rfi: florence/tuscany

Grazie.

as for Rome, there is so much. my (relatively) obscure pick is S. Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane, which is a small church with some very cool Baroque architecture and an amazing dome.

if you are into painting, you might want to read up on some paintings and where they are located. after my trip, i became a big partisan of Mannerist painting, which is sort of a very dramatic style that grew out of the rennaissance. sometimes it can be a little psychedelic, with brash, incorrect colors, etc. (there is one famous painting in which christs skin is green, Fiorentinos "deposition", but i think that one is not in a major city). Pontormo is another name if you are interested.

as for not speaking italian, you will survive. learn a handful of polite terms, make an effort, and point discreetly when you are unsure. there are a lot of transactions that are just as short in italian as in english, ie "marlboros please", "marlboros per favore".

have fun

Navigating the Florence museums can be a pain in the ass--all those lines--until you figure out that you can bypass the lines on your first day in town, go to the ticket office at the Uffizzi, and buy direct-entry tickets for pretty much every museum in town for the rest of your stay and tick them off on your own schedule without standing around all day. Easy peasy.

Also, check and see about what's actually on display. I think the David is off view for restoration right now, and when we were there, all the really famous Etruscan stuff from the archeological museum was out on loan elsewhere. We probably wouldn't have bothered had we known that.

The old monastery with all the cell walls decorated by Fra Lippo Lippi--I can't remember the name, but that was really worth the trouble, I thought.

If you want to climb the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, go very first thing in the morning when it opens--8 p.m., I think. It'll be cooler, and you most likely won't be staring at someone's ass the whole way up (or have someone staring at yours). I did it and would recommend it, and by the time I came back down there was already a longish line.

I seem to remember a few decent CD stores within a few blocks of Santa Maria del Fiore too, including a classical-only store that looked great although I never got back to that one.

As for Rome, all I can say is that the best meals we ate we found in Tesstaccio (sp?) and Trastavere.

And as Aaron says, be civil, polite, learn some basic Italian courtesies, and you'll be fine.

Also, try Pici, the local pasta. Deeelish.

Friend of mine is likely moving to Florence for a job. What's a good way to determine cost of living there/reasonable salary?

Has anything changed in 9 years?

kick

bump

it's amazing. what are your goals

can rep for the marble-mining communist villages above Carrara without hesitation

Out of season is a great time to go. My favourite thing is going to the Palazzo Pitti on a week day as soon as it opens and walking round almost entirely alone.

Will be in the Florence area for 3 days. Trying to decide whether to spend all the time in Florence proper, or to head outside of it for a day or so.

How likely are you to come back? Three days isn't much for Florence but if you're not going to be back for years, you might want to spend a day in Siena, maybe.

Thanks. Not likely to be back for years. Going to Paris for 5 days, then a day in Venice, 3 days in Florence and 3 days in Rome.

are you big art people? that's the big draw of florence, of course. if not (??!!) then you can do the countryside.; san gimignano is a fun goof. Eat all the gelato you can

if you ARE art people then get the firenze card and do your research. Climb the duomo early in the day before the lines get buck nutty; palazzo vecchio is a lot of work relative to, say the Uffizi. Churches: The Duomo, of course; a soft spot for Santa Croce bc of aaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll the famous dead people there.

Yes to art and gelato! Thanks

^ check whatever email u use for this site

Just saw robot email but something may be be missing.

art, gelato, music (African, Latin, Caribbean,old-school & new r'n'b, rock), food, and a bit of the outdoors

if i had three days in florence i would spend the first day on a long walk through town, across the arno, through the boboli gardens and up to san miniato al monte, then down to the piazzale michelangelo for the sunset (get to the big stairs overlooking the city about an hour before sunset if you want a good seat and then just park and drink beer. don't go on sunday nights when a horrendous busker comes and plays out of an enormous fakebook). then back down to i tarocchi for pizza dinner

second day id go to the market in the morning for breakfast (and grab stuff for lunch) then go see the laurentian library, and, if i have time, climb the campanile. after lunch id go with one of the the tour groups to go through the vasari corridor (book in advance). from there i'd go see pontormo's deposition at santa felicita (my favorite painting ever i think) and then to the santa maria del carmine to see the massaccio. aperitivi in piazza santo spirito for the people-watching, dinner at trattoria lola/chicco di caffe (or maybe quattro leoni but they kind of lost a step sometime in the last couple years)

third day i would do the uffizi in the morning and sandwiches for lunch at i due fratellini off piazza della signoria. if there's time id take the bus up to fiesole for the afternoon for lunch (alternately for a half-day trip, the villa della petraia or the villa castello)

if you're an early riser one of the most amazing things you can do is get up at 5 am and wander the city when it's totally deserted and maybe even climb the campanile just after sunrise, depending on how late in the year it is

for gelato: vestri, perche no, and, as much as it kills me to say it, grom

trattoria lola, i tarocchi, cibreo and quattro leoni are my favorite restaurants, not counting the sandwich spot i due fratellini, but honestly if you have an apartment with a kitchen and are even halfway decent cook your best bet is to buy at the market and cook up meals and make sandwiches yourself. cheaper and just as good. italy's restaurant game is fine--the best neighborhood italian joints in brooklyn are more consistently great than most comparable restaurants in italy--but its ingredients game is streets ahead

oh no. just no. nonononononononononononononononononononononononononono.

Definitely second the recommendation for san miniato al monte and the piazzale michelangelo which was pretty much my favorite part of the trip.

grazie to all

Had a great time. Will update here later...

I am going to Florence next Thursday for a few days. Its a yoga intensive (five hours a day) so will only have time to enjoy food.

If anyone can recommend places to eat please do so.

Its mad I am going there and not having a look at the art but it might be too much :-(

I should think that in August, the act of looking at the art in Florence would be nearly indistinguishable from being in the midst of a milling herd of 10,000 cattle.

SF is Renaissance Florence right now

— Anjney Midha 🇺🇸 (@AnjneyMidha) August 10, 2025

SF needs better Medici.

First day and the heat is about 35+.

We had a national holiday so thank god this falafel place was open otherwise it was a couple of bananas for dinner

Back. Crazy how much shut the place is in August. This merely reflects how many family owned businesses are out there (here its a ton of chains). All my recommends were shut.

But quite a few trattorias were serving and it was almost all good. As was the ice cream. Just mind blowing range and so so cheap.