Florence, Italy
October 25 - November 1, 2019
Florence, the capital of Italy’s Tuscany region, is home to many masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture. One of its most iconic sights is the Duomo, a cathedral with a terracotta-tiled dome engineered by Brunelleschi and a bell tower by Giotto. The Galleria dell'Accademia displays Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture. The Uffizi Gallery exhibits Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and da Vinci’s “Annunciation.” We thought we would be bored in Florence since we’re not museum people, but we ended up loving our stay in Florence. With easy walking, great food choices, beautiful gardens, nice viewing spots, and a short day-trip to Pisa, what’s not to love??
Day 1 - Florence around town, Uffizi, Pitti Palace, Boboli Garden
Day 2 - Santo Spirito Market, Bardini Garden, Piazza Michelangelo
Day 5 - Central Market, Accademia
Day 6 - Home School
Voyagers’ Tips: Florence is a very walk-able city, small and compact. Public transportation is simply not needed once you arrive at the city. The Duomo area is a nice and central area to stay. Advance reservations are a must for the Uffizi and the Accademia, unless you have a Florence Pass or Friends of Uffizi pass to skip the lines. We purchased the “Friends of Uffizi” pass and used it to skip the line in Uffizi, as well as to save money on visiting the Pitti Palace, Boboli Garden and Bardini Garden. It doesn’t include entrance to the Accademia, however, so we had to book that separately. The Florence Pass is good if you want to cram everything into three days; we were spreading out our activities over a week, so the 3-day pass wouldn’t work for us. There are many great restaurants with reasonable prices near the train station, well worth the walk away from the main attractions.
Traveling by train: The train system in Italy can be intimidating at first, but it becomes very intuitive once you figure out the system. The two main websites show all your travel options: trenitalia.com and italiarail.com. You can buy train tickets online or at the station. If buying regional train tickets at the station, either buy them at the ticket counter or at one of the “TrenItalia” booths, which are different from the booths for high speed trains. Look for the platform number by looking up the train number; it’s harder to look up the location if your destination is not the final stop, so look up the train number instead.