Italy - Florence

Well, the vacation that I spent the better part of 2.5 years dreaming of and planning has come and gone. In the blink of an eye. We were thrown smack dab back into the middle of a blazing hot Texas summer, and while I love Texas, I already miss the Italian sun, the smell of jasmine everywhere, the sound of tiny espresso cups clinking against porcelain saucers, and the promise of gelato around every corner :) Oh Italy, how I love you so!

I’ve had many requests to share the details of our incredible two week trip through Italy and quite honestly, I don’t even know where to start! I feel that I am just about a walking thesaurus on planning a trip to Italy so if you have any questions after reading everything, please feel free to ask! If there’s anything I love talking about more than food and fitness…it’s Italy :)

I think the best way to tackle this and share all the deets is to break it down by each location. That way you can easily have all the good info divided up by location for your own planning purposes! In this segment, I want to talk all about charming Florence!

Florence

How to get there - we arrived by train from Venice, which was really easy and pretty fast! My sister flew in here and didn’t have any issues!

Where to stay - Florence is a pretty small and easily walkable city so don’t stress too much about choosing where to stay. Basically, you choose between staying near the historic city center, or across the river which is the more local part of town but would require more walking to get to some of the main sites. We stayed in the historic city center pretty close to the Duomo and we loved the location!

We stayed at Grand Hotel Cavour. This was our second hotel accommodation and it was good! It wasn’t as incredible as our hotel in Como but it was nice, clean, the staff was friendly, and the breakfast was great! The highlight of this place is the rooftop bar with it’s incredible views over Florence and the top of the Duomo. I will say, the rooftop bar was much smaller in person than I was expecting (based on the photos online) and does require a reservation. But we enjoyed the more intimate atmosphere and made friends with the staff which made the experience even better! Expect to pay a little more for the drinks (about €10 for beer or wine and €16 for cocktails), but we thought it was worth it to relax and enjoy the views with a delicious drink!

What to do

• Climb the Duomo - we decided to skip this but hear it’s pretty cool

• Climb the Bell Tower - we also skipped this, but it gives you awesome views of the Duomo

• Galleria dell’Accademia to see David (go first thing when it opens or in the evening before closing and head straight to David, then do rest of museum)

• Palazzo Vecchio - Apart from housing a museum, the Palazzo Vecchio also has a climbable bell tower that many people don’t take advantage of. There are a number of ticket options including one for those who only want to climb the bell tower and skip the museum, or you can access both the museum and tower. It has great views and is less crowded than the bell tower.

• Enjoy views at Piazzale Michelangelo. This was one of our favorite spots in Florence. The views of the city and mountains are incredible! We hear that sunset is beautiful here, but busy, so we ended up going mid morning when the clouds were out and it wasn’t too hot or too busy.

• Giardino di Boboli - really pretty garden grounds to wander and stroll through

• Vespa driving through Tuscany - this was collectively our top favorite day in Italy. We had a really great tour that took us by van into the Tuscan countryside. We were given lessons on how to drive the vespas, and then we were off! We drove through the windy roads and hills of Tuscany, stopped at a hilltop church, learned about olive trees and olive oil, and then finished the tour with olive oil and wine tastings, as well as lunch at two different small vineyards. We LOVED this day! It was so fun and our guides were great!

• Visit the Leather School store! It was really cool to see all of the handmade leather goods! There’s also PLENTY of shopping to do around the city as well. I wish we had more time to shop!

• Take a train to a nearby Tuscan town such as Lucca or San Gimignano and wander around for the afternoon - we just didn’t have the time to do this, but it is top on my list for next time! I hear both of these towns are magical in their own ways!

What to eat - if you love to eat, then you will love Florence! Florence had some incredible food and we barely scratched the surface of all the goodness it had to offer! Whether you want a fancy sit-down steak dinner or a quick grab-and-go sandwich, Florence has it all.

Restaurants:

• Chianineria Trattoria dall’Oste or I’ Tuscani for the traditional Florentine steak - this meal is definitely a splurge but totally worth it! It was amazing. Just a friendly tip, they measure their steak in kilos, and one kilo (over 2 lbs including the bone) should be plenty for two people :)

• Al’ Antico Vinaio - famous sandwich shop, expect to wait in a line but the line moves fast even if it looks long. Sandwiches here were 8/10

• Pino’s Sandwiches - highly recommended and more local than Al’ Antico, the Kacie special was so good! They also had a few tables and chairs to sit at, which Al Antico did not, and absolutely no line. Also wine. They had wine :) Sandwiches here were 11/10 :)

• Gusta Pizza - for the love of pizza you have to go here. Make sure to check the hours because we almost missed out on this because they were closed when we wanted to go. We ended up having to re-arrange our schedule just to fit this one in because I had heard so many good things about it and it was totally worth it! I highly recommend going for lunch as soon as they open.

• Visit Mercato Centrale - this market has tons of food and non-food items to buy and is a fun way to immerse yourself in local culture.

Gelato:

• La Strega Nocciola - This was my favorite gelato in Florence! I had orange cream and dark chocolate together and it was a match made in gelato heaven! SO GOOD. We all loved this spot.

• Gelateria dei Neri - one of Bryan’s favorites! He had the cookies and cream and loved it. It was really good and my second favorite of Florence.

• Vivoli - oldest gelato shop in Florence, sadly it was closed when we tried to go but I’ve heard great things!

• Honorable mentions: La Sorbettiera, Gelateria della Passera

Florence was the most easily walkable city and it was beautiful! It really is a special place with so much good food, art, history, and beautiful scenery. It should not be missed if you have the chance to visit!