My travel week in Florence

Florence

During my travel week in Italy, I stayed in Florence for a week. As a disclaimer, I have wanted to visit Florence for many years now and it has been top of my cities to see for a while and although it was beautiful and full of history, art and culture, it was not as striking as Venice and it really made me appreciate the beauty and charm of where I was living a lot more.

I bought a Firenze Card which allows you to visit all the major art galleries, museums and attractions of Florence for 72 euros and is valid for 72 hours. I crammed in as much as humanly possible in those 3 days and for the rest of the week I visited things that were free or not included with the card. The thing that blew me away the most in Florence was the Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo as the sheer scale and decoration of the church was magnificent, especially as many Venetian churches are much smaller with plainer exteriors. I also climbed up to the cupola of the Duomo and the views over Florence were breath-taking and you can see the frescoes of the dome’s interior as you climb up so it was amazing.

I climbed the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio which also has stunning views and houses a wealth of art, sculpture and objects and stands on the Piazza della Signoria, which is home to Bartolomeo Ammanati’s Fountain of Neptune, the Loggia dei Lanzi, and various other beautiful sculptures. The Uffizi gallery is just around the corner and features a range of important artworks such as Botticelli’s Primavera and Birth of Venus. However, I found the Palazzo Pitti’s collection of art to be more engaging and exciting and the gardens were a beautiful sight when you rarely see grass, trees or flowers in Venice. Michelangelo’s David was also a highlight and is much more impressive than I was expecting up close.

Don’t miss out on the amazing Ghirlandaio and Masaccio frescoes in the Santa Maria Novella church and the stunning interior and tombs in the church of Santa Croce. The Bargello museum houses some beautiful works of sculpture. Florence was also less expensive than Venice in terms of eating out so I treated myself to some great food, don’t forget to try a Florentine steak while you’re there! All in all, Florence is a beautiful city that is well worth visiting for any Art Historian and is another city that will never bore you as there is always something to do, but there’s no place like Venice.

Thanks for reading! Kristie