Pocket Rough Guide Florence (Rough Guides)

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Viareggio: If you’re visiting Florence in February, you HAVE to make a trip to Viareggio to see the local Carnival. The townsfolk make giant, intricately crafted floats for the festival and there is almost always a Donald Trump themed one. Florence is surrounded by vineyards, many of which can be accessed via day tours. Most tours visit a couple of vineyards and include some samples. Expect to pay at least 50 EUR per person for a half-day trip. If you have your own vehicle, you can arrange your own tour (but you won’t be able to drink). Many vineyards also operate B&Bs or Airbnbs, which makes for a nice getaway if you want to splash out for a night. 14. Take a food tour Florence is famous for art museums, such as the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Bargello and the Pitti Palace. Thanks to the star quality of their exhibits, their reputations are entirely justified too. But don’t let that blind you to the joy of seeing Renaissance art in situ — still decorating the spaces for which they were originally intended. The building is divided into four different museums – each one is unique and interesting. On the ground floor, you can find the Treasury of the Grand Dukes. This includes a decorative collection of arts from the Medici’s summer apartments.

Florence is not such a big place; by day three, you may have seen most of its biggest attractions. Granted, there is always something to do in Florence but I think it may be a better use of your time to explore the surrounding area.

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Whether you are keen to teach English online or looking to take your teaching game a step further by finding a job teaching English in a foreign country, getting your TEFL certificate is absolutely a step in the right direction. Being a Responsible Traveler in Florence Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family. Evening: Spend the early-evening wandering amongst Florence’s many piazze. Visiting the Piazza della Signoria is an absolute must do in Florence as you’ll see many of the most iconic locations in the city, like the Palazzo Vecchio and Loggia dei Lanzi. Finish with an aperitivo. I have been using World Nomads for some time now and made a few claims over the years. They’re easy to use, professional and relatively affordable. They may also let you buy or extend a policy once you’ve started your trip and are already abroad which is super handy.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. If you love nature, then doing a hike from Fiesole is a great idea! Bring your best hiking shoes, because there are a number of hiking trails in Monte Ceceri – a stunning nature reserve area around here. This is one of the best ways to witness just how beautiful Tuscany is.

The Divine Comedy : One of the most important pieces of literature ever written in the Western World. The Divine Comedy was the first to ever describe in detail in the supposed levels of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. It’s author, Dante Alighieri, is perhaps the greatest Italian writer in history and lived in Florence most of his life. But, there is more to handsome Florence than just museums and monuments. It is bursting with quirky shops and quality crafts; a living city with an eclectic cultural life that embraces opera, classical music and contemporary art. The restaurant and nightlife scene is also very much thriving. Escaping for some downtime is rather convenient, given the city's proximity to the vine-covered hills of Chianti, as well as other Tuscan art towns such as Arezzo, Siena and Lucca. Florence's diminutive size means everything is very accessible, with most of the main sights lying within walking distance of one another. All in all, this is one of Europe’s most civilised long weekend destinations.Stay outside the historical center : It may seem inconvenient walking the extra 5-10 minutes, but it may be worth the extra money saved on hotels in Florence. The city isn’t that big either so you shouldn’t be too far away from the main attractions. Florence 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. Whether you will be spending a weekend in Florence or a month, you won’t get tired of all that there is to see and do around this magical city! Florence is rich with history, culture, delicious food and amazing sights. It is a city that will have you falling in love each time you walk around a new corner. Florence is a very noir city,” a film-maker once told me 10 years ago, on learning that I wrote thrillers set there. (The sixth in my Florentine detective series, The Viper, is out now.) We were looking down on lovely Piazza Santa Croce, scene of a thousand years of bloody jousts and tournaments and the staggeringly violent Florentine football, Calcio Storico, and the words made perfect sense to me.