Florence, Italy
Welcome back to my blog, next up on my travels around Italy is Florence, the capital city of the Tuscany region!
Venice to Florence
To get from Venice to Florence we caught the train which only took us about 2 hours. The trains in Italy are super fast and reasonably priced. I wish we had them in England!
How many nights in Florence?
We only spent 2 nights in Florence. Again, like in Venice I felt like we had timed this right. We managed to do everything that we had wanted to do while in Florence.
Attractions
In our short time in Florence we visited, Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (pictured first.) Which is a gothic style Cathedral by Arnolfo di Cambio completed in 1436.
Walked across Ponte Vecchio, which basically means old bridge in Italian, it was built in 1345! Ponte Vecchio is know for its many shops including jewellers, art sellers and antique boutiques.
Enjoyed a meal with stunning views from Piazzale Michelangelo. Which is a square that offers amazing views over Florence, we stayed there during sunset and there was the most amazing atmosphere. There was musicians, singing and lots of people dancing.
On one of the days we visited the Uffizi Gallery bright and early in the morning before it got too busy. The gallery was full of Catholic art work, interesting at first but for me got a little bit repetitive as we walked around. (I am more into modern art.) However, there were some incredible Michelangelo sculptures to see but, a lot of them are located just outside the Uffizi which you can see for free!
We also visited Palazzo Pitti which is a renaissance palace and garden and is beautiful.
Finally and Basilica di San Lorenzo which is one of the largest churches in Florence. It is located in the city’s main market district. So all in all we did quite a lot of stuff!
ADVICE FOR FLORENCE
A piece of advice I would give anyone visiting Florence or any heavily Catholic country is to make sure you have your shoulders and knees covered when visiting Cathedral’s. Although I was wearing what I
though to be conservative clothing a lot of Cathedral’s got very funny and I had to cover up. You can buy a shawl/scarf very cheaply at most of the attractions. However, just keep this in my mind for when you’re dressing in the morning because it can be a waste of time having to travel all the way back to where you’re staying to change.
OTHER POSTS
Some other posts you may enjoy if you are travelling around Italy would be: Venice, Rome, Naples, Mount Vesuvius and Herculaneum, Pompeii and Positano.
Lots of love, Melissa x
