Florence, Italy is a fun city to visit. There’s something for everyone, from very old statues to very old buildings (with statues in them).
In all seriousness, I enjoyed Florence a lot. Despite its status as a prime tourist hotspot, it was a pleasant visit when I was there in April 2022. This particular visit was about a 3-day itinerary, with a day trip to Pisa in the middle.
Here’s my trip report for Florence, the capital of Tuscany. Incidentally, this was also my first experience visiting Italy.
Arriving in Florence by night train
Travelling from Munich, Germany, I really wanted to take an overnight train to Florence. Night trains are more than a novelty—they’re a great way to save some money, since you’re combining your travel and accommodation costs.
This particular train, the Nightjet, is operated by Austria’s national railway company. We had a seating cabin (not a sleeper cabin). Fortunately, this type of booking grants you the entire compartment, and the seats fold down, so it’s essentially the same as a sleeper cabin (less comfortable, but cheaper).
Our train left Munich after 8:00 pm, and arrived in Florence some 11 hours later. It wasn’t the perfect sleeping environment, as you may or may not be woken up by police at each border crossing (once into Austria, once into Italy). The upshot was that we were pretty tired getting off the train at 7:00 in the morning.
Seeing as how this was my first day ever in Italy, it seemed like a great chance to get started on the cappuccinos.
Florence in the morning
We walked from the train station to our hotel, the Hotel Benivieni, which is located right near the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. The cathedral is Florence’s most iconic landmark, and it dominates the city’s skyline.
Given the central location, I thought our home neighbourhood would be a zoo. But, walking to the hotel at just before 8:00 am, there was barely anyone around. There were, however, dozens of service vehicles whipping around the streets (including pedestrian zones) at full speed, with no apparent traffic rules in place.
In any case, we dropped our backpacks off at the hotel and went to explore, dodging traffic all the way.
Most of the city was still closed, the only activity inside small cafes, full of people drinking (what else?) cappuccinos. We didn’t have specific plans, but fortunately Florence is a very walkable city. We walked across the river to the hills in the south.
There, we decided to check out the Boboli Gardens. These sprawling gardens charge a fee for entry, but they were a delight to wander through—particularly in the morning with few other people around. I assume the gardens are typically greener than they were during our early spring visit, but they were beautiful nonetheless.
There are plenty of statues, fountains, and other such décor to see. There’s also the Lemon House, which is a large building full of lemon trees. As a lemon enjoyer, it was possibly the coolest part of the garden.
The gardens are located behind the Palazzo Pitti, another of Florence’s main attractions. Just as the city was finally starting to come alive, we were ready for our first break. We sat and drank more cappuccino at a café right in front of the palazzo. Not a bad vacation day, so far.
The best views of Florence
While walking across town to our next destination, we stumbled upon the Bardini Gardens. Like a smaller version of the Boboli Gardens, they have their own statues and fountains. They treated us to some spring blossoms as well. We might have skipped it, but our tickets from the Boboli Gardens also granted us entry here, so we figured we might as well see what’s up.
We then continued to the main destination, the Piazzale Michaelangelo. This large park sits on a hilltop on the southern side of the Arno River. It features a commanding view of the city, and has a bronze replica of Michaelangelo’s David. That would be important, as we would later decide to bail on seeing the real thing.
The Piazzale Michaelangelo was well worth the uphill climb. The view of Florence was excellent. We spent quite a while taking it in and taking pictures before we started back down.
On the hillside, we stopped to eat lunch at a pizza restaurant, where I had my first pizza and first lunch wine in Italy. Neither would be the last.
By this point, we were exhausted—we did wake up at about 5:30 am after sleeping on a train. We checked in to our lovely hotel room, relaxed a bit, and had some dinner at Casella 18. We picked a random small restaurant near our hotel, and it turned out great—I can highly recommend it.
Day 2: The Pisa trip
We set the second day aside for a day trip to Pisa, home of the infamous tower. A separate post about that is forthcoming!
Returning to Florence in the late afternoon, we actually had decided to revisit the Piazzale Michaelangelo just to see the sunset. Unfortunately, the weather started to turn right before we could do that, and so our plans for the evening got cancelled.
With rain bearing down, I wanted to find a quick dinner. I decided to find a panini, which I had stupidly never considered an Italian thing. I quickly learned that they are everywhere there—and they can be delicious.
I picked a random panini joint that looked decent, and ended up at All’antico Vinaio. I had no idea at the time, but this is an enormously popular restaurant that started in Florence and how has outposts in Rome, Milan, and New York City. I happened to walk by the next day and saw a lineup at least two hundred people deep.
When I stumbled upon it at 7:00 pm, however, there was precisely one person in line ahead of me.
I think that’s what they call “dumb luck.”
I had a panini with salami, eggplant, and cheese. It was tremendous. Would I wait an hour in line for it? Probably not, but there’s basically no food on Earth for which I would. It was unquestionably one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten.
Day 3: Naked statues
Florence has a lot of naked statues. Those renaissance folks apparently just loved naked statues. They’re all over the city, inside and out. Our third day was dedicated to some of the indoor ones, at the Uffizi Gallery.
The Uffizi is one of the largest art museums in the world, and it’s accordingly popular. We booked tickets online a couple of days in advance just to be sure we’d be able to enter at the desired time (first thing in the morning).
The main hallway of the museum holds dozens (maybe hundreds) of statues, most of them busts of Roman people I’ve never heard of. Others were busts of mythological figures, and still others were—what else?—naked statues. The Uffizi is incredibly impressive.
In addition to the statue collection is the painting collection—equally impressive. As very much not an art guy, there were even quite a few pieces that I recognized.
Altogether it took us a bit more than 3 hours to view the entire collection. I imagine someone more into the art could spend much longer.
Exploring Florence
With not much else on the to-do list, and the final day half over, it was time for some good, old fashioned wandering around.
Florence isn’t particularly big, especially the city centre where the main attractions are. In the style of ancient cities, it’s incredibly dense; one could wander the narrow streets for days and not run out of interesting things to stumble upon.
Walking along the river, for example, is a great way to spend some relaxing time. Eventually, you leave the crowds and narrow streets behind, and things open up into sprawling, quiet parks.
Our particular wandering took us east along the river, just past the Torre della Zecca. Beyond the tower is a delightfully quiet, green park, complete with beer garden.
Then, heading northeast a few blocks before cutting sharply back towards the city centre, we found a shopping street called Via Vincenzo Gioberti. Not at all like the streets in the city centre, this particular street was filled with small shops, quiet cafés, and interesting restaurants.
At this point, inside a specialty grocery store much closer to our hotel, I found some fancy Italian beer to try.
Of course, having brought the bottle back to the hotel, I realized I had no bottle opener. No problem, it’s easy to pop the cap off with keys… but lo and behold there was a cork underneath the cap.
Long story short, I bought an unplanned Florence souvenir in the form of a 1-Euro corkscrew, and finally broke into the beer—worth the effort. It was an Oppale, from 32 Via dei birrai, a craft brewery in northeastern Italy.
In any case, Florence was a fantastic city with an astounding variety of things to discover. Three days (two, really) were not enough, and I look forward to returning. There are always more naked statues to see.
Up next: Bologna, an amazing food city even by Italian standards.
Questions or comments? Leave ’em below. Want to read another travel story? Check out this story about visiting Partnachklamm in Germany.