Florence is a beautiful and lovely city. It has an interesting architecture, it is in fact a cradle of renaissance. It was a center of culture and merchandise couple hundreds years ago, and was even a capital city of Italian kingdom in some period of time.

The city has indeed a very interesting history. However what EXACTLY is worth visiting while spending your holiday there?

I talked about Florence in the latest post. I suggest you to also read it as I was breaking through some of the main issues while traveling. (Like stay, transport - by train, by car or a bus).

In this article we will talk about various sights and places that are definitely worth your visit. I also try to add the most about skipping the lanes and useful tips like that.

1. CATTEDRALE DI SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE (DUOMO)

The Florence's cathedral is towering the city and becomes its dominant. It was built by Brunelleschi on a site of older church of Santa Reparata. The remains of the old church can still be seen in the crypt. The structure is predominantly gothic.

What is pretty interesting are the statues. They are to the right from the cathedral. Each one of the architect has his own statue which seems as it was admiring the cathedral. I really appreciated the detail and find it pretty interested to know about when I was standing right there.

Beautiful insides of the church.

The church is more interesting from the outside to most since it has the beautiful pink and green marble panels. The inside's main attraction are the mosaic pavements.

You can also climb to the top of the red cupola.

The view from a mountain above the city.

Artwork

The biggest one inside is by Giorgio Vasari. It is the fresco of Last Judgment. The interesting thing is it isn't really painted by Vasari, but by his student Zuccari.

Entrance

The cost is free. However the number of tourists is limited. To reduce noise and increase the number of people in, they created the audio guide system. (Which is nowadays in most museums). The guide costs 2,50€ and students with a card have a discount.

The lanes here are pretty long but they move quickly. Don't wear any knives or similar stuff, because you wouldn't be able to go in most of the sights!

Firenze in winter.

Tickets

Free, audio guide: 2,50€

You can buy combined ticket that includes Baptistry, crypt, Campanile de Giotto, Museo Del opera Del duomo for 18€

Openings

Week: 10am - 5 pm

Thursday: 10 am - 3:30 pm

Saturday: 10 am - 4:45 pm

Sunday and public holidays: 1:30 pm - 4:45 pm.

2. BARRERO DI SAN GIOVANNI - (BAPTISTRY OF SAINT JOHN)

It is one of the oldest buildings in Florence. Built in 11th century, the building is appearing to be in Romanesque style. The style was widely spread in medieval Europe and it is known for semi-circular arches.

The baptistry is renowned for its doors which are made of bronze and there are relief sculptures on them. Many members of the important Medici family and famous poet Dante Alighieri were baptized here.

Interior

The walls are made out of green and pink marble and the columns of Sardinian granite.

What is the most interesting in the baptistry is its ceiling. It's full of gold and mosaics so it creates a really expensive look. It was built throughout the centuries in different phases. There are of course religious symbols portrayed.

The most interesting of them is definitely Last Judgment by Jacobus. It shows a Christ and lots of angels. To the right (from the Christ) we can see those who were saved, leaving their tomb with joy on their faces. To the left there are damned with each of their punishments.

Tickets

It has only one hall inside. This costs 4€.

3. UFFIZI GALLERY (Gallery of Offices)

The gallery is a very prominent art museum with a whole collection of Italian art. There isn't much to say, just that the gallery is really for art enthusiasts. Some of the best paintings there are from Botticelli.

The problem I had with the gallery was the lane. It was 3 hours (not exaggerating at all) until we got to the tickets office. I highly suggest to buy tickets online OR wait until 3 p.m. (almost no lane). Unfortunately when I was there nobody told us this information, and I travelled with travel agency. This was also the reason why I started this blog.

You will have a free ticket when you will come on first Sunday of the month. (Which works in almost every European museum)

Tickets

from 01/03 to 31/10 = regular 20€, reduced 10€

from 01/11 to 28/02 = regular 12€, reduced 6€

Openings

Open Tuesday to Sunday 8:15 – 18:50

Extraordinary Opening: From 1st July to 22 September on Tuesday and Wednesday will extend opening hours until 22:00.

Closed: Monday, January 1, May 1, December 25.

Address: Piazzale degli Uffizi 6, Firenze

4. GALLERIA DEL' ACCADEMIA (Academy Gallery)

The gallery I have unfortunately never visited. It was because the lane was so long every day and we were in Florence for only 4 days. This is why it is better to plan your own trip and read articles about the city you go to. It may be tiring sometimes but it's definitely worth it.

The gallery itself is mainly about Michelanelo's David. The original of the sculpture is located here. There are also many other sculptures by Michelangelo and other artists from Florence. However this museum is more specialized and if you have a budget or time only for one of them, choose Uffizi Gallery. It's bigger and has more paintings which are also more variable.

Tickets

Entrance to the Accademia Gallery is allowed every 15 minutes. Adult ticket: 16,00 euro- (includes reservation to skip-the-line and on-line fees 4,00 euro). Reduced ticket: 9,80 euro- (includes reservation to skip-the-line and on-line fees 4,00 euro).

There are always lots of tourists.

Openings

The Accademia is open Tuesday through Sunday, 8:15 am – 6:50 pm. This means it is CLOSED on Mondays. Ticket office closes at 6:20 pm, and museum starts closing down at 6:40 pm.

The museum is closed: every Monday, January 1, May 1, December 25.

Address: Via Ricasoli 58-60 – near Piazza San Marco.

You can find more information on official website: here.

5. PALAZZO VECCHIO (Old Palace)

The palace is a town hall of Florence. The main attraction for the tourists is however a copy of Michelangelo's statue.

The entrance is located from the Piazza Del Signoria which is ALWAYS full of tourists. There is a very pretty frontispiece above the entrance door.

Also a quick note: There are many local sellers that will try to sell you a selfie stick or something. If you want to buy, always try the USB connection if it works. And don't buy anything more expensive than 5€. On the Piazza there are also many sellers of art. Their prices are very high but it's because they want you to negotiate with them.

In the palace there is also one of the oldest view of Bratislava (Slovakia). Many Slovak people don't know that and it was quite a surprise for me as well. There are also many other cities from Habsuburg's monarchy. The cities are painted there because of the wedding of two ruling families of the time. The wife Johanna Habusrg wanted something that would remind her of home country, that's why Cosimo I. decorated the palace this way.

Tickets

Around 18€

Inside the Duomo

Opening times

From october to march: Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun 9 a.m - 7 p.m. Thursday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. From april to september: Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun 9 a.m - 11 p.m. Thursday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m 

So that´s it. Hope you liked the article and felt at least a bit inspired for travelling. Would you like to visit Florence? Let me know!

Disclaimer
Some of the photos in this post are not mine. I have plenty of photos like this, unfortunately my laptop isnt in great condition so I cant edit that much of them. I was in Florence year ago so I also dont really remember exactly what interior belongs to what sight so theres that. All the photos has link to adequate owners.

Radka

My first article about Florence: here.

Firenze. Florentia. Fiorenza. What a lovely name for such a mesmerizing city. Location in Tuscany makes us imagine lavender fields, flowers everywhere and endless summer. You can almost smell all the beauty, or the pizza, risotto and spaghetti. But is this city really like that?

Let's find out.

The city itself is thought to be a "cradle of renaissance" which translates into beautiful architecture with white and green marbles you can see in the whole city.

It was also the center of the trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities in medieval era. It has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages". The most famous rulers in the city were Medici family.

Fiorentine dialect soon became the language of culture due to famous poets and writers like Niccolo Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch).

There are cca 400k inhabitants and 100 km2 (40 sq mi). However when the tourists come there are more than one million people in the city.

There wasn't much space in Florence so the Florentins chose to build very narrow houses which has a balcony (more like another room) at the first floor. I've seen that tactic in multiple Italian cities like Venice as well.

BASILICA DI SANTA CROCE

(Basilica of the holy cross)

Our first stop was at Santa Croce which is a Franciscan church built on a small typical square. All of the historical squares in Italy basically look the same. They all have a church as a main aspect and then there are some rectangular shaped buildings all over. They are mostly decorated with arcs.

As our first stop, the church quite disappointed us. I was expecting so much more honestly. It was very nice on the inside, but there are plenty similar ones in my country. The square was also a bit boring, there were only thousands of tourists. If I'd visited Florence once again, I won't come to this place.

However if you are interested in seeing the burials of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and more Italian most well-known men, you will like it. It is located only 800 meters from the Duomo.

However I was too eager for jumping into conclusions. Later that day we visited the most famous buildings in Florence.

CATTEDRALE DI SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE

(Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower)

It is considered to be the cathedral of Florence (so the famous "Duomo of Firenze" is this church). The building itself looks very majestic as it is faced with green and pink marble panels. It was built by Brunelleschi and two other architects.

It was the most beautiful church I've ever seen in my life and I've seen a lot of religious sights. I've seen mosques, synagogues and churches, but this one tops them all. The paintings, the ceiling, everything there was stunningly made.

Actually it has one peculiarity. The dome was built without using centering to support the structure. Brunelleschi lightened the dome and used his own machines to build it, even with a lot of criticism.

The whole complex with the dome, baptistery and Giotto's Campanile is the most captivating thing in Florence. I definitely recommend visiting the insides of the buildings as well.

PONTE VECCHIO 

(Old bridge)

The most famous bridge in Florence is this one. It goes over the river Arno. On the bridge there were multiple artisan's shops that sell jewellery or leather gloves (I bought one of these and they are amazing). There are many tourists on the bridge during daytime so if you really want to take a nice picture of the river and the city I recommend going later in the evening or soon in the morning.

TRANSPORT

Plane ✈️

If you want to visit Florence by plane you basically have 3 options. Florence AirPort (FLR) (called Amerigo Vespucci) is the closest one. It is only 5 km from the city itself. You can take a bus that takes you directly from airport to Florence.

Low cost airlines mostly flies to Pisa's AirPort (PSA), which has the name of Galileo Galilei. The AirPort is connected to Florence as well, but it isn't as close. It takes 70 minutes and you have to deal with bad traffic. There is also another solution. You can reach Florence by train, from the train station in Pisa.

The third option is Bologna (BLQ) airport. It is only one hour ride to the city. However some airlines insist that airport Forli (FRL) - *notice the similarity between Florence airport (FLR)* - is the Bologna's airport. But Forli is very far away, it takes 2 hours and 48 minutes to get there by train (with changing to bus). So be careful while choosing where you'll land.

Car 🚗

If you want to book a car, there isn't any problem. However you must deal with really bad traffic in Florence, since it is a small city (with very small routes). Cars also aren't allowed to historical center of the city.

You should also consider choosing a hotel with a parking lot since a lot of them doesn't have that. There are many boutique hotels which can have amazing prices, but may not be the right choice for car drivers.

Trains 🚃

I suggest to take a look at Trenitalia.com website to plan your journey. Be sure to also check which train is going to your dream destination since some can be pretty expensive. Frecciarosa trains have the cheapest tickets for 20€ for one hour ride, while classic Trenitalia costs around 5€.

STAY

I would highly recommend to book a hotel in a town near Florence. The trains aren´t expensive and they are fast and ride very often. We were living in Monte catini san Therme, which was a small bathing city near by. The hotels in Florence tend to be quite expensive so I´ll strongly suggest maaking the same decision.

More sights and traveler's notes will be published in next post dedicated to them.

little street behind me was even more beautiful than on this picture ✨

Príspevok, ktorý zdieľa Radka 🦋 | Travel | Slovakia (@sosheglows), 4 Okt 2017 o 4:34 PDT