36 Hours
36 Hours in Florence, Italy
Florence, Italy
As tourism returns to prepandemic levels across Italy, travelers itching to visit Florence face a delicate dilemma: how to experience the Tuscan capital’s Renaissance grandeur while remaining sensitive to the damage mass tourism inflicts. One solution is to travel outside of the high season, but even in the fall, visitors will face crowds at the Galleria dell’Accademia and at the Uffizi (especially if the latter reopens the long-shuttered Corridoio Vasariano to the public this year, as planned). Even better is to approach Florence not as a historical theme-park, but as a living city, by seeking out lesser-known pockets and new projects — from an ambitious cultural complex to a tiny trattoria run by passionate young Florentines — that will help sustain this city for years to come.
Recommendations
Key stops
- Museo dell’Opera del Duomo is rarely crowded and its exhibits include Michelangelo’s newly restored “Bandini Pietà.”
- Dalla Lola, a new trattoria in the Oltrarno neighborhood, serves fresh twists on traditional Tuscan fare.
- Manifattura Tabacchi is an innovative cultural hub in a former tobacco factory northwest of the city center.
- The Duomo and its neo-Gothic facade is best admired during a stroll in the historic center at night, when crowds have thinned.
Museums and attractions
- Museo Nazionale del Bargello offers early-bird visitors a private audience with Donatello’s bronze David statue.
- Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi is a Renaissance-era palazzo turned contemporary art venue.
- San Miniato al Monte is a striking Romanesque basilica with hilltop views of the Tuscan capital.
Restaurants and bars
- Manifattura is a chic cocktail bar stocked exclusively with Italian spirits.
- Vineria Sonora, a funky enoteca in Sant’Ambrogio, specializes in both natural wine and vinyl.
- Schiaccia Passera, on a small piazza in the Oltrarno, serves sandwiches on house-baked schiacciata bread.
- Pizzeria Giovanni Santarpia is a destination for Neapolitan-style pizza just south of the city center.
- La Gelatiera is an artisanal gelato shop where flavors are made with all-natural ingredients.
- Pasticceria Buonamici, in the San Frediano neighborhood, is a local favorite for pastries and coffee.
Shopping
- Florence Factory is dedicated to contemporary Florentine artisans and designers.
- The market at Piazza Santo Spirito sells local food products, vintage gems and made-in-Florence goods.
Where to stay
- Velona’s Jungle Luxury Suites blurs the line between boutique hotel and bed-and-breakfast with 10 suites filled with vintage gems that the owner, Veronica Grechi, sourced from her grandfather, a Florentine art-and-antiques dealer. Doubles from 250 euros, or about $264.
- The Oltrarno Splendid is a delightful 14-room bed-and-breakfast in a palazzo with 18th-century frescoes, Italian antiques and views across Florence’s terra-cotta rooftops. Doubles from €229.
- Ad Astra, next to one of the largest walled private gardens in Europe, is a 14-room hotel situated in the ancestral palazzo of the patrician Torrigiani family. Doubles from €229.
- Ostello Bello Firenze is a popular hostel that opened in 2021 in the San Lorenzo neighborhood with common areas, a rooftop terrace and nightly events. Mixed-dorm beds from around €60.
Getting around
- Walking is the easiest way to get around the compact city center. There are also buses and trams (tickets cost €1.70 and can be purchased from automatic vending machines, at tabacchi shops or with the Autolinee Toscane app; remember to validate upon boarding). Driving should be avoided since most of central Florence is a limited traffic zone, with hefty fines levied against unauthorized vehicles. Taxis can be found at designated stands or called to any location.
Itinerary
Friday
3 p.m.
Admire a restored masterpiece
In the shadow of Filippo Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome on the eastern edge of Piazza del Duomo, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo is easy to overlook, but you shouldn’t. This unassuming museum that displays art created for the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral underwent a complete renovation several years ago. Today the gorgeous (and rarely crowded) galleries showcase a remarkable collection of medieval and Renaissance masterpieces (admission from 15 euros, or about $16). Admire Lorenzo Ghiberti’s gilded Baptistery doors, Donatello’s haunting “Penitent Magdalene” carved in wood, and a full-scale reproduction of the cathedral’s original, unfinished facade. Most compelling is the luminous “Bandini Pietà,” one of Michelangelo’s final sculptures, whose white marble gleams anew after a two-year restoration that was completed in 2021.
6 p.m.
Imbibe Italian spirits
Wander down narrow back streets in the historic center to Piazza di San Pancrazio, where aperitivo has just begun at Manifattura. At this classy cocktail bar, the shelves are stocked exclusively with Italian spirits, and jovial servers in crisp white jackets are quick to offer advice on the menu of inventive concoctions, all inspired by Italian luminaries. An appropriate one to try is the Conte Camillo (€12), a riff on the classic Negroni named after the Florentine count who supposedly invented the drink, which here swaps out Campari for lesser-known Italian bitters — Bitter Fusetti and Operarossa — and is served with taralli crackers and olives.
8:30 p.m.
Taste the future of Tuscan cuisine
Expect something far more interesting than the typical Tuscan standards at Dalla Lola, a tiny Oltrarno trattoria opened in 2021 by Matilde Pettini, a fourth-generation chef whose family runs the longstanding Trattoria Cammillo a few streets away. Here the ever-changing, handwritten menu is inspired by, but not yoked to, tradition. The restaurant embraces foreign flavors — za’atar, curry, sriracha — and reimagines local ingredients, like using lampredotto (a Florentine specialty made from the fourth stomach of a cow) in a pasta instead of a panino. Highlights of a recent meal in the homey, cheerful space were tender beef-heart meatballs and buttery, umami-rich gnocchi with miso. Dessert is a must, and mine was a teacup of the most delicious housemade tiramisù, made with cardamom-spiced cream. Dinner for two, with wine, about €60.
11 p.m.
Follow the music
At Manifattura Tabacchi, an innovative cultural hub has blossomed in the shell of a former Rationalist-style tobacco factory built in the 1930s. After years of neglect, the sprawling industrial complex northwest of the city center is now a prime destination for music festivals, art exhibitions, outdoor movies, late-night concerts and dance parties. No events on the calendar that catch your fancy? Your backup is Vineria Sonora, a funky enoteca that opened a few years ago in Sant’Ambrogio, specializing not only in natural and biodynamic Italian wines — still a rarity in Florence — but also in vinyl, with D.J.’s spinning eclectic sets on an old turntable.
At the Sunday market in the Piazza Santo Spirito, local produce, Tuscan pecorino and fresh taralli can be bought and savored.
Saturday
Donatello’s marble David
8:30 a.m.
See a different David
Michelangelo’s David gets all the attention (and the attendant crowds) but arrive early at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in the historic center and you’ll likely have a private audience with another mesmerizing David. Donatello’s famous bronze statue of the biblical hero oversees a grand hall filled with Renaissance-era sculptures on the second floor of the museum, located in a monumental 13th-century fortress with a handsome stone courtyard and arched loggias adorned with artworks (admission, €14 with advance reservations). Don’t miss the side-by-side bronze bas-relief panels by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, created in competition to determine who would design a set of baptistery doors (Ghiberti won), as well as a second David — this one in marble — also by Donatello.
Donatello’s marble David
11 a.m.
Shop artisan wares
Florence has long been known for its traditional crafts and fine luxury goods, from silks and silver to leather and perfume. But to see what the modern era’s guilds are producing, pop into Florence Factory, an inviting shop dedicated to contemporary Florentine artisans and designers. Located on the eastern end of Via dei Neri, this is the place to find handcrafted jewelry, woven satchels and handmade leather sandals, one-of-a-kind clothing made in Tuscany from hand-dyed fabrics, and colorful graphic-design prints of your favorite local landmarks.
1 p.m.
Pick a panino
Whatever the fillings — prosciutto, burrata, truffles, tripe, lardo or lampredotto — the panino is the pre-eminent Florentine pick for a quick lunch. (Just please don’t eat one on the streets, per city ordinance.) Tucked away on a small piazza in the Oltrarno, Schiaccia Passera is a new shop that opened last year with ample seating and made-to-order sandwiches on fresh, house-baked schiacciata, Tuscany’s thinner, chewier version of focaccia. Try La Passera, with Tuscan salame, pecorino and porcini cream (€7), or the vegetarian La Chiavi, with sun-dried tomatoes, baby artichokes, mushrooms and arugula (€6), paired with a citrusy house spritz (€6).
4 p.m.
Reset with modern art
Sometimes you might need a break — like Stendhal famously did — from all the Renaissance-era splendor. That’s when it’s time for Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in the historic center. Yes, it’s a museum in yet another absurdly beautiful Renaissance-era palazzo, but the contemporary art inside will snap you back to modern times. Past exhibitions have included major retrospectives from international art stars, such as Olafur Eliasson and Marina Abramović. Next up: Anish Kapoor, a sculptor known for his large-scale abstract installations, which here will include a site-specific work in the palazzo’s central courtyard (from Oct. 7 through Feb. 4, 2024; admission, €15).
8 p.m.
Pick a pie
Unlike Naples or Rome, Florence has never been known for its pizza. But don’t tell that to the local crowd packed into Pizzeria Giovanni Santarpia, a lively restaurant opened by the pizzaiolo of the same name in 2020. It’s an easy, 10-minute bus ride south from the city center to this lauded locale that serves wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas made with the highest-quality ingredients. Start with the montanarine, soft pillows of fried dough topped with tomato sauce and ricotta salata (€7). Then pick a pizza, maybe the Margherita Gialla with yellow Piennolo tomatoes, smoked provola cheese, salted sheep’s milk ricotta and basil (€11) or the peppery carbonara with fior di latte, crispy guanciale, eggy cream and pecorino fonduta (€14).
10 p.m.
Take a postprandial promenade
After dinner, return to the historic center, where the daytime crowds will have thinned, for a nighttime passeggiata. Start at La Gelatiera, an artisanal gelato shop that opened in 2020 serving flavors made by hand with all-natural ingredients: almonds from Noto, lemons from Sorrento, hazelnuts from Piedmont, Candonga strawberries. Order a small cup (€2.80) with two flavors — peach and fig were my late-summer favorites — to savor while walking a couple of blocks to the Duomo. Admire the neo-Gothic marble facade, now aglow in the night, and then continue onward to Piazza della Signoria to stand in awe beneath the soaring tower of the spectacular, spot-lit Palazzo Vecchio.
One of the best ways to admire the Baptistery and the Duomo’s neo-Gothic facade is on an after-dinner stroll when the crowds have thinned.
Sunday
10 a.m.
Start with something sweet
A typical Italian breakfast is quick — a coffee and a cornetto at the nearest bar — but Sundays call for something special. Stroll to Pasticceria Buonamici, a family-run artisanal pastry shop and cafe in the San Frediano neighborhood, to join locals lingering over a frothy cappuccino and a custard-stuffed sfoglia pastry, chocolate-filled brioche or traditional budino di riso (rice-pudding tart). Afterward, walk to the nearby market at Piazza Santo Spirito to browse stalls selling vintage Italian sunglasses, marbled Florentine-style stationery, farm-fresh produce, Tuscan pecorino and fresh taralli in a variety of savory flavors.
12 p.m.
Take a hike
Florence is surrounded by hills so there’s no need to join the masses huffing up the steps to Piazzale Michelangelo to snap another photo of that particular panorama. For a different perspective, start at Piazza Torquato Tasso, just west of Piazza Santo Spirito. From there, it’s an easy 20-minute hike along Via Villani and Via di Bellosguardo to a lovely natural vantage point where lush foliage frames a view across the terra-cotta rooftops, bell towers and ornate cathedrals. Those with energy to burn can then continue along the narrow lanes winding through the serene hills to arrive an hour or so later at San Miniato al Monte, a striking Romanesque basilica with hilltop views of the Tuscan capital from yet another angle.