The guide to a perfect visit in Florence
A day in Florence starts with a cappuccino and ends with an aperol spritz. Back when I fell in love with the city at 11 years old, days started and ended with a chocolate crepe and the largest possible gelato (no coffee or spritzes then). But as a child, Florence’s sunny yellow buildings and warm glow made quite the impression, so I knew when I decided to return I would fall back in love.
Food, drink and people, one could easily argue these are Italy’s core values. When I had the opportunity to stay in Florence for three months earlier this year, most evenings appropriately included that spritz and of course good company. But Florence itself is famous for its quaint charm, walkability, and as the home to some of Europe’s most famous artworks. But what happens after you’ve visited the galleries, seen the famed Duomo, and walked the Ponte Vecchio?
Florence is a city full of aesthetic and cultural beauty, but also full of life; teeming with international students, aspiring artists and artisans, tourists, and Italians from every corner of the country. In such a small city, if you gave it your best shot, you could see the majority of it in two days or so. And if you’ve got the right pair of shoes on, you can explore a good portion of it in just one evening. Most days, my exercise watch indicated I had walked 25,000 - 30,000 steps. With adrenaline and my incessant need to know every inch of the city, all the walking seemed an afterthought.
Ponte Vecchio bridge
Waking up in Florence
Unless you find one of Florence’s Brooklyn-chic brunch spots, for an authentic Italian breakfast you’re not going to find many places with a savory options. But…for some of the sweetest pastries stop by Vecchio Forno and try their mini cheesecake, sweet pistachio croissants or fruit tarts. You’ll need all the fuel you can get for the museums you’re about to drop into.
Breakfast complete with sweet pastries from Florence’s Vecchio Forno
Florence is known as the artistic center of Europe, home to Michelangelo and some of Italy’s most lavish palaces and churches. The first place to check off the to-do list is the Duomo or the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. This structure towers over Florence, and if you purchase a Brunelleschi Pass, you can access the cathedral’s dome, ascend the bell tower next to the cathedral, and peruse a museum, baptistery and underground crypt for just €30.
Surely topping the list of places you must visit is the Ponte Vecchio or Old Bridge, the only bridge in Florence that survived WWII and now home to the city’s jewelry sellers.
Artistic must-sees in Florence are endless. The Uffizi Gallery right next to Florence’s Arno river houses more 300,000 artworks including those of Leonardo Da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo - the museum itself is a work of art with a gorgeous view of the Ponte Vecchio below. Galleria dell’Accademia displays the original colossal statue of David by Michelangelo, and Pitti Palace, the former home of the famous Medici family that once ruled over the city, now hosts multiple art exhibits and a vast garden to tour.
Escape the city for a day and tour the Tuscan countryside. Wine tours in Tuscany are available for under €100 and include transportation around Tuscany, a wine tasting and home cooked meal. A tour guide offers a history of the region and cities, and leaves you to your devices at each stop. On a windy weekend with friends, we hopped on a bus and explored the small villages of San Gimignano, Siena and Pisa, drank wine and tried San Gimignano’s Gelateria Dondoli, voted best gelato in the world (but we personally preferred Florence’s).
Day turns to night
After I visited all the big spots, I found myself looking for something more in Florence’s culture. And with a lot of investigating and a lot more walking, I found that this city from Renaissance times is bursting with vibrant nightlife and of course food.
If you’re anything like me and want to live like a local while traveling, you’re going to want to cross the Arno to the less touristy side of the city called ‘Oltrarno’ which quite literally translates to “the other side of the Arno.” Here you can find some of the city’s most authentic food as it is also home to a majority of Florence’s locals.
When I first visited Florence, my family and I dined at a famous pizzeria called Gusta Pizza in Oltrarno. During my stay when I rediscovered the spot, I could still remember the old tables, the scent of dough and tomato sauce floating into the street. It was through my rediscovery of this pizzeria that I stumbled upon a local treasure just a few feet away. Piazza Santo Spirito, where an unassuming church sits plain, in apparent protest to the rest of the city’s enchanting basilicas. However, locals revere the church’s glittering interior as one of Florence’s most ornate, with works by Michelangelo and father of Renaissance architecture, Filippo Brunellschi. The surrounding piazza is much the same, an unassuming treasure.
Piazza Santo Spirito is a hub for local nightlife, home to many quaint bars to grab coffee or a spritz, and in my opinion, some of the best lasagna in Florence at Gusta Osteria, a little restaurant that serves Italian classics done the right way, and a branch of Gusta Pizza. On a random Sunday stroll through the piazza, I found it also hosts one of the city’s best flea markets with offerings from local food and winemakers, vintage clothes, pottery and artisanal goods of all sorts. But the best time to visit this piazza is around 5 p.m. for aperitivo. Everyone is out of work or class and has come to gather with friends and chat, it’s tradition.
Giardino Bardini pictured in April in Florence’s Oltrarno neighborhood
When you leave the piazza with hopefully a lightness in your step, the Tuscan sun will be setting and south of Santo Spirito lies Florence’s brightest gems, the perfect sites for sunset watching. Giardino Bardini offers views of Florence framed by greenery and Renaissance-style architecture for less than €10. Tucked away between Oltrarno’s backstreets, in the spring and summer you can find a glowing purple tunnel of wisteria, paths of perfectly groomed deep green shrubbery, and a cafe at the garden’s highest point. I often returned to this spot on sunny afternoons, as it offered some of my trip’s most awe-inspiring moments.
Just a few blocks over and you’ll find another romantic spot, Florence’s rose garden which houses 400 varieties of rose and includes an outdoor bar, where you can enjoy your second (or third) spritz of the evening. Bring a picnic blanket, some cheese, wine, and don’t forget the prosciutto for some aperitivo snacks.
Venture just a bit further and you’ll find Florence’s most sought-after lookout spot, Piazzale Michelangelo. Home to a replica of Michelangelo’s famous statue of David, along with the most jaw-dropping views of Florence’s warm-hued buildings, rooftops and sparkling river. Every evening at sunset, students sit on the grand staircase drinking wine while tourists lean out over the stone parapet taking photos. On multiple occasions, people have broken out into dance to live street music or pop songs from a nearby radio. If you stay after sunset, once the piazzale has emptied out you can watch as the lights of Florence’s buildings light up the night sky with an orangey-yellow glow.
Gorgeous views overlooking the city from Piazzale Michelango
Now comes the greatest question of any evening in Italy: where to eat? Florence is famous for steak and to find the good stuff you’ll have to wait in line at Trattoria Dall’Oste, a steakhouse favorite of Florentine locals and tourists alike. Or pull your hair out trying to decide what to order at Acqua al 2, where the pasta tastes like they invented ‘al dente,’ and the staff treats you like an old friend. When I brought my family to try the pasta at the end of my stay in Florence, our waiter brought the check to the table and placed it squarely in front of me giving a heartfelt ‘thank you’ for bringing them to the restaurant. The truth is whatever you order, you can’t go wrong.
If you’re looking for a more affordable option for dinner, you can always grab a panino at one of Florence’s famed sandwich shops. A lesser known favorite is Pino’s Salumeria Verdi where you can get an amazing panino for €5. During my stay, Pino’s was the go-to every Monday night for a sandwich and a glass of wine for myself and all my expat friends. And for some of Florence’s most authentic pizza get over to L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele before the dinner rush. Every night at approximately 8-9 p.m, Florentines line up outside Michele’s for their incredible Neapolitan-style pizza. The pizza’s are huge, but once you take a bite you’ll understand how everyone seems to put away the whole thing.
Ending your evening…
Once you’ve wined and dined, there’s no avoiding the obvious… gelato. Florence has no shortage of gelato shops in every piazza, but some of the best are worth a longer walk.
Housed in two locations on the east side of the Arno is Gelateria de Medici, a spot with classic gelato and dessert creations. Try the Crema de Medici flavor and you’ll have a new reason to never leave town. For some crazier flavors, Gelateria La Carraia is revered amongst Florentine locals as the best gelato in town. There are also two locations for this shop on both sides of the river, but many say the best (like most things in Florence) is in Oltrarno. I must’ve tried every flavor, but I’d have to recommend the Cremino Divino, a mascarpone, egg, Marsala wine and hazelnut flavor, sounds strange but lives up to the name, divine. A fruitier option would be the Lampo di Cioccolata, a fudgey chocolate mixed with sweet and tart raspberry gelato.
Now would be a good time for a walk. The streets of Florence at night are lively and full and the best place to walk off that heavy feeling in your stomach is along the Arno, and if you can’t, sometimes the best answer is to sleep off the pasta.
Ponte Vecchio at sunset
But for those who enjoy a taste of nightlife you’ll find Florence has much to offer. There’s something for everyone: American-themed pubs for students, small speakeasies and wine bars, clubs and gay bars alike. Music-lovers should find their way to the Jazz Club Firenze where you enter once for €8 and get a membership card for life. Though you may have a hard time finding the club, when you approach a side street filled with people smoking cigarettes and a bodyguard manning what appears to be a basement door, you’re there. Jam out to jazz quartets, indie rock bands and music of all sorts at a little French table and you’re living your European dreams.
Should you wish to spend your evening socializing with locals or practicing your Italian, you might consider returning to Piazza Santo Spirito or exploring the Sant’Ambrogio neighborhood where on Borgo la Croce bars and people line the streets drinking, chatting and gesturing in true Italian nature.
On my way home from an evening out, I almost always passed the Duomo. Somehow more beautiful in the empty piazza at night, it shines over the whole city like Florence’s personal moon. It was those evenings when my exercise watch clocked in at 30,000 steps that I understood why Florentines are so unyielding in their insistence that their city is the best in Tuscany. As a city of the past much of Florence’s culture remains antiquated, but its growing international youth has pushed its tougher boundaries and made for a more accepting and progressive community. And besides, in how many places can you see one of the world’s most famous statues, have the best meal of your life, get drinks with friends, and watch live music all within an evening’s stroll?
*****This article was published with Passport Magazine on March 15, 2023. This is the original draft without editing by the Passport Magazine editors. Thanks for reading! See the Passport Magazine version here.
