Florence
Florence was founded by Etruscan settlers from nearby Fiesole. In the first century the Romans came and conquered the town, and named it Florentia.
Florentia/Florence started to flourish during the Middle Ages, but it became world leading in the arts and trade during the Renaissance.
Guided by the banking family De Medici palazzi were built, the Uffizi artmuseum was founded and Brunelleschi finished the gigantic Duomo.
Visit May 2002
Florence is probably the most touristy destination I have ever been to. Groups of bored schoolchildren, art-lovers and funshopping holidaymakers crowd the city's streets, and make up the queues. Here you have to stand in line for almost every attraction, even for a delicious icecream.
Besides the overcrowding, Florence also has a problem with pollution. The Dome for example could use a good cleaning.
These features make it hard to enjoy the city's riches. I learned that an escape to Oltrarno, to the lovely church San Maniato al Monte, is the best thing to do when you're fed up with it all.
More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery
Reviews
Liz Olsen (New Zealand):
Florence is truly beautiful. I enjoyed being able to walk round streets and buildings hundreds of years old. The River Arno is enchanting with the Famous bridge with all its sparkling jewellery is dazzling.We visitied a Basilica on the hill overlooking Florence and arrived in time - around 5.30pm to catch the monks doing vespas in their white hooded gowns. It was amazing.
Our Bed & Breakfast at Dei Mori was gorgeous with Suzanne being a great host and pointing us in the direction of some traditional Tuscan food restaurants. We passed Gallileos home up in the hill behind Florence. Catch the tourist bus its a great way to see Florence and its not too expensive either. The Da Medici Family Palazzo was well worth a visit.It needs at least a half day to explore. Two days was not enough to see everything. If you want to see the best of it stay longer than two days and plan ahead for what you want to see. If possible pre buy tickets for things you wish to see otherwise you will be standing in long queues- a waste of good touring time. There are lots of statues of David so if you miss out seeing him in the Church, then he is in several Piazzos ( Squares) Well worth a visit. Steeped in so much history. We experienced a great night of dancing to the local vibes in one of the Piazzos. Just follow your ear to the music but be careful to make sure you know your way back to where you came from. Take your street map and mark your accomodation on it so you can make your way back late at night without getting lost. Good idea to learn a few basic phrases of Italian but most Italians speak a little English and possibly other languages.
I want to go again for longer this time. |
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I haven't been to Florence but pretty soon I will be going with my mom. SHe is in her 70's and I am in my thirt's. But I hear from all my friends that it is a very popular place to vist. With many different things to do there you will be just fine with it. I think that the place is beautiful i do so much reseach. It never gets old |
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Isabel Salvatori (Mexico):
Yes, Florence can be packed with tourists all year round. Yes, you need to stand in line for a good hour to be able to enter a museum. Yes, you would need to make a hotel reservation well ahead of time. However, once you are in front of the Duomo, or the bronze Gate to Paradise, or Michelangelo's David, all those hours spent dodging people and waiting on line are forgotten. Florence is a city that lives and breathes art and it's well worth all the troubles with the excess of people that you can find there at all times. I would suggest investigate as much as you can before travelling to Florence so that you know what you are looking at and the whole artistic and historical values of the wonderful masterpieces that you would be looking at. And be patient on queues!! Once you enter the museums, you will forget that you spent hours on them |
| Date posted: July 2006 |
Zack Culvert (USA):
You really need to spend a week here. We did two, with side trips to Sienna, San Gimingano, Pisa and Luca.(first 3 WHS's) The duomo needs a whole day to be awed, one at the Uffici, one in Barboli Gardens, half a day in Academia to look at David and other Michaelangelos, one day walking around the banks of Orno. If there is one WHS you must see in the Western World..... I would stay at one of the villas across the river. Much more space for the money, and the walk is really nice. The hotels are expensive and bad. |
| Date posted: June 2006 |
James Kovacs (USA):
I enjoyed Firenze very much. I enjoyed absorbing all
the Renaisance architecture. I enjoyed the Ponte Vecchio.
Firenze has a much more laid back feel than Rome. |
| Date posted: February 2006 |
Ian Cade (England):
 Florence was a lovely place to spend two days. I really enjoyed just wandering around between the huge, if austere (showing that Florence’s developmental roots in medieval Europe), palazzo and stumbling upon some particularly fine churches. The cathedral has a hugely impressive façade and of course Brunelleschi’s dome is one of the great architectural achievements of the renaissance. The interior was a little underwhelming though after the exterior. The dome was undergoing renovations whilst I visited, and it seems that the exterior had been cleaned on three sides, but the rear was a little grubby.
I also visited the Academia gallery, worth it for the Michelangelo sculptures including David and his unfinished works intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II, but the other exhibits were a little disappointing as I have no great interest in iconography and early religious art.
Palazzo Vecchio (pictured) was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be and worth a visit if you want to avoid the queues elsewhere. The Medici chapel was impressive and culturally important, the full price entrance fee was a little steep though. I would also recommend the hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the best views of the centre. I also really enjoyed the train station, which is a fine piece of fascist modernist architecture and sold excellent coffee, I know this wont appeal to everyone though!
I can understand how some people may be annoyed by the vast swathes of tourists, I visited in November and the queue for the Uffizi gallery was still about 1h 30m, but I just had fun wandering off down back lanes and finding cheaper ice cream shops.
Florence is a fine European city with a cultural wealth that only a few world cities can match, just be prepared to spend your time there with a lot of other people.
-If you are an EU citizen carry your passport with you as if you show it you can get reduced entry to all state owned attractions- |
| Date posted: November 2005 |
Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
Florence is simply a great city and a must for any vistor to Italy. Unlike many other places in this country, the city doesn´t offer any sights from Antiquity (ancient Rome), but this is more than made up by the numerous monuments (palaces, churches, parks, bridges, the Cathedral) from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, the time of Florence´s greatest cultural flowering. The whole city is a work of art - the cradle of the Renaissance -, and names like the Medici, Boccaccio, Petrarca, Dante, Galileo, Giotto, Botticelli, and Machiavelli are famous everywhere (have I already mentioned da Vinci and Michelangelo?), and Florence is one of the cultural hotspots (not only of Europe but of the world) that everybody should have seen. |
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Graeme (UK):
Florence can be overwhelming. I had the good fortune of living there during the summer of 2000 which enabled me to see the city at a far more leisurely pace than the average tourist. Highlights for me include: relaxing at the Piazzale Michelangelo while taking in the best view of Florence; on the Oltrarno, the Brancacci Chapel with frescoes by Massaccio, a significant artistic contribution that is often overlooked by the casual visitor; sitting at a cafe in Fiesole, enjoying the slower pace of Florence's hilltop neighbour; and, closer in, the Convent of San Marco, where Fr'Angelico decorated the monastic cells with incredible frescoes. Certainly, the tourist with only a few days to spare will want to stay in the centre to take in as many 'must-see' sights as possible, but if you have the time, take some side-trips to the lesser known places to escape the crowds and the trappings of kitsch. |
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Antonis Petropoulos (Greece):
Excellent news: Florence has decided to ban 'gipponi' (large jeeps) from the city centre ! I hope more historic cities, including my own, Athens, follow suit. |
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Gatis (Latvia):
Of course, I enjoyed Firenze. But after spending some days among rather gruesome, high, pressing Rennaisance buildings I felt - some good local friends are needed to find out the real spirit of this city. Firenze seemed so enclosed behind the huge walls of houses, but numerous sculptures and ornate churches witnessed - there is much more to find out and bypassers as all tourists are, would not get it... |
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Seet Ying, Lai (Malaysia):
I have been to Florence last Nov 2002. One thing I must praise was that Italian done a very good job in maintaining their heritages! More than 100 years’ buildings, statues, paintings & frescoes still preserving very well!!
The Duomo and Santa Maria del Fiore definitely looks superb! What was impressed me is not the building itself, but was the bronze door of the baptistery (cast by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the early part of the 15th century)! It looks amazing!! Now I understand why Michelangelo descript it as the gates to paradise!!
Also, don’t miss the Uffizi Gallery. Lots of extraordinary masterpieces can be found here! And, of course, must try the decision gelato!! |
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