WHAT TO DO IN FLORENCE IN A FEW DAYS

Florentine "fast" tourist guide: best Museums and Mandatory Stops, what to do and see


 

When you have little time and a few days available, it can be difficult to decide what to see and what to do in a city like Florence! It is small, but it hides priceless treasures not to be missed in every little street! On this blog we give you advice on what in our opinion, as Florentines, you cannot miss in a visit to Florence: from the most beautiful and famous museums, to the enchanted places to see absolutely!

Visit the website to book all the Florentine museums:

FLORENCE IN 1 DAY - FIRST DAY

Do you have very little time? The wonder of Florence can also be enjoyed from the streets! If you do not have works or artists that you want to see at all costs, the tour we recommend is without wasting time in the queues, and without seeing too many museums that need 1 or 2 hours each to be visited. Dedicate yourself to experiencing the city, discovering the most beautiful views. Leave from the SMN Central Station and in 2 minutes you can reach the first stop:

  • Church of Santa Maria Novella: it also lends its name to the Central Station, it is beautiful to visit even inside, but a single look from the outside is enough to fill your heart.
  • Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore and Baptistery: the most beautiful and important work in Florence, more beautiful outside than inside, since all the artistic pieces have been transferred to the Duomo Museum. If you have time, the fun (and tiring!) Part is visiting Brunelleschi's dome, from which you can enjoy a spectacular view over the rooftops of the city. The Baptistery is also worth a visit, certainly more restful and faster.
  • Galleria dell'Accademia: built specifically to house Michelangelo's David, it is full of wonderful oil paintings and beautiful marble statues. First museum that absolutely deserves to be visited.
  • Piazza della Signoria: Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia de 'Lanzi and Fontana "Il Vecchione", in a single glance. Indulge yourself in the sculptures of the Loggia, and don't miss the "face of Michelangelo" carved on the right side of the palace wall!
  • Internal street of the Uffizi: if you do not have time to visit the interior which needs a couple of hours, allow yourself a few minutes to pay homage to the great people of Florence immortalized in the statues of the supporting columns; beautiful sculptures by the most famous artists and writers, from Dante to Michelangelo, from Petrarch to Da Vinci. There is no shortage of street painters, very talented and picturesque!
  • Ponte Vecchio: particular and characteristic, with its 200-year-old stilts, and with the most beautiful and vintage wooden shutters in the whole city, you can't help but fall in love with its sparkling shop windows!
  • Piazza di Santa Croce and Church: under Dante's grim gaze, the best way to end the tour, especially to have an aperitif! Church inside fascinating and full of epigraphs to famous people of the past, if you have half an hour left it is worth a look!

Where to eat

Typical restaurant "Trattoria Da Garibardi":

Typical Tuscan dishes cooked with love and care for over 20 years. One of the best trattorias to eat Florentine steak, Tripe, Ribollita and Crostini Fegatini, cooked and served by real Florentine hands. You can find it right in the center of Florence, in Piazza del Mercato Centrale 38, in the San Lorenzo district near the Duomo, a stone's throw from our shop!
Best dishes of Florence
  • Tuscan specialties 
  • Florentine specialties
  • Italian wines
  • Gluten-free menu
  • Territory foods
  • In the historic center
Florence in 2 days - second day

Well, since we have one more day we can indulge in further beauties: discover the places not to be missed in Florence in 2 days:
  • Interior of the Palazzo Vecchio: its frescoes, its ceilings and even its floors remain in the eyes of anyone who has visited it; very entertaining are the guided tours made by the actors who play famous characters of the time, who speak in Florentine (don't worry, it's not a dialect, you understand well!) and who tell you about the Palace in a Renaissance role-playing game!
  • Enjoy a restful walk in the typical small streets of Florence: the Lungarni offer wonderful views, especially the Lungarno Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici!
  • Interior of the Basilica of Santa Croce: the largest Franciscan church in the world, considered the pantheon of Florence, houses nearly 300 tombs, including that of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli. A wonder to be discovered for the most nostalgic souls.
  • Interior of the Church of Orsanmichele: the granary of Florence that became a church when the statue of the Madonna wept blood, is rich in artistic treasures including the Tabernacle of Orcagna and the statues of the patron saints of the Florentine corporations.

Where to sleep

Typical house "Ristori Apartment":

In Via dei Leoni, with the windows facing Palazzo Vecchio, an apartment for 4 people in true "Florentine style". The wonder of the ancient Florentine palaces, the finely restored stone walls, the ceilings with exposed beams of the past. And all the hospitality of a true Florentine woman who will explain you the places, museums and curiosities of Florence not to be missed!

The beauties of the Florentine apartment
  • 2 Double Bedrooms
  • Complete modern kitchen
  • Sheets and towels
  • View of Palazzo Vecchio
  • In the heart of the historic center
Florence in 3 days - third day

Now yes, you can see the Uffizi. Only if you stay at least 3 days. Because? Because the line to enter can last up to hours, and 2 hours are not enough to enjoy the whole museum. And once you get out you will be very tired!
  • Interior of the Uffizi Gallery: the art of the fourteenth century and the Renaissance is enclosed here, in the walls of one of the most famous museums in the world for its valuable collections of paintings and ancient statues. You will remember this for a lifetime.
  • Boboli Gardens: now that you are pretty tired, grit your teeth for a couple of streets, and go and enjoy the most beautiful gardens in all of Florence, 500 years old, lived in by Grand Dukes and Kings!
  • If you still have time and energy, we offer you the latest wonder: the Craftsmanship of Florence! Wood, leather, jewels, ceramics, antiquities... Even craftsmanship is art in Florence!

The Ice Cream "Gelato"

Artisan Ice Cream Parlor "Perché no?":

Among the Florentine Historical Shops, exhibited and exported at the MOMA in New York, this ice cream parlor has made the history of Florentine ice cream since 1939! In via dei Tavolini 19, only fresh ingredients of the highest quality: only eggs, milk, cream, sugar to be combined with seasonal fruit, chocolate, dried fruit, spices and many other genuine first choice products. You will never try an ice cream like this again, word of Florentines!

The artisan ice cream
  • Handicraft production
  • Florentine tradition
  • Lactose-free choices
  • Between the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio
Florence in 5 days - Fifth day
If you have 5 days, take a little more time to visit all the wonders we have already listed, maybe distribute them over 4 days, so you will be able to enjoy them much more! On the fifth day I propose:
  • Museo del Duomo: all the works of Santa Maria del Fiore have been transferred here, an interesting and complete museum where you can see the wonders of centuries of history.
  • Medici Chapels: you can see the New Sacristy, whose sculptures were designed and conceived by Michelangelo, and the Crypts, burials of the Medici Grand Dukes and Cosimo the Elder.
  • Bargello Museum: art museum of Renaissance works, including Michelangelo's sculptures.
  • And finally the View from Piazzale Michelangelo: by day or by night, romantic and fascinating, with the beautiful view of all the red roofs of Florence, where , you will notice, no roof is higher than the Duomo, and all the roofs are of the same type: this thanks to the laws of the mayors of Florence in the last 300 years! 
  • If it is a beautiful day, you can take a little rest in the Roses Garden and the Iris Garden below: the iris is the symbolic flower of Florence, and seeing the beauty and variety of these flowers you can understand why it was chosen over a thousand years ago as a representative of this beautiful city!

Where to drink

The pub "Eby's":

For lovers of unlikely and never seen Shots and Cocktails, this is a must! In the heart of the night center of Florence, in via dell'Oriuolo 5, under the famous Arch of San Pierino, with seating inside and out, ... but the owner's euphoria and passionate screams will bring you so much happiness that you will be able to stay seated more! To try!
The pub and the coffeebar
  • Never seen before shots
  • Cocktails
  • Burritos, Empanadas and Quesadillas
  • Bar service
  • In the historic center

FLORENTINE CRAFTMANSHIP

And now that you still have energy left to see Florence, don't forget to discover the beauties of Typical Florentine Craftsmanship! In the shadow of the Duomo, our Bottega preserves the medieval and Renaissance beauties of Historic Florence. Find the past, tradition, history and .. yourself in the Florentine wood, leather and paper!

 
 

Tourism in Florence
Florence is one of the most famous cities in the world, both to live there, to study, and to visit it as a tourist. It is a small city, on a human scale, perfect for getting around on foot, by bicycle or by bus. More than small, we could say that it is "concentrated": it has everything in a few square kilometers. In the historic center alone it is possible to find high fashion shops, second-hand clothes, restoration, stationery, hardware, art studios, lutherie, and hidden wonders in every corner. It is home to the wealthiest and most famous schools of Arts, Music and Languages, as well as famous free universities, and this makes the city even more fascinating.

Tourists advices
For those used to large new and modern cities where towering skyscrapers stand out, Florence could almost be a small playground, built ad hoc to simulate the ancient streets of the Renaissance. A pearl of rare beauty and full of small wonders, hidden details in every little street. Walking through Florence must be done with watchful eyes everywhere: walls, roofs, balconies, up to the bricks of the street called "sanpietrini", up to the beautiful wrought iron street lamps and even to the decorated garbage bins.

What to do in Florence in a few days
Tourists in Florence? Even the Florentines themselves often remain tourists all their lives. Every time I walk through my historic center, I myself discover small details that I had never noticed before. On this blog I list what I, as a Florentine, and the people I know, love most about Florence, the best places to see and the most beautiful things to do. All the places, churches and museums that we would never want to do without if we were to spend only a few days in this beautiful city. If we only had 1 day it would be a real shame: it is possible just to savor the wonder, history and tradition of this city, but it is certainly never forgotten. Of course there are so many things to see and do, a lifetime is not enough to be able to enjoy them all. With a few more days, from 2 or 3, it is already possible to appreciate the details much better, it is possible to immerse ourselves in the art and spirit of the city. From the 5th day onwards we can finally begin to say that we are satisfied with the things we have been able to see, including museums, churches and art corners ... or perhaps it is now that we realize how many other things there would be to do that we will be able to see. And we just want to come back for another trip.