Our Florence, Italy Guide & Things To Do
A few general notes:
Let’s get this out of the way — Florence is touristy. It’s just too small a city for the amount of people who visit. If you’re not thoughtful about where you stay and where you eat, you won’t have the most authentic Italian experience. Hopefully this guide will help you.
Food in Italy - “bad” or “touristy” food in Italy is equivalent to Italian food we’d consider good in the states. So if you ignore my advice and eat dinner next to the Duomo, you’ll still probably enjoy it. But if you want your mind to be blown, you have to go where the locals eat, and that’s nowhere near the tourist attractions. In our experience Italians are the nicest Europeans when it comes to hospitality, so don’t be intimidated about going into local spots where they don’t speak english.
North of the river (centro storico): the must-see tourist attractions, that are … yes … must see, but very touristy. The Duomo, The David, Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, the churches, etc. are all as advertised … incredible … but can be kind of a grind with the lines and crowds. FYI - never eat dinner near these places, they’re the aforementioned touristy spots that the locals would never eat at.
South of the river (santo spirito): all the best meals are in this area, a few specific recs below. It’s a great sweet spot where it’s catering to the locals who still live in Florence-proper, but still a lot of english (there’s a ton of American students living here). Also some awesome sights which are listed below.
Trains in Italy - Quick note about traveling, the train system in Italy is amazing and super easy. I highly highly recommend upgrading to at least the lowest tier of first / business class, ESPECIALLY if you’re traveling with big luggage. It’s usually very cheap compared to your overall ticket, like an additional $20, and the assigned seats + more space really makes it stress free. You also really don’t need to get to the station super early, your track # isn’t announced until 10 mins before.
Historical Sights
(Florence is small, all of these are within a 25 min walk of each other)
Duomo - just really an unbelievable building. This is our perfect Duomo experience: get a drink and a snack at one of the touristy places outside of it and just admire the exterior. Honestly, as far as renaissance churches go (and considering the extravagance of the outside) the inside is pretty disappointing. The line that wraps around the whole building, that’s the line to just go in and walk around. Skip that, you’re going to get a better view of it in a second.
Buy the ticket (days in advance) to climb to the top of the dome. The line / entrance is at a side door. As long as you’re not scared of heights or very claustrophobic (I’m a little of both, and I got through it), it’s epic. It’s an awesome maze through the guts of the building, you end up inside the top of the dome, so you can look down at the whole inside of the cathedral and you’re eye-level with the dome’s Fresco which is beautiful and very trippy. Then you continue on the top of the Dome and have an unbelievable view of the city and surrounding mountains. Highly Highly recommend.
FYI, for a less claustrophobic climb and basically the same view point, you can also climb the bell tower (separate ticket and entrance).
Uffizi Gallery - originally the offices (uffizi) of the Medicis and now houses the family's art collection. It’s one of the world's most important museums, featuring masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Even if you're not an art enthusiast, it’s worth walking through. It also has some sick views of the Florence skyline.
Galleria dell'Accademia (The David) - don’t get me wrong, The David is pretty cool. Michelangelo, one giant block of marble, the unbelievable amount of detail, it’s all very impressive. But if you’re tight on time and are tired of lines and crowds, skip it - it’s ussually packed and a long wait. There’s a replica of the David in the next recomensation. There’s a lot more art in here besides Dave (for the record), so if you like renaissance art maybe it’s worth the crowds.
Palazzo Vecchio - awesome place to have a drink, take it all in, people watch etc.. We’ve never actually been in to the building / museum, so can’t speak to that, but love hanging out in this square. Couple of fun facts:
On the tower, there’s one single window of one single jail cell. Cosimo Medici was imprisoned up there for a month. If you played Assasin’s Creed, thats where your family was held and then was executed in the square below. Nerds!
Our favorite statue in the world is in this square, it’s Perseus holding Medusa’s head. Pretty bad ass. If you go behind the statue, the artist put his own face on the back of Perseus’ helmet. Just a little easter egg.
Basilica of Santa Croce - church with the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli. Definitly check it out.
Basilica of Santa Maria Novella - beautiful church, lots of art.
Ponte Vecchio - really beautiful bridge lined with jewelry shops. An absolute nightmare of a tourist spot / crowds, but iconic. Best admired from the adjacent bridges.
Boboli Gardens - south of the river, epic garden complex, huge and really really beautiful. Get a sandwich and bottle of wine and explore / have a picnic
Palazzo Michelangelo - South of the river, best view of the city. At sunset it’ll be super super busy, but it is an unbelievable view. My computer wallpaper is a photo I took from here. If you go during the day it’s less crowded.
Leather - Tuscan leather is famous, go to the San Lorenzo market to buy jackets, purses, etc.. Expect to haggle.
For the bougie-ass people in our lives (I really enjoyed this too, admittedly), check out the Salvatore Ferragamo building. It’s the flagship / original store, the family still lives above the shop. There’s a museum in the basement about the company, pretty cool. Kels bought a purse and I bought one for my mom.
Food 🤤
It goes Antipast (salad), Primi (pasta), Secondi (meat), in that order. Obviously you don’t have to, you can definitly order a pasta or meat as your single course, but that’s the tradition. Kels and I have found sharing one of each is the play.
If you don’t make an effort to eat vegetables, prepare to be constipated (artichokes are the easiest and most delicious solution).
If you’re a northern European like me, bring Tums or Alcha Selzer.
Never eat at a restaurant if:
It’s near a tourist attraction
There’s pictures on the menu
There’s someone outside hounding you to come in
Dishes Of Note:
Bistecca Alla Fiorentina - so so so good. Giant T-Bone steak. Traditionally it’s very rare, you’ve been warned. Some places (listed below) will bring it to you on a hot plate, so you can keep cooking it to your liking.
Carciofi Crudi - artichoke salad. Thinly sliced raw artichokes, lemon, oil and parmesan. So simple, so good. Eat some vegatables!
Pasta - ragus are really Florence’s specialty, wild boar, lamb, duck, rabbit, etc.. But all the pastas are fire.
Anything suckling, cow, pig, lamb, rabbit - it’s baby animals, yes kinda f*cked up, but delicious.
Gelato - if the buckets have waves, it’s not good. It should be flat in the bucket.
Coffee - don’t get milk in your coffee after noon, they will judge you.
BEER AND WINE
Peroni
Moretti
Menabrea - my fav
You can ussually ask for house red or white wine, comes in a half liter or liter most the time. Always good and very very cheap.
Montepulciano DaBruzzo - our fav region
Chianti - always get reserva
Rossa Montalcino - fire
Brunello - either unbleivabley good, or kind of cough syrupy. Expensive.
Make sure the bottles you buy have a DOCG tag, means the country considers it top quality
RESTARAUNTS
Le Volte - probably went here 5 times. Owner’s father owns the butcher shop next door. Get the artichoke carbonara and the steak (with the hot plate)
Ristorante Il Guscio - incredibile pastas
Pizzeria Antica Porta - really fire pizza, more roman (thin) then Neapolitan, which we prefer. Hard to find non-neopolitan pizza in Florence.
SPORTS
We’re a Roma family. But Fiorentina is pretty swaggy and Iconic. I think their stadium is under construction so maybe not the best to go to a game, but definitly catch a game in a bar. They play on the weekends.
