Florence - September 2022

Civitavecchia to Florence

Arriving at our final Civitavecchia cruise port, we departed the Viking Sky after breakfast. Our morning destination was the local train station via a port shuttle bus ($2pp). Our first train would take us from Civitavecchia to Rome (45 minutes, $20pp), where we would board a Frecciarossa high speed train from Rome to Florence (90 minutes, $60pp). As we were carrying luggage, we opted for business class tickets - which we thought would provide more luggage space and reserved seats. We learned that many other travelers have the same idea and business-class train cars can be packed. Travelers in business class receive a complementary snack and beverage.

The Rome Termini rail station is one of Europe's largest train stations, with many platforms and crowded with embarking and disembarking passengers. This made finding the correct platform for our Florence train a challenge, particularly as the platform was assigned within 15 minutes of scheduled train departure. 

 

Florence

It was raining as we arrived in the Santa Maria Novella rail station in Florence. Luckily, our apartment was only a ten minute walk from the station. Though navigating directions in the rain, pulling luggage in one hand and using Google maps in the other hand, we probably didn't take the shortest path.

We used ItalyPerfect to find our rental apartments in Florence and Rome. This is the same company that we consulted for previous Italy and France trips.  We were warmly greeted by the apartment owners and given a tour of our one-bedroom apartment. The apartment was centrally located to a PAM grocery shop, a wonderful Forno Top bakery just steps away from our apartment and nearby restaurants. While we didn't do much cooking in our apartment - other than breakfast - we noticed that the apartment owners have a next door unit that is much larger with a full-sized kitchen. We would probably rent the larger apartment when we return to Florence in the future. The owners were very helpful, offering suggestions for sightseeing and dining.

With five days in Florence, we had time to explore the area by walking and visiting museums. For a terrific panoramic view of Florence, we walked across the Arno River at Ponte all Carraia and up to Piazzale Michelangelo.

Florence Dining 

We had many opportunities to dine in Florence. Here are some of our favorites:

Berbere Pizzeria: Sour dough pizza offerings, great for lunch.

il Barretto: Wonderful dinner location. So terrific, we had dinner here twice. Our favorite dishes were the anti-pasta plate, pasta with black truffles, sea bass, lobster tagliaoni, Florentine steak, and panna cotta and tiramisu desserts.

Gelato de Neri: Some of the best gelato we tasted in Florence. The gelato shop at Santa Maria Novella Square was also a runner-up.a

Forno Top: Local bakery shop for pastries, breads, cookies and sandwiches.

Florence Vespa Tour of Tuscan Hills

What could be more fun than riding vintage Vespa scooters in the Tuscany hills? We departed from the Florence National Library on a bus to a small garage across the Arno River. There, we received helmets and Vespa riding and safety instructions. Afterwards, we had a short riding test to confirm we could control the scooter. Those that had second thoughts about Vespa riding could drive an equally vintage Fiat 500. We then took off with a guide leading us (and about ten other Vespa scooters) in one of the Fiats. I seem to recall that we didn't ever exceed about 25 mph - so not a fast ride.

This excursion was a terrific outing and provided an opportunity to view vineyards and olive orchards amid Tuscany hills. Granted, the ride required scooter driver attention to respond to on-coming traffic on the hilly single lane roads. During the ride, our guide stopped the Vespa riders to share information about the area we were traveling through. Near the end of the ride, we stopped at the company owner's estate for anti-pasta, pasta and wine.   

Florence Museums and Gardens

When in Florence, there are many famous as well as small museums to visit. We had been only to the Galleria dell'accademia during a previous brief Florence visit. For many of the larger museums, we pre-purchased entry tickets over the Internet and avoided the long lines to purchase daily tickets.

Salvadore Ferrogamo museum. This little basement museum, under the fancy Ferragamo location at the Arno River, focused on Wanda Ferragamo’s contribution and leadership of the fashion company. It also highlighted the contribution and challenges faced by women in society starting from the 1950s.

Galleria dell'accademia: The home of both Michelangelo's David and his unfinished sculptures. We also enjoyed browsing the musical instrument collection.  

Uffizi Gallery: Certainly one of the most famous museums in the world. Once the working offices of the Medici government, the building contains unique and master art pieces. We used an mobile app (available from the Apple App Store an Google Play) that helped us view and understand some of the most well-known paintings. This app is well recommended for your Uffizi visit.

Pitti Palace: This was originally the home of the Medici family and later the Hapsburg-Lorrain dynasties and the Italian House of Savoy.  The palace contains major art pieces. Unfortunately, both the Museum of Costume and Fashion and Imperial and Royal Apartments were closed during our visit. 

Boboli Gardens: Behind Pitti Palace are the gardens created by those that lived in Pitii Palace. We were a little disappointed as we anticipated more formal gardens such as those at the Palace of Versailles. Nonetheless, visiting the gardens provided a relaxing stroll through winding paths.