As part of a 1-week trip through Italy 🇮🇹 in 2022, I had the chance to spend 2 days in Florence with my wife and sister.

Stay

After staying on a Penzione in Venice, we decided to get a Hotel for Firenze. We got a 3-star hotel with an amazing location, right in front of the main basilica. The hotel is called Hotel Bigallo.

The place is good enough for what we wanted. The breakfast was good, and the location is amazing. The room is smaller than we expected, and the bathroom door was not locking, but these were very small details for us.

Things to do

Walking tour

We did the tour with Gabriel and it was very good. The guy is brazilian, so it was even better for us as we had some conversations after the tour.

Even if you’re not brazilian, I totally recommend it: https://www.florencefreetourtale.com/ren-tips-tourtale-gabri-2022

Visit the basilica

You can get in for free, but there’s a giant line to get in. We went there at the end of the afternoon and the line was less bad.

Bobolli gardens

It was very disappointing. Seeing fontanas (fountains) without water was very lame. The gardens didn’t feel very well maintained.

Other places (to expand later)

  • Palazzo Vechio
  • Palazzo Pitti
  • Uffizi galeries
  • Dell’a academia (we did not go there)

Food & drinks

Bucca Mario

We decided to pick a fancy restaurant in Florence. This one was amazing, you just have to be ready to spend some money there.

You need a reservation and the place is usually full, but it’s totally worth visiting.

Osteria Dell’oca

The guide recommended this one and we loved it! I recommend to have a Pappa al Pomodoro, with bread and tomato or the Panzanella, which is also amazing.

Get some gelattos

This is not really a place, but a recommendation to have as many gelattos as you can. These ice creams re amazing.

Transport

We arrived by train on Firenze Maria Novella from Venezia Santa Lucia. Our hotel was just 10-15 mins walking from the train station.

Walking is the preferred way of doing things in Firenze. You can reach most attractions in a walking distance, ~20 minutes max.

To move to Rome, we went to Fizenze Santa Maria Novella walking. We got a huge delay this time. Our train got late by ~50 minutes.