A Guide to Visiting Florence - Dreaming Of The Next Trip

Florence, the capital of the Tuscany region of Italy, is my favourite Italian city. It was the birthplace of the Renaissance and its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A visit to Florence will inevitably involve learning about the history of the Renaissance period, especially the turbulent periods of rule by the Florentine Medici family; admiring Renaissance art, including masterpieces by Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Raphael; and enjoying the local Chianti wine. This guide will help you to plan a trip to Florence and to make the most of whatever time you have available in this amazing destination.

Getting there

Although there is a small airport in Florence itself, most flights land at nearby Pisa International Airport. From here, it is easy to get to Florence. Catch the Pisamover to Pisa Centrale train station and then catch a train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. The train journey will take around an hour and you will then arrive right in the centre of Florence. Depending on where you are staying, it is likely that you will be able to walk to your hotel or catch a taxi.

Tip: Remember to validate your train ticket before boarding the train. There will be ticket validating machines the platform.

You can see the main sights in a couple of days or stay a week and appreciate Florence at your leisure with the added bonus of a day trip or two…

Where to stay

The historic centre of Florence is quite compact so it’s easy to choose a hotel that places you within walking distance of all of the main sights. The heart of Florence is between the Duomo and the Arno River so anywhere in that general area will be good. I loved my stay at the Granduomo Apartments, located right next to the Duomo, and only ten minutes’ walk from the train station. It’s a small all-suite hotel in a converted 18th-century home and my large, pleasant room offered amazing views of the Duomo – so close out of the window, it was if I could reach and touch it.

Where to eat

You will be spoiled for choice when it comes to food and drink in Florence. Everything from casual sandwich bars to fine dining are easily available. My top picks for dining experiences in Florence are these:

Wine Tasting Lunch at Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina – for a delicious ‘wine tasting lunch’. When I experienced this in 2015, it involved a glorious 90 minutes of being brought glass after glass of different (all delicious) wines, while also enjoying a tasty three course lunch. It was just wonderful! (And my starter of chicken liver terrine with a vin santo reduction was the dish of my trip)

Dinner at Coquinarius – another lovely wine bar with great food, located near the Duomo. (The cheese and pear raviolini is delicious).

Casual lunch at La Prosciuttera – located on Via dei Neri, just a few minutes from Piazza della Signoria, this is a tiny, crowded shop/restaurant, serving boards filled with meats, cheese and crostini. My lunch here, served with a large glass of Chianti, and eaten while squashed on a tiny stool in a tiny passageway inside the shop, is a favourite memory

Hot Chocolate at Rivoire Café – centrally located in Piazza della Signoria, the hot chocolate at this famous café is wonderfully thick and tasty and you can enjoy it while sitting outside overlooking the piazza, its statues and its tourists

Dinner at Osteria di Giovanni – this welcoming restaurant serves great food, including Florence’s speciality of steak. They also serve a nice caprese salad with burrata, and the pistachio frozen parfait is the only way to end the meal.

Pork sandwich at Antico Vinaio – join the long, slow-moving queue outside this popular sandwich shop on Via dei Neri. The spicy, ‘inferno’ pork sandwich is worth the wait. Eat your choice perched on the curb side with a glass of wine alongside everyone else.

Browsing at Mercato Centrale – wander between the colourful stalls and try a beef brisket sandwich dipped in a spicy sauce at Nerbone.

Gelato – anywhere! Seriously, don’t leave Florence without tasting some.

What to see

If your time is limited in Florence, here are five must-see sights that can easily be seen in two days or even squeezed into a single day if you absolutely must (but don’t because Florence is a place to slow down and savour):

Duomo di Firenze (or Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) is a landmark you can’t miss in Florence. https://www.museumflorence.com/ The church was begun in 1296 and completed in 1436 (although decoration of the exterior was not completed until 1887). The magnificent dome was designed by Brunelleschi and remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. To make the most of your visit to Florence, it’s worth reading Ross King’s Brunelleschi’s’ Dome before you visit so that you can truly appreciate the effort that went into designing and building the dome. If you have the time, climbing the 463 steps to the top of the dome is well worth the effort. You’ll see Vasari’s frescoes on the inside of the dome, close enough to admire, and will walk up the stairs between Brunelleschi’s interior and exterior domes. The space at the top is limited but the views are superb, especially of the Cathedral down below and the Campanile (Giotto’s Bell Tower) which strikes its own way skyward.

The interior of the Duomo is not particularly exciting and certainly not worth waiting in a long queue to enter. A better use of limited time would be a quick visit to the Baptistery next door with its amazing ceiling.

Uffizi – The Uffizi Gallery is a treasure trove of renaissance painting, starting with a collection of golden altar pieces and progressing to many of the greats, including Botticelli and Caravaggio. The rooms are all located off splendid long corridors with wonderful ceilings and the occasional beautiful glimpse of Florence through the windows. At the end of the corridor on the main floor is a welcome café with an outside terrace where you can take a break and enjoy the close up view of the Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo. The Uffizi is a popular sight and does get crowded so visit either first thing in the morning or during the late night opening times.

David at the Accademia – in a city full of amazing statues, one surpasses them all. You simply must visit Michelangelo’s David located in the Galleria dell’Accademia. Created at the beginning of the sixteenth century from marble, David stands 17 foot high and is a magnificent sight. There are imitations of David (including one in Piazza della Signoria) but the real thing is incomparable and photos don’t do him justice. If you’re there in summer, the best time to visit is during the Saturday evening late opening times. When I was there in September 2015, there were, at most, half a dozen other people present.

Ponte Vecchio – join the crowds to wander across the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). Jewellery stores line the bridge and yet somehow amongst the tourists and high-end shops, it still feels medieval

Piazza della Signoria is the heart of Florence. Here you will find the Palazzo Vecchio, which is the old town hall of the city and Loggia dei Lanzi, an open-air sculpture gallery, which includes my favourite sculpture: Giambologna’s ‘Rape of the Sabine Women’. The piazza will be filled with tourists during the day but it’s great to visit at night, when the marble statues are illuminated and local musicians play live music.

With more time, there is a lot more art and history for you to enjoy. The Bargello museum is located in an old prison and is full of beautiful sculptures, including some famous pieces by Michelangelo and Donatello. The San Marco museum is located in an old monastery filled with lots of colourful frescoes by Fra Angelico in tiny cells where the monks slept, including the notorious Savonarola who famously overturned the Medici’s and was later burned in Piazza della Signoria.

The Palazzo Vecchio is full of impressive old rooms and you can either wander through them alone or join a ‘Secret Passageways’ tour which takes you through the back doors and secret passageways of the palace, including ascending a secret spiral stairway; finding hidden doorways in Francesco’s study; seeing the tiny Cosimo’s study built inside the palace walls; and learning about a possible Leonardo painting hidden behind the other paintings in the Hall of the 500. Finally, the Pitti Palace, across the Arno, includes an array of museums but it’s best to be selective. The Palatine Gallery and the Royal Apartments on the first floor of the palace include sumptuous rooms filled with paintings and decorations. And don’t forget to look up at the ornate ceilings. (I left Florence with a sore neck from looking at all of the gorgeous ceilings!)

Florence is also full of interesting churches and it’s worth popping in to see a few. Santa Croce is a good choice as it’s a huge cavernous place with gorgeous decorations and some big-name memorials, including Galileo, Michelangelo and Dante. Santa Maria Novella is also pleasant but for something a bit different, consider crossing the river and climbing up the hill to the Church of San Miniato al Monte which sits high on a hill serenely overlooking Florence. Inside it is something special, filled with colourful, delicate frescoes and if you time it right, you might just catch the monks singing vespers.

Tip: If you’re planning lots of sight-seeing in Florence, buy the ‘Firenze Card’ in advance of your trip. For 85 euros, it provides priority (i.e. queue-jumping) access to pretty much all sights. The downside is that it only works for 72 hours from its activation. http://www.firenzecard.it/en

What to do

It’s not all about gazing at art or exploring churches and palaces, however. For a bit of variety, make sure you incorporate some of these great activities into your trip:

Enjoy a leisurely wine tasting lunch. (I loved the one offered at Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina – http://pittigolaecantina.com/

Attend an intimate opera at St Marks English church – the singers will be just feet away from your seat and a narrator will provide entertaining summaries of each Act so that you can make sense of the opera without speaking Italian

Take a day trip. You’re spoiled by choice in Florence but consider a day trip by bus to Siena (another Tuscan town whose historic centre has been declared a UNESCO a World Heritage Site), or a wine-tasting tour of Chianti.

Wander Florence’s squares and streets at night, listening to the local musicians and enjoying the quieter atmosphere. Florence at night is Florence at its very best.

See the sunset over Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo – it will be crowded but the views are great.

That should be plenty of food for thought as you begin to plan a trip to Florence.