As I left Rome and my fantastic time there in the rear view mirror, I was next moving on to the next city on my Italian tour: Florence. Though only slightly north from Rome, I had a feeling this city was going to offer me a very different experience overall, with landscapes and scenery backing up the heavily anticipated spectacle of the Renaissance architecture, in particular the world famous Duomo.
Why I Headed to Florence
As I was continuing north, it only made sense for me to pick Florence as my next destination as it was due north by only 90 minutes on the train. Why Florence in particular though? The birthplace to the Renaissance style of art, this city is truly beautiful in landscape, in buildings and in artwork encapsulated by them. Synonymous with the city is the breath-taking Duomo Cathedral in the centre, towering over the city. That’s just the start of it, with brilliant locations that allow you to overlook the city as the sun sets over it, brilliant for gelato, not too far from the origins of Leonardo da Vinci and plays home to many of the most famous pieces of artwork the world has ever seen.
What I Thought of Florence
As a city, it is a very pleasant place to spend a couple of days. Even if it’s just walking the picturesque streets, taking in your surroundings and enjoying the slower pace of the city. One of my favourite spots here is the square in the centre of the city, where the outstanding and intricately designed Duomo sits. It is quite the location!
Of course, if it’s art that you’re looking for, this is the place to be. Not only do they have world famous galleries for you to explore, hosting some very famous pieces, some of the artists famous to the region and to Italy are buried here too, with the accompanying tributes and history available for them.
With it being a relatively small city, you have the added bonus of being able to enjoy the hills of the region giving a splendid backdrop, which when viewed from locations such as the top of the Duomo or Piazza Michelangelo, is some viewing.
Should You Cover It?
I think that Florence is worth the visit. The only thing that would be varied would be the time that you spent here. For me, I felt that I spent the right amount of time here. However, should you wish to fully delve into the art then you should probably have an extra day or two here to take it all in.
Day 7 – Friday, 7 Apr
After the chaos of Rome’s train station (if you don’t know what I’m on about, see my last blog here!), thankfully it was only 90 minutes up to Florence. From there, it was only a 20 minute walk for me before I arrived at the hostel, ready to set my bags down, do the usual introduction and plan the upcoming couple of days here.
The hostel of choice was the Hostel Gallo d’Oro. A well located hostel in the centre of the city that has good links to all the key locations that you’d want. Based all on one level, it is simple in layout with the reception greeting you at the entrance, which follows round to the common room/dining/kitchen area. Keep following it around and you’ll find the dorms, which come in two sizes: 4 or 6 person with a variety of being mixed or female only. They are all a shared bathroom set up with the exception of the 4 person mixed dorm, which has an ensuite.
The beds here were comfy, the storage space was under the bunk spaces with lockers on offer for you to use. As for the facilities, they were always clean, the kitchen had everything that you needed, there were always snacks on offer such as fruit for you to grab as you were coming or going and the bathrooms had everything you needed. A very cool and handy feature of this hostel was the fact that they provided you breakfast and dinner should you choose to eat there in a buffet style, which really helps with any travel budget and the food was always good and prepared freshly that day by the hostel staff.
One of particular highlight with this hostel was the staff that worked there. Maybe second to Giovanni (if you don’t know who Giovanni is, you’ll have to read the Napoli blog) but they were so friendly, helpful and always smiling and willing to give advice on the best things to do in Florence.
The only thing to note about here is the couple of flights of stairs that you need to tackle to get up to the hostel reception! For the price of €84.70, this place was worth the money and a recommended place to stay if you find yourself in Florence.
Day 8 – Saturday, 8 Apr
After indulging in the buffet breakfast at the hostel, Florence beckoned me to go out and explore it on foot. Chosen medium? Another free walking tour! Since making the realisation back in Amsterdam how good these are, I simply cannot get enough of them to help me learn about a city. This was focussing mainly on the city’s rich history, in particular art and the Renaissance, as well as the many famous figures that have come from Florence, found their fame here or came from the local area. Slowly wandering around in the Mediterranean sun, engulfing the city in golden sunshine, with a backdrop of a clear blue sky, was the perfect way to explore Florence. To see a collection of some of the landmarks we were taken to, check out the small gallery below.
Once the walking tour was cover, the first thing to do was get myself some lunch and I had the perfect place in mind though the queue was one only reserved for a place of high quality and it was worth the wait. The place in question was Osteria All’antico Vinaio. Cuisine on offer? Big, well filled sandwiches with a variety of fresh fillings on offer, all for a very reasonable price! The verdict was one of believing what the hostel staff had said about this place. It was amazing!
Lunch finished and it was time to consolidate what I’d seen or learnt about on the route around that morning with our guide. This started with heading into Basilica Santa Croce, which though its decor was more reserved in comparison to other religious houses encountered on this trip, it was the tombs and commemorative plaques, and frescos that are the impressive elements. A couple of the more well known people that are laid to rest here are Michelangelo and Galileo, additionally with some commemorative plaques for some other famous names such as Dante and Leonardo da Vinci. For just €8 to enter, this is worth a visit to see these magnificent tombs, plaques and frescos.
The evening’s activity was an obvious one. With the sun beaming all day and it looking like it was going to be a clear night, I had to head to Piazza Michelangelo and watch the sunset over this picturesque place. Let me tell you, it definitely didn’t disappoint! Though a word of advice, even with it being a large place to occupy, it gets busy and if you want premium seats, make sure you head up there early. This is a perfect spot though for evening picnic, a tipple of your choice and take in the city basked in the golden hue.
As I headed back to the hostel, I was able to enjoy the city at night, which is just as picturesque as it is in the daytime, just with a slight differences in appearance under the different lighting.
Day 9 – Sunday, 9 Apr
Finally some rest! I took the morning to kick back, relax, catch up on the world and lightly socialise with this were also hanging around the hostel.
One thing about me when I travel is that I feel I should be on the go constantly to make the most of the time that I have whilst away. This has it pros and cons. The pros being that get a lot stuff fitted into my schedule and feel like I’ve achieved everything I humanly can in that time frame. The downside is that usually sleep gets sacrificed to drive this relentless pace and eventually, it can catch up with me and knock me off my feet. The other downsides are that if I do take some time to myself, I’m constantly guilt tripping myself for not getting out there and when I return home, I don’t feel rested at all. Enjoyed myself but definitely not well rested.
Early afternoon continued in the same ilk of taking it nice and steady, presenting the opportunity to head to the Leonardo da Vinci museum. Leonardo da Vinci is obviously a well known name for various reasons, whether it be art or science but little did I know how advanced he was for his time. I truly had my eyes opened by this museum, which only costs €7 and was well worth that small fee. There was so much that he invented that I had no idea about and it wasn’t just in one facet of life, it was across the board.
As the afternoon became the evening, I took my time to wander along the Ponte Vecchio and cast my eye over the market stalls, selling a variety of things from tourist souvenirs to a variety of jewellery. There was no real direction as to where we were going but the moment took us to Gelateria La Carraia, which was well worth the money invested for the enjoyment given. As we finished off our purchases, we basked in the setting sun again, this time situated on the weir (a spot known as Pescaia di Santa Rosa on Google Maps) in the river Arno.
I know, desert before dinner shouldn’t be done but hey, I was on my holidays, give a guy a break.
It was nice to continue taking things that slower pace leading us to head out for dinner, sitting down and truly appreciating Italian cooking. We headed to Trattoria Zà Zà, which was a intimate arrangement and allowed us to tuck into some delicious Italian cuisine and I would certainly tell you to visit this wonderful restaurant.
Day 10 – Monday, 10 Apr
A shorter stay here that I did in Napoli and Rome and for me, this was just about the right amount of time to spend here. I was grateful for being able to experience the city however, I had expended everything that interested me about the city with the exception of one thing: the gracious Duomo.
The last thing for me to see whilst here was to head up to the summit of this wonderful building, seeing the sights it has to offer over the city as well get up and close with its famous artwork that can be found on the roof the dome itself. Due to its popularity and it not necessarily being designed to allow hundreds if not thousands of people up a day, you had to book yourself in for a set time slot. Even with that in place, there is a lot of waiting around and slow moving traffic of people until you eventually get to the top so be prepared for this. Along the way, there are always plenty of steps for you to tackle so make sure you’re mentally prepared for that.
Once at the top though, it’s entirely worth the wait and the work. Just get up close and personal with the artwork at the top of the dome is pretty specular in its own way but then once you emerge into the Italian sunshine, you are rewarded with tremendous views of not only the Duomo’s dome but the rooftops of Florence as well as it sits amongst the Tuscany hills.
For just the small fee of €20, it’s well worth it!
With that being my last stop in this great city, it was time for me to go back to the hostel, grab my bags and get moving on to my final stop of this Italian tour: Venice. Of course, only once I’d said goodbye to the great people that I met here. Once that was done though, it was on to the train, ready to embark on the roughly 2 hour 30 minute train journey to this famous city, waving goodbye to my Tuscan adventure.
Things I Missed
Some of the things that I missed whilst here weren’t for me however I feel it’s worth noting them for others that my be interested in what Florence has to offer for anyone:
- Pisa – This may not be in Florence itself but Pisa is very close to the city being only 1 hour away on the train, making Florence a perfect place to branch out to the surrounding area to see the famous tower.
- Galleries – If you’ve not noticed, I’m not an art buff however if you are, a great place would be to head to the galleries in Florence, in particular Academia Gallery of Florence, which hosts the statue of David along with many other fine pieces of art, or the Uffizi Galleries, housing some of the finest pieces from the Renaissance.
- Markets – In the centre of the city, there is an array of markets from fresh food to buy or food courts upstairs of the Mercato Centrale to a plethora of leather shops and market stalls outside, along with a number of other tourist souvenir stalls.
That rounds off another blog from me! Hopefully you enjoyed it and were able to get a bit of an insight into this great city sat in the hills of the Tuscany, inspiring to both visit and your itinerary there. If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out the other locations I’ve written about in Italy as well as the other places around the world that I’ve taken the time to cover, found under the travel at the top of the page. It’s not just travel that I write about, I do cover various things related to sport and living your best life so be sure to check the other tabs at the top of the page.
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