Florence (aka Firenze)

 

Florence, aka Firenze, is quite the city!  There's too much to see in just a couple days, depending on what you want to see and do.  However, if you do only have a couple days you can still see and experience a lot, like I did.  I traveled there by train in the spring of 2023 from my home base in the Cinque Terre (first class on TrenItalia is nice for more legroom by the way).

My approach to Florence was pretty simple and revolved around three things.  

1. to see some museums and key sights
2. enjoy food, wine, coffee, pastries, etc... (sustenance is needed after all the walking of course)
3. explore and enjoy photography (film and digital)!

For popular museums like the Uffizi, getting a ticket online can save you time and stress.  I spent a couple hours there and it has a lot of excellent art to see from well known and lesser know artists as well.

Getting tickets ahead is advised for the baptistry, museum, the Duomo, also (they have combo tickets available; climbing the dome or bell tower is even an option).  I focused my time on the baptistry and museum as well as seeing the splendid Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore from the outside (even better at sunrise if you get the chance).  It must have been amazing to attend a service at the Duomo shortly after it was finished!

For a hotel or place to stay it's helpful to have a spot in the historic part of the city that's walkable to most places.  You can get to most places on foot if you don't mind putting some steps in.  My hotel was close to the Piazza della Repubblica.  It also had a small rooftop area that afforded some solace and great views.

(view from my hotel)

Speaking of putting some steps in, the Boboli gardens are a grand location to take in the views and escape the crowds.  There's so much to see and I didn't actually see it all before my stomach told me it was time to find some great pasta, which I did in the Oltrarno.  It's hard to imagine this large garden area being private for the Medici family many years ago.

Other sights that I enjoyed seeing were: Piazza della Repubblica, Palazzo Vecchio (look for the face on the outside wall near the Uffizi by the way), Ponte Vecchio (which you can get a great view of from the Uffizi), the Oltrarno (great restaurants, nice church, and Piazza Santo Spirito), and many fun details as well.  These fun details included: sign art, the lily of Florence, lions, and much more!

Caffè Gilli is worth a stop for great coffee and pastries.  Visit the bar if you'd like the more economical prices, versus dining at a table.  It's located right in Piazza della Repubblica which is a very nice area.

Here are a few more photo and video highlights that hopefully will inspire your own travel plans.

(The amazing original baptistry doors are in the museum.)

Did I like Florence?  Very much so.  In fact, I'm looking forward to going back some day.

Thanks for stopping by and reading this far.  I hope that you enjoyed this short overview of Florence.  I could have shared more but wanted to keep this fairly short.  I benefited from using online resources and a good guide book to plan, as well as just exploring on my own.

I've been blessed to have readers from various countries. Feel free to say hello in the comments and perhaps share where you would like to travel. 

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  John 3:16 ✝

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