aperitivo destination.

The Food and Drink

Lunch centres on the house-baked schiacciata bread sandwiches that started it all. Fillings range from 18-month Prosciutto di Parma with stracciatella and balsamic fig jam, to glazed pork belly with Stracchino cheese and Calabrian chili aioli, to a vegan option with fried eggplant and roasted tomato crema. The Italian street food format is faithful to the Florentine original: quality ingredients, no fuss, eaten at pace.

From 3pm the room shifts into Italian happy hour – cicchetti, house wine by the ounce, and a Negroni Classico – before the evening opens into a fuller aperitivo and dinner service. The cocktail list is built almost entirely around the Negroni, with seven variations ranging from a classic to a milk-clarified Caribbean riff with coconut-washed rum. The wine list is all-Italian, running from house Pinot Grigio and Prosecco through to Brunello di Montalcino and Barolo.

The space was designed by Jute Design & Management and photographed by Studio Santiago. In 2025, Fiorino expanded to a second location at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, a 200-seat restaurant with a waterfront patio and private dining room, extending the Florentine street food experience to the North Shore.

Recognition

Fiorino's commitment to authentic Italian street food has earned it a listing in the Gambero Rosso guide – the Italian food and wine authority whose recognition carries particular weight for a restaurant rooted so deliberately in Italian culinary tradition. It is a mark of how seriously Gio Mascagni's original idea, born of homesickness and a missing bread, has been executed.