Pocket Rough Guide Florence (Rough Guides)

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The metro station at Scandicci has a large parking lot where you can leave your car overnight. If you’re spending three or so days in Florence, park your car here and then take the tram into the city. Trust me, you won’t need a car in Florence, ever.

If you love Italian food, you should make sure to get lunch nearby at Caffe Rivoire is located just next to the Palazzo Vecchio. It is the perfect place for a great coffee or a tasty meal! This restaurant offers brilliant local Italian food in a lovely outdoor seating environment. It doesn’t matter how many days you plan to spend in Florence – one, two, seven, twenty, whatever – just make sure you visit at least once in your life. You won’t regret it. I’ve chosen the ideal daily structure, added times, routes to get there and suggestions on how long you should spend at each spot. Of course, you can add your own spots in, swap things around, or even skip some places. Use this itinerary as inspiration instead of a fixed plan to get the most out of your trip! 3 Day Florence Itinerary Overview Free Wi-Fi is standard and a couple of hostels also have self-catering facilities and offer free breakfast. Desert is, of course, the most important part of the meal for Italians and in Florence, it usually comes in the form of pastries or biscuits. Schiacciata fiorentina is a particularly beloved treat in Florence. Nightlife in FlorenceFlorence is not only the arena of the powerful but also a city of the people, and against its Renaissance splendour I would set the work of the great Florentine neorealist of the 20th century, Vasco Pratolini. Poor Lovers is set in the 20s, with fascism on the rise, among the sex workers, coal merchants and grocers of the grimy Via del Corno in the shadow of the Palazzo Vecchio, where the novelist and screenwriter lived. A Florentine to his fingertips – in his Cronaca Familiare , made into a film by Zurlini, the young Ferruccio on his deathbed in Rome longs to see the lights coming on along the Arno – Pratolini wrote both books while exiled in Naples. Hotels in Florence will obviously be the most expensive choices. I don’t much care for hotels but, that being said, there are still some hidden gems in the city.

To learn about Renaissance art and experience some of the worlds finest paintings and sculptures, be sure to pay the Uffizi Gallery a visit! The most famous artwork in the gallery is Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. While crowds gather to ogle at this incredible work, there are so many other amazing pieces of art across the gallery. The 16th-century building is also well worth admiring, as the details and design here is a work of art itself!Walking tours are a wonderful way to learn about Florence and there are a handful of excellent free tours in the city. They cover all the highlights and are the perfect introduction to the city. Florence Free Walking Tours runs daily free tours in English. Just be sure to tip! Hostel prices– In peak season, a bed in a hostel dorm with 4-6 beds costs 30-55 EUR per night, while a bed in a dorm with 8-10 beds costs 27-40 EUR.Private rooms cost 85-150 EUR per night during peak season. An exception to my rule, Fitzgerald’s Florentine excursion is the slow, enchanting love story between a communist doctor from the south and the shy daughter of eccentric nobility in the 50s. Stringing a tightrope between comedy and tragedy, Fitzgerald evokes Florence’s specific atmosphere: a combination of deep melancholy and a beauty that threatens to overwhelm. Mist and shadow are Fitzgerald’s colours, and diffidence is her mode, but the effect is to be absorbed and transported entirely into the city, and a place of the heart. Spend some time browsing all of the different stores and sampling the products. This is also the ideal place to buy a gift or souvenir to bring home. You could even learn how to make fresh pasta at the big pasta stall downstairs!

Florence is full of incredible museums, and the Palazzo Pitti is definitely one of the best! The palace was built in the 15th century, and it has a fascinating history. The enormous building has been home to some of the most influential characters in the history of Florence! By car –We’ll go into this in more detail in the next section, but if you’re driving to Florence then you’ll need to leave your car in the outer areas of town. Driving is restricted in the historical center so there’s no point in trying to park there. The best parking in Florence can be found near the outer metro stations, like Scandicci. Due to its Renaissance heritage, medieval architecture, and Tuscan flair, Florence is a destination completely unlike anywhere else in the world. Its wide range of things to do is also suitable for any kind of traveler! Go on a free walking tour in Florence: Whilst technically you could do this yourself if armed with the proper guidebook or travel guide for Florence (nudge, nudge), reaching out to a local expert would also be good. The people at Florence Free Tour offer four walks per day in both English and Spanish.Go on a free walking tour in Florence: Whilst technically you could do this yourself if armed with the proper guidebook or travel guide for Florence (nudge, nudge), reaching out to a local expert would also be good. The people at Florence Free Tour offer four walks per day in both English and Spanish.Before signing off, I wanted to share some last bits of information regarding responsible travel in Florence and how to possibly stay here for longer periods of time. Take a moment to consider the following… Volunteering in Florence Cook your own food sometimes: Hostels and some apartments come with kitchens; use them. Your own special spaghetti will be way cheaper than that mediocre one in a restaurant. (Just don’t leave the pasta sitting on the table without the sauce; rookie mistake!)

Keep in mind this is a fully functioning church. Plan to arrive when worship is not in session. Ladies can keep a scarf on them to cover themselves before entering. They may turn you away if you’re showing a lot of skin. Florence has a very ideal climate, even by Itailian standards. Winters are short, summers are long, and spring and autumn are absolutely perfect. Rain comes and goes but is never around for too long. Those planning a trip to Florence will have a very large window to visit the city so don’t feel pressured! Thomson’s novel is set at the tail-end of Medici dominance, in a Florence that has become the bloodstained, riotous playground of Cosimo III. Cleverly built around the great Sicilian master of anatomical waxes Gaetano Zumbo, summoned to the city to work, the narrative evokes the sinister magic of Renaissance Florence to perfection. Zumbo’s masterly plague pieces and gruesome wax dissections are still on display in the strange and marvellous museum of La Specola. Get a Duomo Pass– If you don’t want to get a Firenze Card but still want to visit the monuments of Piazza del Duomo, you’ll want to get one of the three passes: Brunelleschi, Giotto, or Ghiberti. These range in price from 15-30 EUR depending on which monuments you want to see and are valid for 3 days. Late-Afternoon: Take a break and grab some Florentine street food. The local favorite is lampredotto– a sandwich stuffed with tripe (it’s better than it sounds.)The second most popular area to stay in is the Santa Maria Novella neighborhood. It’s slightly outside the historic city center but it’s within walking distance, and slightly cheaper. Santa Maria Novella is also near the railway station, in case you are planning to take day trips to Pisa, or travel further afield to Rome or Venice. For a fun experience while in Florence, take a paddling tour down the Arno River. Depending on what appeals to you, you could choose to kayak, go on a boat, or even a stand-up paddle tour! For something completely unique, river rafting tours are also available. The routes suggested by Rough Guides' expert writers cover top attractions like The Bargello and The Uffizi, and hidden gems like Palazzo Pitti and San Miniato al Monte. These buildings are iconic Florence landmarks, and they contain so much important history of the city.