This was part of our Northern Italy (2024) trip. Sister (our daughter) and Cutie (our younger son) joined us on this trip.
(Click here to see all our trips.)
Day 1: Uffizi Gallery, Santa Croce, Duomo
We arrived in Florence and were staying in an apartment, La Firenze Sogna. Our apartment had 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, kitchen, and a washing machine with dryer. The place was super clean. The hostess Francesca was very nice. She prepared a lot of snacks, bakery items, fruits, and treats for us. The refrigerator was stocked with milk, eggs, ham, yogurt and cheese. There was also a bottle of Chianti wine! Rei was very impressed (the wine certainly helped).
Since Francesca provided a lot of food in the apartment, we had a great breakfast with toast, eggs, ham, pastries and fruit.
Florence, considered by many as the art capital of the world, had many museums with art works done by renowned Renaissance artists (“All the Ninja Turtles,” someone joked). I made a reservation for four people at the Uffizi Gallery at 10am, so we departed around 9am, and strolled along the Arno River to reach the museum. Even though the gallery had crowd control with timed entries, the place was still swamped with visitors, especially since there were many large groups.
There were always too many people in front of a famous painting or sculpture (such as “Primavera” and “Birth of Venus” by Botticelli), often with more than one guide trying to explain to their groups. There was an extremely long time to take photos of Venus de’ Medici, so we decided to wait in a shorter line for the side view only. It still took quite a while, because everyone decided that since they waited so long, they might as well take multiple photos.
Finally, we existed to Piazza della Signoria. Cutie was impatient to go to a famed sandwich shop, All’Antico Vinaio, so he went ahead to wait in line while the rest of us took pictures. (You could guess where he got the gourmet gene from.) When we arrived at the sandwich shop, there was a very long line of people waiting (which qualified as an excellent eatery by Rei’s standard). It took us about 30 minutes to get our order. When we were about to leave, we saw the line getting even longer – those people probably needed to wait an hour for their sandwiches.
Afterwards, we were trying to get gelato from Perchè no, but the place was closed today. So, we went to Edoardo near the Duomo instead.
Cutie wanted to go shopping, so Rei went with him. Sister and I went to visit Santa Croce, where many famous Italians (such as Michelangelo and Machiavelli) were buried. The church had a beautiful facade and a Dante statue in front of it.
We regrouped at 2:30pm for the Duomo Dome climbing reservations at 3pm. The famous dome was designed by Brunelleschi, an engineering genius, in the 1400’s. The dome consisted of two layers: an internal layer and an external one. The climbing would pass between the two layers. We would need to climb more than 400 steps to reach the top. Fortunately, the ascending was broken into several sections, which allowed us to take short breaks in between. The view of Florence from the top of the Duomo was truly amazing! Climbing down wasn’t as difficult though one could get dizzy walking down the spiral staircases.
Entrance to the Duomo was free; therefore, the line was extremely long again. We decided to skip that (we already had a glimpse of the interior before the climb) and went to the Baptistery instead. The Gates of Paradise was intricate though the area always had a big crowd. The inside of the Baptistery wasn’t too impressive, especially with renovation going on and some parts were closed.
After that, we walked back to our apartment to rest and to do more laundry before our 7:30pm dinner reservation. The Florentine steak dinner at Trattoria Enzo & Piero Florence was superb; everybody was very satisfied. Rei also ordered wine.
Day 2: Duomo Museum, Campanile, Pitti Palace, Boboli Garden
The original plan for today was a day trip to Siena. However, we were all very exhausted by now, so we simply decided to stay in Florence. Staying in the same place for a few days did provide us with more flexibility.
We used the Duomo complex tickets to visit the places we missed yesterday like the Duomo Museum and the Campanile. The Duomo Museum had many treasures, including the real “Gates of Paradise” door (the one outside was a replica) and another Pietà by Michelangelo. The Campanile climb wasn’t as high as the Duomo, but the view from the top was nevertheless splendid too.
Cutie took us to another sandwich shop to get lunch. This one was, however, not as good as the one we went yesterday. After lunch, we stopped by Perchè no to get gelato. Their gelato was indeed excellent! We had a good timing, because after we got our gelato, there was a long line forming after us.
Our Uffizi combined tickets also included entrance to the Pitti Palace and Boboli Garden, so we decided to take full advantage of that and to visit the two places in the afternoon. We visited the Royal Apartments in the Pitti Palace, saw many impressive paintings in its art gallery, and checked out the Museum of Costume. We also strolled in the Boboli Garden. By this time, everyone was exhausted and ready to go home.
We liked the Italian jelly candies that Francesca provided in the apartment, so we scouted the stores to purchase many bags for friends and relatives. The candies weren’t expensive, and they were very tasty. Everyone who received a bag of candy from us loved it.
Day 3: Galleria Accademia, Medici Chapels
We checked out of the apartment around 9:40am, thanked Francesca for her great hospitality, then walked to the train station to deposit our luggage. This was our last day in Florence. This morning, we had a reservation for Galleria Accademia at 11:15am.
On the way to the Accademia, we passed the central market, and Cutie was hungry again. After checking around, he got a roast beef sandwich from a famous stall. Accademia was only a few blocks away from the market. There were a lot of people waiting in line just like other famous Italian attractions.
Academia was famous for several sculptures including Rape of the Sabine Women, Prisoners, and the famed David by Michelangelo. There were many other paintings and sculptures, but people all clustered around David to take photos. The David sculpture was truly amazing. The fear in the eyes was palpable. You should make the effort to see the real thing; the replica in Piazza della Signoria just wouldn’t cut it!
There was also a Musical Instruments Museum in the building displaying interesting musical instruments from old times. Accademia was relatively small, so we were done in less than 1.5 hours.
Rei managed to get a lunch reservation at Za Za at 1pm. Rei’s spaghetti looked very impressive, but he said it was too salty for his taste. My pesto pasta was good. The three of them wanted to do more shopping after lunch, while I decided to go to the Medici Chapels by myself.
The Medici Chapels weren’t as famous as other Florence attractions, and therefore, there were only a few visitors there. This was a burial site for the rich Medici family. The grandeur of the hall was awe-inspiring. The place also had many sculptures by Michelangelo (“Night and Day” and “Dusk and Dawn“).
We regrouped at 3pm to go back to Firenze SMN station to retrieve our luggage and then took T2 to the airport for our return flight home. This ended our Northern Italy vacation.
Amy 'n Rei 