What is there to do in Florence, Italy? I like art, churches, history?

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monitalia

Some good on-line guides to florence can be found at http://www.florencedream.com/html/florenceit.html and http://www.yourwaytoflorence.com/tourism/florence/general.htm.

In terms of museums, the really big ones are the Uffizi- which has just about anything you could possibly want out of the renaissance, and the Galleria d'Accademia, which houses Michelangelo's David (though really, the rest of it isn't particularly impressive.) For either of these it is IMPERATIVE to get reservations- uless you happen to like waiting in line for 7+ hours. You should reserve three days in advance, MINIMUM- otherwise you probably won't get tickets for the day you want to go, especially if you are there on a weekend. If you go to this site: http://www.weekendafirenze.com/ and choose 'museums' you can reserve tickets online.

There are many other notable museums in Florence, such as the historically interesting Palazzo Vecchio, those of the Pitti Palace (which also has the amazing Boboli gardens, which you should make sure to see!) and my personal favorite, the Bargello museum, which has a fantastic sculpture collection, and is much less crowded than many of the other museums, and has the interesting history of having been a prison at one time.

In terms of churches, I could probably go on for years- it's hard not to find one with some masterpiece or another. Dominating all of this is the Duomo- the cathedral. It is definitely something I'd suggest seeing, and I'd also be sure to check out the baptistry and Ghiberti's gates of Paradise- they're pretty awesome.

The best thing about florence is that all of this is very close together- you should be able to walk from place to place. I would definitely suggest getting a comprehensive guide, because the city is just packed with things to see. I have found Lonely Planet guides to be the best, personally. Do make sure you have a map in whatever guide you get- the streets there can get a bit confusing sometimes.

In terms of visiting cities near there, you might visit nearby Siena, which has an awesome cathedral, amongst other things, or Cortona, which is a hilltop town. (You may recognize it from the movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun'). Pisa is nearby as well, but besides the leaning tower there is little to nothing to see there.

Buonviaggo!

aC.

There's a lot to do. The people that has written before me have some great stuff. You have the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia, and San Marco. You should be in heaven. There are plenty of art, churches, and history.

Get a good guide book like Rick Steve's, Lonely Planet, or Blue Book Florence. That's tell give you background info, time, dates, hours, and musuem info. I prefer Rick Steve's. His guide to museum is said to be the best, but the Blue Book has really good dining guide.

You could go to the Weekend Firenze Club site, or whatever it's called, but here's what I did. I went to the website for Musei Firenze. From here, I called internationally to book (reserve) my museum times. This is soo much cheaper than reserving online. Online fees are about $10 per ticket. That's $20 bucks for you and your finance, compared to $20 global calling card that you can use here and over there in Florence.

You'll be going in one of the best times in October. The weather will be warm, but don't forget to layer, because the rain is predictable. In Chicago, if there is an 80% chance for rain, it's not going to rain. In Florence, and 80% chance of rain means "it's gonna rain".

Enjoy your trip, take it easy, it is a honeymoon. There will be long lines to see David and the Uffizi Gallery, but if you do it right: by researching the art works, churches, and Medici facts you want to see and experience; picking out what kind of food you like to eat, because asides from gelato, Florence has a lot of good meats, sausages, and wine (Chianti); starting early in the morning (8:00am) by eating a nice quick breakfest and making it to the first opening time of some galleries, churches, or places...you save yourself a lot of headaches and long-lines.

Oh, buy yourself some good leather and classic "Italia" jackets or t-shirts as souviners.

haslo

Check this great website from Rick Steves:

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/italy_menu.htm

Have fun!

joni

hi im albanian but my uncle lives there there are lots of churches. It is a cultural center and yaou should absolutely go there

Thin Kaboudit

LOL

Pretty much all there is in Florence is art, churches & history! And amazing food. You'll have a fine time. Take a good phrase book if you don't speak Italian, and don't plan anything except your accommodation. Just keep telling everyone that you are on your honeymoon and you chose to come to Tuscany. The rest will look after itself.

Congratulations,

and have fun!

hazy_angel84

I am from Florence and there is a whole lot to do...should go to Piazziale Michelangelo, there is a great view of all of Florence. Go to Piazza Signoria, walk on down to Ponte Vecchio, see the Boboli gardens.You can take a horse-carriage ride in the center and you will get to see most of the interesting things, the guide will tell you about stuff. Then if something really attracts your eye you can walk back there. Another "ride and look" thing (if you don't walking)) is at the train station there is a double decker red bus you can get on (go on the top as you can see a lot better) and you get a pair of headphones so you can listen to what the guide is saying. You can also get off and on whenever you want to on this bus. Just make sure you get a schedule so you know when the bus comes back around to pick you up. But if you like walking just go to the center and walk...everything around there is worth seeing. As for Cities nearby you should go to Siena, beautiful small city that you can see in a day. Pisa is also worth seeing I guess, but there is not much to see save the tower. It takes about a whole ten Min's to see. You should visit Lucca too....great walls, you can walk all around the city on em.

Princess

If you like history and churches then Florence is perfect for you. The main cathedral in the centre of town is gorgeous. Also, visit the Uffizi Gallery for some beautiful art work. The Ponte Vecchio is also great and has plenty of jewellers along it. You definitely should do a day trip to Pisa and see the Leaning Tower while you are there.

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