Is Florence good for tourists?
What a question! Florence is one of the world’s most beloved tourist towns and for very good reason. For starters, the city is home to all things Tuscan: history’s most famous masterpieces, fine food and wine and enough mediaeval architecture to keep you enamoured for days!
Secondly, Florence carries that abundant charm that makes Tuscany one of Italy’s favourite regions. It’s a place where you can get lost meandering the city streets and find yourself at a delightful trattoria before making your way up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to take in sweeping views of this sublime citadel.
Let’s take a cheeky look closer at why exactly Florence is a tourist’s dream city:
The galleries, duh!
Florence isn’t known as the “Cradle of the Renaissance” for no reason: it’s the place where the period’s finest artists, architects, musicians and more created and congregated, developed their crafts and argued over artistic merit.
Today, Florence’s Renaissance grandeur is encapsulated in two galleries: the Accademia and the Uffizi. What makes them both so fabulous is that you can visit one in the morning and one in the afternoon as they are only a stone’s throw away from one another!
Walk the Accademia’s stunning halls until you come across its most famous resident, an overgrown man by the name of David. Next, head over for an arvo in the Uffizi, where you find the likes of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera as well as Caravaggio’s terrifying Medusa.
The architecture
If there is one another artisanal craft Florence is revered for it is its mediaeval architecture, with the likes of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Palazzo Vecchio and the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella all providing stunning viewing for old time architecture buffs.
The food!
You cannot go to Florence without enjoying some fine Tuscan delights, and the city is replete with charming trattorias to keep you fed and happily inebriated on the region’s best produce.
Naturally, the wine is terrific, with local Chianti and Cab Sav some of the best vino in all of Italy. Next, the food is divine, with local classics like bistecca alla fiorentina (Florence steak), crostini toscani (chicken liver pate on toasted bread) and panzanella (a kind of bread and veg salad) all playing part in the magnificent world that is Tuscan cuisine!
