Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
When Should You Visit?
Summer can be awfully hot, and the locals usually flee town en masse in August,
when many shops and hotels close. Weather-wise, spring and fall are the best
times in Florence, as well as in the Tuscan countryside. If you're traveling on a
budget, however, you may want to consider a winter visit, when prices are at their
lowest. Yes, the city will be cold and wet, but not unbearably so, and you'll be
able to see all of Florence's top sights without battling crowds.
center on Via Faenza, you'll pass the stall-filled streets around
Mercato Centrale
and San Lorenzo Church,
which are claustrophobic but good spots to shop for
leather deals.
All roads lead to the
Duomo.
Piazza del Duomo, the site of Florence's massive
domed cathedral, the Baptistery, and 10 million tourists, is centrally located at the
end point of over a dozen streets. So it's easy to find, but hard to exit in the right
direction. Remember, the Baptistery, the smaller building with the doors every-
one is staring at, stands on the western end of the piazza.
Go
north from the Duomo
on vias Ricasoli, Cavour, or Servi to find the
Accademia
(which houses Michelangelo's
David
), the
Piazza San Marco,
and
Piazza Santa Annunziata
respectively. These large attractions create the northern
borders of your tourist world.
The
western edge
of the historical center focuses around the cavernous
Santa
Croce
church, as well as the many leather stores nearby. The streets are a little more
residential, the feeling a bit more local than in the central part of the district.
South from the Duomo,
Via Roma will lead you to the neoclassical
Piazza
della Repubblica
and its huge arch. Via dei Tornabuoni, the high-end shopping
street with the Ferragamo and Prada stores, is a few blocks west of Piazza della
Repubblica. A couple of blocks east of Piazza della Repubblica, Via dei Calzaiuoli
brings visitors to the statue-filled medieval
Piazza Signoria
and
Palazzo Vecchio
(the fortress with the pokey tower). Piazza Signoria connects on the south end to
the
Uffizi Gallery,
which is just east of the shop-filled Ponte Vecchio, the land-
mark bridge crossing the
Arno River.
South of the Arno,
across Ponte Vecchio, or Ponte S. Trinità, is the
Oltrarno
district, more of a laid-back, locals-focused part of town, with winding streets
filled with artisans' workshops and small stores. But it's still tourist friendly, with
hotels, restaurants, and the massive
Pitti Palace,
along with several other churches
and
Piazzale Michelangelo
and
San Miniato Church
up high in the hills above
the Oltrarno.
A growing number of international and European discount airlines fly into
both Florence's
Amerigo Vespucci Airport
(
%
055-3061302; www.aeroporto.
firenze.it) and Pisa's nearby
Galileo Galilei Airport.
Florence's airport is only
about 4.8km (3 miles) from the city center, making it a reasonable
20
cab ride, or a
€
4, 20-minute bus ride into town via the direct Ataf-Sita buses that
leave the airport every 30 minutes. Regular city buses make the connection for
about
€
1.50. The Pisa airport is about an hour from Florence. Low-cost airlines
€
15 to
€
