A Fun First Time Guide to Florence, Italy
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Florence Italy was a place I’d always dreamed of visiting. Largely because of my obsession with the movie, “A Room With A View“. I finally made it there recently, and I loved it but have some mixed feelings. Let me fill you in on everything!
Where to Stay
Hotel David
Viale Michelangiolo n ° 1 – 50125 Florence – Italy
I loved this charming boutique hotel! It’s near the Arno, and about a 25 minute walk to the Ponte Vecchio. There is a bus stop right in front of the hotel, and a bus ride to the Ponte Vecchio takes about 12 minutes. I was a little unsure of staying this far from the main sights, but the hotel itself made up for any slight inconvenience of the distance.
The rooms are spacious and high ceilinged with charming furniture and bathroom tiles. There are cool button controled blinds on the windows which allow you to have black out or any degree of light coming in.
A buffet breakfast is served daily with seating either on an outdoor deck or a charming dining room. In the evening there is an aperativo hour in the lounge and patio, featuring heavy hors d’oevers like pizza, small sandwiches, cheese, bread and olives as well as red and white wines! A couple of nights we made a dinner out of the aperativo hour!
The staff at Hotel David were one of the best parts. They were so friendly, welcoming, and helpful. When my friend sprained her ankle on an uneven sidewalk in the historic center, she called the hotel and they assured her that she could borrow crutches or a wheelchair from the hotel. It was so nice knowing we could depend on the hotel staff at that time to help with translation and navigation during that stressful time!
Hotel David Video Tour
Be sure to check out my video tour of Hotel David below to see the rooms, lounge, breakfast and aperativo spreads!
Where to Eat
Pasticceria Rimani Ferrucci
Via Giampaolo Orsini, 125, 50125 Firenze FI, Italy
This cafe / breakfast/ lunch joint is right next door to the Hotel David. We stopped by for lunch one day and had some nice pasta. Nothing to write home about, but since it’s right next to the hotel, it’s a pretty handy spot. The decor, especially ceiling, made it worth a visit for me! It seems like a local place, people sitting outside with their dog, reading the newspaper, etc.
You could write home about this ceiling ->
Bottega di Pasticceria
Lungarno Francesco Ferrucci, 9c Rosso, 50126 Firenze FI, Italy
This pastry shop / restaurant overlooking the Arno is about a 10 minute walk from Hotel David. They have delicious looking pastries!! I was in a hamburger-missing-mode, so I tried theirs. It was huge and delicious!
FrancescoVini
Borgo dei Greci 7/r, Florence
On our most fun day in Florence, when we just wandered, we stopped here for lunch. It was on a relatively quiet street (though I hilariously timed the top left photo below to make it look like it was crazy busy). Great food in a nice, calm atmosphere. Someone had recommended a Hugo cocktail to me as the “hip drink of the year,” so of course I tried it. I was excited to have a new “signature drink” (not that I have an old one). Unfortunately, I hated it! Tasted like weed juice to me. But give it a shot, maybe you’ll like it!
Hugo ingredients
- 1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur
- 1 sprig mint, plus more sprigs for garnish
- 4 ounces chilled Prosecco
- 1 ounce chilled seltzer
There is a “Wine Window” right down the street from this restaurant… go right as you leave. I wanted to try it just for the novelty, but was too full from the food and sick from the Hugo, but hopefully you can check it out!
La Loggia
Piazzale Michelangelo 1, Florence
We visited the incredible vista point, Piazzale Michelangelo, and found ourselves starving, so we decided to check out the restaurant there. Fearing a tourist trap or a super fancy/expensive joint, we were delighted to be able to get a table without a reservation and find that the prices weren’t totally outrageous. It is a higher-end restaurant with entrees averaging from $25 – $35. It felt worth it for the amazing city views!
Apparently, they are working on a rooftop bar for the top of this restaurant. That will be incredible!
Look at the weird plants on each table (picture below right)! If you can’t tell from the photo, the tips are brightly colored and fuzzy. Other tables had purple or yellow ones. Turns out it’s a Sansevieria Velvet Touchz. Strangly, I can’t find out much about them on the internet. Anybody know what the deal is with these? Are they dyed to have the various colors?
Menchetti
Piazza del Grano, 6, Florence
Cool, rather tropical-feeling cafe / pizzeria / bakery / bar! Great people watching spot.
Disopra Rooftop Bar
Lungarno degli Archibusieri, 4, Florence
This bar is on the roof of the Hotel degli Orafi. This was the location of their hotel in the movie “A Room with a View“. The views are indeed fabulous! Be sure to also take a peek at the hotel’s breakfast room on your way up to the roof!
Sophia Loren Restaurant
Via dei Brunelleschi, 11, Florence
Though the timing didnt work out to eat here I would like to sometime. It has pretty good ratings, and looks like a fun place. Lots of pictures of Sophia all over. Apparently she was/is involved in its food and design decisions. Check it out!
What to See
Ponte Vechhio Bridge
The Ponte Vecchio Bridge crosses the Arno River at its narrowest point. It’s believed to have been first built during Roman times. It was one of the only bridges not destroyed in WW2. Legend has it that even Hitler revered the bridge!?
Nowdays it is full of jewelry shops. I assumed these shops were major tourist traps. I asked many locals, including Uber drivers, waiters, our hotel staff, if it was a rip off and the ALL assured me it was not. They said it is where they would go to shop if they were buying jewelry. So, I took them at their word and did get a lovely silver ring from The Ponte Vecchio!
After I got my new ring, I threw my old, cheap costume jewelry ring into the Arno! So, if you happen to go swimming in the Arno and find a ring with the “silver” coating rubbed off and a weird fake orange stone, it was mine!
Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens
The Pitti Palace was the last residence of the Medici family. It’s located on the south side of the Arno River, not far from the Ponte Vecchio. It is full of amazing works of art collected by the Medici’s and the families who lived there afterward. Even Napoleon hung out here for a while and you can see his bathtub! I took a private 1.5 hour tour, which was excellent! It was through City Florence Tours.
The Boboli Garden is a vast 11 acre wonderland, with statues, fountains and artificial caves/grottos.
Uffizi Gallery and Accademia Gallery
These are the must-see spots in Florence. The Uffizi Galleries house some of the Western world’s most well known masterpieces. Michelangelo’s David sculpture lives at the Academia Gallery. I highly recommend taking a “skip the line” tour for these amazing exhibits, so you don’t end up standing in lines all day.
Scuola del Cuoio – Leather School
This was one of the highlights of Florence for me!
This leather school was founded in 1950 to teach war orphans a trade from which to earn a living. The school continues its mission to help young people succeed, with a focus on discovering hidden talents among the disadvantaged. The quality and innovation of this leather school has made clients of loads of famous folks, including Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and me, of course.
You can purchase all sorts of leather goods here, coats, purses, belts, wallets, backpacks, briefcases and more! I bought myself a red wallet, soft as buttah!
The school also offers 3 hours to several-month workshops and courses the average Joe like us could sign up for! Check them out here!
The Bad
One of my top pieces of advice for travelers is to research things like how crowded and hot a destination is supposed to be so you can set expectations for yourself and not end up disappointed or frustrated. Well, I kind of failed on this! My visit was mid-June, and though I vaguely thought it would be crowded, I didn’t realize just how crowded. This is kind of silly because I’d just come from Rome, which was probably even more crowded, but I think because Rome is so much bigger than Florence, it somehow felt a bit less intensely crowded.
So, set your expectations! This is a great You Tube channel to check out : Wayfarers_Our Step. I’d frequently watched walking tours of Rome, but actually didn’t check out Florence. I felt pretty prepared upon arriving in Rome, and I think if I’d watched some Florence videos, it would have helped me there.
Be sure to look up the places for which you need tickets to enter. Even though these places are free to enter, tickets are required. We missed getting into the Duomo and the Basilica of Santa Croce because we didn’t have advance tickets.
You can also check out the tale of my meltdown at the Florence Airport, if you need to brace yourself for other travel pitfalls!
Map of Mentioned Places
Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know in the comments if you have any great tips for visiting Florence.
