Florence in a Day

When we planned our trip to Italy, we knew we wouldn’t be able to spend as much time some places as others. We made the decision to only have one day in Florence, and then drive out to Tuscany. It was a little crazy, but we saw a lot, and managed to fit in two meals. So if you have limited time, it’s definitely possible to see a lot of Florence in a day.

Sunday morning, we took the train from Rome to Florence. Maybe it’s because we live in New York City, but both stations were surprisingly easy to navigate. The train itself was clean, and it was nice to have assigned seats.

TRAVEL TIP: While you can usually get tickets at the station the day of travel, I found it comforting to know that we were all set ahead of time. Buying tickets online is easy, and there are a lot of options.

From the Florence train station, we walked to a rental car agency where we had reserved a car in advance. We didn’t need the car until that night, but because it was Sunday, the rental car place had abbreviated hours. We got our car and parked it in a garage (called Parcheggio Sant’Ambrogio) with all of our luggage locked inside. There are a lot of options for both parking lots and garages around the city, but we liked that this one was close to the edge of the city and would be easier to leave from at the end of the day.

TRAVEL TIP: Check the hours of places on Sundays, and during the off-season, and be aware that many museums in Italy are closed on Mondays.

Once the car was all set, we walked over to the Galleria dell’Accademia to see the David statue. We already had tickets for a specific time slot, but we still had to stand in line with the other ticket holders. There was a separate, much longer line for people without tickets, so I definitely recommend reserving ahead if you know your schedule. Once you get inside, you have to go through security, and then get in another line. They only let a certain number of people in at a time, so you can actually get close to the statue, which was great. David is an incredible work of art, and probably the one I was most impressed by over the course of the trip.

After seeing David, we had lunch at Trattoria Zaza, recommended to us by my friend Ally who studied abroad in Florence. The pesto pasta was just as good as she remembered, and we also liked the steak. The restaurant itself has a lot of history, and maintains much of the original structure and design from when it opened in 1977.

In what was probably not our best decision, we had tickets to climb Brunelleschi’s Dome at the Duomo after a big lunch, but it worked out fine. You can wait in line to see the church itself, but if you want to climb to the top of the dome and see the view of the city, you need advance tickets. I read a lot about this, and even though I knew it would be hard, I decided it would be worth it.

I won’t lie…there are more than 400 steps, and many sections are steep and narrow. I was shaking the whole way, and it was only because Rob was behind me talking me through that I didn’t have a panic attack. But, that said, I’m so glad I pushed myself and was able to pull through. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking, and it’s not as scary on the way down. If you do it, wear sneakers and remember to take deep breaths!

It was raining off and on the whole day, but we wandered around the shopping areas for a while anyway. I saw a purse in a window that I liked, but kept going…only to turn back around and search frantically until we found it again. Don’t worry, it came home with me, and I’ll be sure to share it with you soon!

Later in the afternoon, we visited the Uffizi Gallery. We had advance tickets, and like the David, the line for people with tickets was shorter. Uffizi is big, with multiple floors and tons to see. We were pretty tired at that point, so I don’t think we appreciated it as much as we could have. There’s a lot of religious art, and some seriously impressive sculpture.

From there, we stopped at Cantina Gelato for an afternoon snack. It was tasty, and a welcome break. After that, our plan was to have a drink at the rooftop bar at La Terazza on the river, as recommended by Whitney, but sadly they were closed because of the weather earlier in the day. So, we wandered around until our dinner reservation.

Dinner was at La Giostra, recommended to us by our friends Andrea and Daniel, and it was probably our favorite meal of the trip. The restaurant itself is so charming, and the food was incredible! I got a pecorino and pear ravioli that I’m still dreaming about as I type this. Rob had wild boar ragu and a filet, and loved both of them. Can’t recommend this place enough!

After dinner, we picked up the car at the garage and drove about an hour to where we were staying in Tuscany. Major kudos to Rob who drove in the dark in an unfamiliar place (including the last stretch on a dirt road), and Google Maps, which somehow continued to work even when I lost phone service. More about that part of the trip next week!

Pin this post for later!