The Uffizi: What to Prioritise
The Uffizi contains one of the greatest art collections in the world and a lot of mediocre 16th-century portraiture. Rooms 10–14 hold the Botticellis — the Birth of Venus, Primavera — which are the works people travel thousands of miles to see. The Caravaggios on the ground floor are violent and extraordinary. Do not spend time in the gift shop when you could be standing in front of Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo instead.
San Lorenzo and the Central Market
The covered Mercato Centrale on Via dell’Ariento operates a traditional market on the ground floor — bread, charcuterie, cheese, tripe, wild mushrooms in season — that has served the city for over a century. The area around it is full of leather goods stalls of variable quality; the best leather artisans work in ateliers off the main streets. Ask at your accommodation for a recommendation.
The Oltrarno on Foot
The south bank of the Arno is quieter and more local than the historic centre. Walk through the Boboli Gardens in the morning, then lose yourself in the streets of the Oltrarno: restorers working in ground-floor workshops, small wine bars serving the house red, bookshops run by people who have read everything they sell. The Piazzale Michelangelo view at sunset is genuinely worth braving the crowds for.
When to Go
April and May are excellent: warm, manageable crowds, the city’s light at its best before the summer heat turns everything bleached and airless. September and October are equally good after the August evacuation. January through March is cold, the museums are nearly empty, and the trattorias are full of Florentines eating lunch. July and August are punishing: queues everywhere, 95°F, and a city that feels like it belongs to everyone except itself.
Getting There & Around
Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station sits at the centre of the city, walkable to most things worth seeing. The historic centre is entirely pedestrianised within the ZTL zone — if you’ve driven in, don’t. Trams connect the station to the western suburbs. The city is small enough that walking is the correct mode: most of the key sites sit within a 20-minute radius of each other. A day trip to Siena by bus (Tiemme/SENA), an hour and a half each way, is worth doing.
Eating in Florence
Florence has a food culture built on a few things done with complete seriousness. The bistecca alla Fiorentina — a T-bone from Chianina cattle, minimum 800g, served rare or not at all — is the benchmark dish. If a trattoria offers to cook it well done, order something else. Lampredotto is the city’s street food: braised tripe stomach in a soft roll, dipped in its own cooking broth, eaten standing. It is cheap by any standard. Schiacciata, a flat olive-oil flatbread, is correct warm at 9am from a bakery, before they sell out. Wine is Chianti Classico or Morellino di Scansano; the house carafe in a trattoria is almost always fine and always cheaper than the bottle list.
The tourist-trap test: if the menu has photographs, if someone is at the door with a laminated card, or if the wine arrives in a souvenir Chianti flask, leave. Real trattorias are smaller, have short menus that change with the season, and do not need to solicit customers from the street.
Practical Tips
Book the Uffizi and the Accademia (for Michelangelo’s David) weeks or months ahead — walk-in queues can reach two hours. Most major churches charge a small admission fee with specific opening hours; check the day before. The Bargello, the Palazzo Vecchio, and the Brancacci Chapel are less visited and nearly as rewarding. The city’s tabaccherie sell bus tickets, water, maps, and everything else you need; they are the most useful stop on any itinerary.
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