My family and I spent four days and four nights in Florence during our recent trip to Europe. We started our trip in Rome before going to Florence. Read about our time in Rome here. We enjoyed our time there but would also love to return to rural Tuscany during a different season! Here’s our itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive and Explore City Center
We arrived in the afternoon, so we enjoyed a light lunch at the Central Market. This is an indoor market with shops and grocery vendors on the first floor and small restaurant stalls on the second floor. Then we explored a bit of the outside leather market and leather shops. The area around the central market is where you’re supposed to buy leather! The outdoor tents are often not authentic and are typically cheaply imported items. If you’re looking for higher quality, go to the actual storefronts in this area and get to know the shop owners!
Later in the week, we stopped by Massimo Leather store. We’d heard this recommended online and from friends as a place to stop. It was in a surprisingly unpretentious shop but the Massimo family was so personable! It was clear that Americans are a strong market for them as they asked who had referred us to their shop. Massimo himself whipped out his phone and showed us the messages he has with American customers that stay in touch to order their leather goods from him! This is a trustworthy shop with a great reputation. Many of their items are their own version of designer bags, made in Florence with genuine leather. It was great quality for reasonable prices!
We later had dinner at a nice restaurant that specialized in the traditional Florentine steak. I made my dad have one so we could all try. It was delicious and giant!
Day 2: Tour of Tuscany : Siena, San Gimignano and Monteriggioni
We knew we wanted to go to Tuscany on this trip and unfortunately my mom has recently had some issues with her foot where she cannot walk up and down a lot of hills. This is why we stayed in Florence and went out on a Tuscany tour instead of staying in one of the hill cities. Next time, we all hope we can go during a cooler time of year and stay somewhere more rural! We got a taste of the small towns on this one-day bus tour, but we would’ve loved to further explore smaller communities and vineyards.
My favorite part of the day was San Gimignano. It was a small, cute, hill town overlooking the countryside. There were several adorable shops of all kinds on the street to the center of town.
Then we headed to a winery for a fantastic lunch and wine-tasting. We tried a few wines with an antipasti platter and pasta. The food in Italy certainly did not disappoint!
Then we headed to a winery for a fantastic lunch and wine-tasting. We tried a few wines with an antipasti platter and pasta. The food in Italy certainly did not disappoint!
The last stop was a walking tour of Siena. A lot of people love Siena because it’s a smaller, quainter city than Florence. Personally, I thought it was just okay! We happened to be there during a parade which was cool to see. In general, the cities we had been (Rome and Florence) were all stone and dry with very few green spaces, so Siena was a smaller version of them. Lots of stone streets and buildings! We just needed more nature at this point! Luckily we got out of the city later in the week…
Day 3: Experiencing All of Florence
Florence has so much to explore! We opted out of going to art museums in Florence (gasp!). And we never went inside the Duomo (gasp again!). We enjoy very balanced trips as a family so we knew that we didn’t care about hitting all of the hot spots in every city. However, we started the day at Gucci Gardens, which is like a museum!
Some places we visited on our grand self-guided tour of Florence:
- Gucci Garden
- Loggia dei Lanzi – Open-Air Museum
- Caffe Gilli for coffee, tea, and pastries
- Ponte Vecchio
- Il Papiro
- Officina-Profumo – Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
- Loggia Roof Bar
We stopped at Loggia Roof Bar for some fantastic cocktails. It was worth the trip to that side of town. I was worried it would be crowded, but it wasn’t – it was so beautiful! That night we went to Da Lino for dinner. They had really good Florentine steak, seafood, and other dishes. We shared a variety of foods!
Day 4: Pasta Making Class
This was my favorite part of our time in Florence! We found this Airbnb experience for learning to cook pasta in a house on the outskirts of Florence. It was in a beautiful outdoor kitchen and our hosts, Stefano and his mother Daniella, taught us how to make two different pastas. The class was great, the pasta was delicious, and it was so much fun to meet the other people that were there for the class!
Overall, it was a great trip to Florence. Next time, I’d avoid the heat and crowds by going at a different time of year!
After Florence, we continued on to Milan. Read about our Milan adventures here.
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