Tips:
Buy data cards for your cellphone from Amazon - more convenient.
Buy T2 Tram tickets at the Florence Airport newsstand on the left inside the airport. This helps you to save some time due to tourist line-ups.
Beware of pickpockets, we observed some in action at popular hotspots. For example, use a Pacsafe or equally secure bag to store valuable belongings.
Pre-book everything. Tickets to the major attractions sell out quickly, especially during tourist high season.
Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance and the bustling capital of Tuscany. With its iconic architecture, myriad of art galleries, stunning views, and yummy cuisine, Florence is full of Italian charm.
Credits to:
Stop #1: Uffizi Gallery
Credits to the website for the information.
The Gallery occupies the first and second floors of the large building constructed between 1560 and 1580 and designed by Giorgio Vasari. It is renowned globally for its extensive collections of ancient sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the Modern period). The collections of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance period include some absolute masterpieces: Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raffaello, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, in addition to many precious works by European painters (primarily German, Dutch and Flemish).
Furthermore, the Gallery boasts an invaluable collection of ancient statues and busts from the Medici family, which decorates the corridors and consists of ancient Roman copies of lost Greek sculptures.
There was no denying the timeless thrill of eye-balling the world’s largest collection of Italian Renaissance art, absorbing 2 entire rooms crammed with Botticelli masterpieces and ogling at 6000 mother-of-pearl shells encrusting the ceiling of the Medici’s spectacular treasure-chest Tribuna.
It’s easy to see why this is Italy’s most iconic gallery, which has lured art lovers into its Florentine lair since 1769 when the government palace-turned-art museum opened to the public.
I had an engaging time getting lost in these floors, in particular, art pieces from the 2nd floor really stood out.
Stop #2: Brunelleschi’s Dome
The Piazza is where you will find several of Florence’s most important landmarks, including the iconic Duomo, as well as the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile. These 3 buildings are all part of the same complex from their shared Gothic-Renaissance architecture and impeccable marble design.
Scaling the dome (an uphill climb of ~461 steps) gives you both the best view of the Florence from the top and an excellent highest point view of Florence and internally, the ceiling frescoes.
Superstar of Florence’s famous city skyline, the spectacular Duomo is up there with Rome's Colosseum and Pisa's Leaning Tower as Italy's A-lister icons. The cathedral's polychromatic marble facade is massive and striking. But what makes the building so sensational is Filippo Brunelleschi's distinctive red-tiled cupola, one of the world's greatest architectural achievements (learn about its construction in the neighboring Museo dell’Opera del Duomo). Spiral the staircase to the base of the dome, peer down on the toy-like cathedral interior and up at its frescoed cupola – then climb some more for a heart-pounding panorama of Florence laid out majestically at your feet.
The dome is decorated with a magnificent cycle of frescoes depicting the Last Judgement. This is the world’s biggest dome.
The panoramic view of the homogeneous Tuscan rooftops was indeed a special sight.
Stop #3: Palazzo Vecchio
No single building evokes the power and glory of Renaissance Florence and the powerful Medici dynasty like monumental Palazzo Vecchio, a cinematic fortress with crenelated tower (don’t miss the bird’s eye city view from the top) and labyrinthine interior bursting with secret rooms, closets and tunnels. To get the most out of this dynamic, thoughtful museum, reserve a slot on one of its fabulously imaginative guided tours – fantastic for families.
You can’t get more "backstage" with the Medicis than the Corridoio Vasariano, a covered passageway built for the dynasty to allow them to walk between their trio of Florentine palaces (Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti) in complete privacy. Off-limits for years, the corridor reopens to visitors in 2022 after a €10 million makeover. The "new look" walkway will display statues, restored frescoes that decorated the corridor facade in the 16th century, and memorials to the WWII and 1993 bombings of Florence.
Stop #4: Ponte Vecchio
Outdoor hallway en route to Ponte Vecchio
Stop #5: Piazzale Michelangelo - Sunset and views of Ponte Vecchio
Piazzale Michaelangelo is a crowded but beautiful place for sunset views of Ponte Vecchio and Florence. Beware of pickpockets though, as we caught some in action.
Every city has its moment and in Florence it takes place every day at sunset. Key spots to watch the handsome Florentine cityscape turn soft pink, orange, fiery amber and fifty shades in between include any bridge across the Arno or along the river banks; with David on hilltop Piazzale Michelangelo; the panoramic terrace of Romanesque basilica San Miniato al Monte; and higher up again between 16th-century battlements at Forte di Belvedere (summer only).
Stop #6: Basilica of Santa Croce
The Statue of Dante Alighieri is a monument to Dante Alighieri in Piazza Santa Croce, outside the Basilica of Santa Croce, in Florence, Italy. He was regarded as one of the greatest Italian poets, renowned for The Divine Comedy, an epic poem that is one of the world's most seminal works of literature. The austere interior of this Franciscan basilica is quite startling after the magnificent neo-Gothic facade enlivened by varying shades of coloured marble. Most visitors come to see the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Ghiberti, but frescoes by Giotto in the chapels to the right of the altar are the real highlights. The basilica was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio between 1294 and 1385 and owes its name to a splinter of the Holy Cross donated by King Louis IX of France in 1258.
Some other cool places you can check out:
Leather bags at Massimo Leather for quality leather jackets and handbags, all 100% made in Italy
La Bottega del Tartufo - for Italian truffles as gifts ;)
