FLORENCE

With some 382,000 inhabitants, Florence is a very easy city to access and above all it is very easy to get around, you have all the tourist sites within a 30-minute walk from the dome. The best way to discover Florence is still on foot because there is always something to discover on practically every corner, so be sure to bring a good pair of walking shoes in your suitcase.

Florence is the capital of Lombardy, a cultural city but also an open-air museum.

The list of things to see in Florence is exhaustive, so I had to choose which sites to visit according to the time I had, I stayed there for just a week and since I didn’t want to do that the museums it was not easy to choose. But I plan to make a second trip to continue the visit.

Arrival in Florence

I arrived in Florence by train from Venice, there are 3 train stations in Florence, so be sure to get off at Santa Maria Novella.

Be careful with your luggage, don’t trust some so-called porters, make sure they are wearing a uniform and beware of pickpockets because unfortunately the train station is famous for thefts, personally I’ve never had a problem.< /p>

When you come out of the station, the city center is on your left, you can walk if your hotel is not very far, the dome is about 15 min walk from the station.< /p>

To get there walk towards the Santa Maria Novella church and turn left on Via Des Panzani which will take you directly to the dome, otherwise there is the taxi that you can take when leaving the station on the left, it’s very cheap between 6 and 8€ to go to the dome.

It is very inadvisable to drive in Florence anyway everything is very easy to reach, at worst if you don’t want to walk you can always take the bus, the bus station is at the exit of the station a little bit about 100 M west of the train station on via Santa Catarina da Siena.

Getting around Florence

If you have time and want to see as much as possible, not only the sights but also the streets of Florence, walking is the best choice. The 2nd option are the buses, the disadvantage with the buses is that they do not serve the old quarter because the streets are too narrow, to get a map of the bus system, at the station, go to the counter of ATAF service at the train station or online

www.ataf.net ou bien encore avec l’application gratuite ataf 2.0

Where to eat in Florence

In Florence the food is very good, however avoid areas that are too touristy because the prices are excessively expensive and the quality of the food is absolutely not up to the prices charged, this is why I do not really can’t recommend a precise address for restaurants, because the best way to find good restaurants is to walk in the streets and discover them as you go along, on the other hand if you like meat, at Florence you are going to enjoy yourself.

However, there is a fabulous place that I can recommend to eat, it is the covered market, the Mercato Central in Florence, it is between the train station and the dome.

This market is very interesting to visit, on the ground floor there are stalls, shops but also some places to eat, upstairs there are the restaurants, it is an open concept, you you can go there to eat practically for a week every day without eating the same thing and the quality is absolutely exceptional, I recommend before choosing your dish, to go around the market, the prices are very affordable there is something for everyone scholarships. It’s great for lunch when you visit the surroundings.

The ground floor is open Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday until 5 p.m. and closed on Sunday.

Upstairs it’s open from 10 a.m. to midnight.

The central mercatto

Where to sleep in Florence

Then again there are so many hotels, it all depends on your budget, I stayed at the hotel villa Liana, very good hotel not very far from the city center about 20 to 25 min walk from the dome , quiet hotel with parking for people arriving by car, appreciable when you visit Florence, very clean hotel, efficient concierge, and an excellent breakfast which is practically essential if you plan to visit Florence on foot, the hotel room is approximately between 100 and 150€.

Le site internet est    www.hotelliana.com

Getting oriented in Florence

it is very easy to orient yourself in Florence as a landmark take the dome, to the south of the dome there is the river Arno with the Vecchio bridge and to the west there is the railway station, all this forms a triangle, if by misfortune you get lost in the streets of Florence, think of the triangle and look for the roof of the dome which is in the center of the city, in the worst case, go back to the dome, anyway everything is by little about 30 min walk around the dome.

What to see in Florence

Organizing your stay in Florence is not easy, because there is so much to see. You can organize your stay by category for example, museum, religious sites, or stroll in the streets, or also by neighborhoods around the museums.

Just by walking the streets you can find treasures, that’s why I’m planning another trip to Florence and spending some more time discovering this wonderful city.

The list of sites is truly endless.

Here are the sites I visited.

• The dome
• The accademia museum
• Palazzo Vecchio
• The ponte vecchio
• the Bargello museum
• the streets of Florence
• The San Lorenzo market

 The Dôme

The dome is a massive cathedral that you can see from any point in Florence, so it’s a very good landmark to orient yourself.

Construction began in 1296 in the Gothic style and was completed in 1870 in the Neo-Gothic style.

It was erected in memory of the Virgin Mary, whose statue you can see in the center of the cathedral.

The dome cathedral has the 3^th longest nave in Christendom, the neo-Gothic façade is covered in pink, green and white marble from Tuscany.

The dome dates from the Renaissance and was used a little later as a model for the construction of other domes in Italy.

Admission is free, arm yourself with patience and why not also a book because the queue is huge, depending on the time of day it can go all around the cathedral, if you are several you can also share the task in turn, this will prevent you from losing your place, because the wait can be calculated in hours.

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Thursday until 4:30 p.m.
• Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
• Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

If you want to visit the baptistery, the bell tower, the museum of the dome, the crypt and climb into the dome it will cost you a modest sum of 15€, it is a ticket that combines all these visits.

If you want to go up in the dome you absolutely have to book online    www.museumflorence.com.< /p>

You need to book well in advance, otherwise you can always try your luck in person at the entrance, good luck.

If you are lucky to have space, the entrance is outside the cathedral on the north side, the visit is closed in rainy weather.

Small precision, if you are claustrophobic climbing the stairs may not be recommended.

After climbing the 463 steps that take you to the top, and yes it is worth it, you will have a superb view of Florence

The opening hours of the ascent of the dome

• Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:40 p.m.
• Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The accadémia museum

The museum is located north of the dome. It is perhaps the most visited museum in Florence because it houses the famous statue of Michelangelo David with its 5m17 high.

Of course the main attraction of the museum is the statue of David, so expect to have a lot of people around you, but of course it’s not just the statue of David to see.

Short story of David’s birth.

After the refusal of all the sculptors of the time, evoking that the marble blog presented to them was too large, too narrow and too fragile, Michelangelo was the only one to accept the challenge, he took his tools and the result is a true masterpiece of precision, all in a single block of marble.

The opening hours of the museum are

Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 a.m. to 6:50 p.m. with a possible late opening on Tuesdays until 10 p.m. between June and September.

Note that the museum is closed on Mondays.

If there is no special exhibition the entrance price is 8€ otherwise you can pay up to 12.50€, you can also make a reservation but it will cost you an extra 4 € :

here is the web link

www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.it

The Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio is a typical example of an open-air museum.

The opening hours of the museum are

Friday to Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. (October to March until 7 p.m.) and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. all year round.

Le site internet   www.musefirenze.it

To see in addition to the palace there is also the UFFIZI gallery right next to the palace,  Piazza Della Segnora which was the place where the great celebrations, executions and protests were held.

Today this square is a place for tourists, you can also see the statues outside the palace. On the square you can taste fine pastries and hot chocolate at the Rivoire café, it is very famous for its pastries but also for its prices which are very high, the restaurants on the square are really restaurants for tourists so avoid them if you have a limited budget. On the other hand, in the adjacent streets there are good restaurants and affordable prices.

The Bargello museum

The Bargello Museum is right next to Palazzo Vecchio, east of Piazza Della Signoria.

The Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio is the most famous bridge in Florence, on either side of the bridge there are shops selling valuables in gold, silver etc…..

Originally these shops were butchers and tanners, it was the Medici who, because of the smells, in the 1500s replaced the butchers and tanners with elegant shops of gold and silver.

In the center of the bridge there is a statue, overlooked by tourists, of the sculptor and goldsmith jeweler Benito Cellini.

The bridge was built in 1345 after the old medieval bridge was washed away by floods. Pont Vecchio means the old bridge.

During the 2^th World War, the Nazi commander in charge of Florence was ordered to destroy the bridges of Florence, he removed all the bridges, but being an art lover , refused to destroy the vecchio bridge.

Above the bridge there is a corridor called the vassary corridor built by the Medici, which, hidden from view, allowed them to go from Palazzo Vecchio to UFFIZI.

The streets of Florence

Vue from the Piazzale Michelangelo