Visiting Florence, Italy

Located in the Tuscany region of Italy, world renowned Florence offers a vacationer a trip to remember. Florence was the center of intellectual thought during the Renaissance period, and has many monuments dating from this epoch. It still offers a hub of great beauty and art that attracts many tourists every year.

It is a great walking city and has so much to offer it may take you a few vacations to fully enjoy everything this great city has to offer – try to find time to relax in the open air cafes as well as hurry from one grand monument to the next!

Florence is home to a large airport that makes traveling in and out of the area quite easy for the average traveler. It also boasts a great public transportation system that may make it unnecessary to obtain a rental car during your stay, if you are not planning to venture out into the surrounding countryside.

The spoken language is of course Italian, but you may be able to find some people who speak English. Ideally you should have a working knowledge of Italian when you visit this area, as many people do not speak English, but more practically you can pick up an Italian phrase book before you head off on your vacation to make some of the communication a little easier. The Italians are generally tolerant of poor pronunciation by visitors.

The best time to visit Florence is during the autumn and spring seasons. Summer is the busiest tourist season and it might be a bit overcrowded during this time. Later in autumn you will find that the weather has turned a bit chilly and the rainy season has begun, but it can be quite beautiful during this time. You won’t have the difficulty of tourist crowds during this time and can enjoy the city in a much more relaxed atmosphere.

Some of the highlights and places to visit in Florence

• Casa di Dante is a tourist attraction that was the home of the famous author. You will find it in the medieval part of the city.

• The Baptistry of John the Baptist is a lovely church built during the 11th century

• The Church of San Lorenzo was built before the year 400.

Of course, as you would expect the food in Florence is absolutely amazing – Italian food is among the most highly regarded in the world and Florence won’t disappoint you. There are many restaurants located through the city.

If you are renting a holiday apartment in Florence take the chance to try out some of the fabulous ingredients from the local markets to try out these fabulous recipes on your own.

The Museums of Florence

• The Florence Archaeological Museum has some Egyptian and Etruscan art exhibits that must be seen.

• Pitti Palace: There are several museums located in this one location. They are home to some of the greatest works of art created by some of the most famous of the artists of Florence.

• World famous Uffizi Gallery has a grand view of the city of Florence as well as more splendid works of art than you can hope to enjoy on one visit.

Where to stay in Florence

You can choose to stay in a hotel when you visit Florence - there are a number of hotel choices in the city, and the prices will vary according to the accommodations and location, from the ‘quite affordable’ to the ‘Oooh that’s very expensive’. If you plan to stay in Florence for an extended period of time you might want to look into renting an apartment.