In Florence, more than anywhere else we’ve been so far, I’ve felt the nesting experience was very, very different than the tourist experience. Throngs of tourists dash through the city buying souvenirs, posing for photos and standing in lines for the museums, before heading off to the next place. I’m sure it’s a memorable experience for them, but the Florence I came to love was walking through quiet streets on Sunday mornings, eating Alessandro’s pear gelato in Piazzo Tasso while the nonnas watched their grandbabies play, and taking long walks in the hills behind our flat for spectacular views of the city. There’s an entirely different rhythm and heart to this city that the tourists rarely see.
Currency and Prices
Italy uses the Euro. Check here for current exchange rates. While we thought food in the grocery stores was a little cheaper than home, the museums, sights and tours were fairly expensive. Check Expatistan for a comparison to your home town.
When to Go
Florence is ideal for shoulder-season trips. Summer is hot and absolutely swarming with tourists. Really work to avoid it. Winters are cold and rainy. But springs and falls are beautiful weather-wise and while Florence is never not crowded, it is less so when school is in session. Check out Holiday Weather for temperature and rainfall averages.
How to Get There
Florence has a small international airport. You can get flights directly into the city, with a short cab ride into town. There is also a large train station with connections from all over Europe if you fly into a different city.
Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping is very easy in Italy. There are small shops all over, and there were three grocery stores within walking distance to our flat in Oltrano. There are also specialty shops for oils, meats and fresh pasta. You’ll probably find your own favorite shop near where you nest. We usually just went to the grocery stores, but without a doubt, the most fun place to shop for groceries is the Mercado, just a few blocks north of the train station. It’s a huge two story building surrounded by vendors selling scarves and leather goods. The lower floor has fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and oils, and the upper floor sells prepared food. It can be crowded with tourists, but the food is beautiful and it’s great fun to actually shop there instead just taking a tour through it.
Although shopping with a different language on the labels can be challenging, you can pretty much get everything you want here. You should also try things you won’t get at home – there’s some amazing food in Italy. Especially try different cheeses, their hams and prosciuttos, and the wine. Local chianti is good and really inexpensive, but for a treat, try the brunello wine. You’ll thank me.
Other Shopping
Florence is a great place to shop. There’s a lot of interesting things to buy, and if you work at it, you can get things for good prices. There’s everything from very high end fashion to belts and scarves sold by vendors on the street. (The scarves can be a particularly good buy. Bargain to buy in bulk for friends at home. ) Florence is especially known for leather goods. There are lots of websites about how to buy leather in Florence, so I won’t repeat them. However, if you are there in the spring, absolutely wait on your purchases so that you can shop at the International Handicrafts Trade Fair, held in the Fortezza de Basso. (a large medieval fort transformed into a convention center, just north of the train station) It’s very, very popular with the locals, so you know the prices are good! This is a ten day event with over 800 exhibitors of everything from fine leather goods to cheese, usually held the last week of April. It’s huge and wonderful and full of great buys. Barter! I had been shopping all the time I was in Florence for the perfect purse without luck, and I bought two there, for much less than the prices I’d been seeing for one elsewhere. Of course I had to get a leather jacket there, along with cashmere sweaters, belts and scarves. We had trouble fitting everything in our suitcases! There’s also a huge building just dedicated to all the wonderful foods of Italy. That alone was worth the price of admission.
One of the fun things to buy in Italy is the painted ceramics. I especially love the chicken jugs. One came home to Virginia. Another unique and quite beautiful craft that you will find in Florence is mosaics made with various semi-precious stones, called pietre dure, literally “painting for eternity.” Some of the pieces are absolutely stunning. There are a few shops right across from the Pitti Palace in Oltrarno, and I was lucky enough to be able to watch the craftsman at work. The finished products, however, can be quite expensive. We spurged on a very small and simple piece because we always buy a small piece of artwork from each place we’ve nested.
Connecting with the Local Community
We found Florentines to be warm and friendly people, but because of the language, we didn’t bond quite as strongly with the natives as we did in York. The best place we met for finding new friends was InterNations, a world-wide group for expats that has an especially active chapter in Florence. They have activities at least once a week and sometimes more. We met people there from around the world who were living in Florence, either temporarily or permanently. We made some good friends and still have close contact with some of them. It was a great group to join because they had outings for places we probably wouldn’t have found on our own.
Favorite Restaurants
Unless you go to the overpriced restaurants in the tourist areas that have translated menus (sometimes in four or five languages!) you should do well just about anywhere you eat in Florence. Your best bets are places off the main touristy squares back in the more residential areas. Italian menus usually have four listed courses – appetizers, pastas, entrees (usually meat dishes) and desserts. We never could eat all four – we found that ordering two courses each if we weren’t really hungry and three courses each if we were was just about right. (and then share, of course!) Know that cooking is seen as a true art in Italy and while you’re in for a treat every time you sit down, refrain from telling the cook how to cook your meat or to leave out ingredients. They have crafted the dishes for the very best taste, and if you don’t like olives, for example, order something without them instead of asking the cook to change the recipe. If you visit a traditional restaurant, they may have a large jug of Chianti on the table. Just pour from it. They’ve noted how full the jug is when you sit down and will just charge you for what you’ve drunk while at the table. While sadly, I see our all time favorite restaurant there (Pan e Vino) has closed, here are a few of the others we enjoyed:
Gurdulu in Oltrano. A small restaurant where the chefs treat the food like art. Wonderful handmade pasta.
all’Antico Ristoro Di Cambi – While it’s become quite touristy after it was showcased on a Rick Steve episode, (at 14:25 minutes) the locals still name it as one of the best places to eat in Oltrano and probably the best place in Florence for a Florentine steak. Be prepared. You’d better like your meat very rare, and they don’t make it any other way – but it’s wonderful.
La Sorbettiera – Okay, I know that everyone in Florence claims they know the best place for gelato, but I really do. Really. This is it. Allesandro runs this tiny little gem in Piazzo Tassa, making his gelato by hand every day. The flavors change daily, so you have to go back to try them all. Believe me, it won’t be a hardship. I told him one day his pear gelato was amazing and he actually went to the back of the shop and showed me the pears he used to make it. His salted caramel will be the stuff of my dreams forever. Also don’t miss the lemon sage. Allesandro knows what he’s doing.
Festivals and Events
Here’s where nesting wins out hands down over the tourist crowd. Florence is brimming with festivals, fairs, flea markets and foodie fun. Every weekend, you’ll find something else that’s new. There are flea markets in Santa Spirito every Sunday, and often huge flea markets in the large park north and east of the town along the river. You may stumble upon random costumed marchers spinning huge flags, or people dressed in medieval finery on horseback. Little squares might have temporary tents up brimming with local
cheeses or wines, classic cars or gelato. By far the most memorable festival we saw was Scoppio del Carro, or Explosion of the Cart, held on Easter Sunday morning. Seriously, if you’re there on Easter,
don’t miss this. It starts with a parade of medieval costumed guards with a two story, 500 year old cart filled with fireworks, pulled by four white oxen. They lead it to the front of the Duomo, and at the end of the church service, a mechanical dove travels from inside the church on a wire from the high altar with a flame that sets off a huge fireworks display lasting eight or nine minutes. I guarantee you’ve never seen anything like it.
Health Care
Italy has public and private hospitals. Private hospitals generally do not have emergency services, so you would probably be using a public hospital if it became necessary. Emergency services may be free, depending on the emergency. The quality of medical care in Florence is generally good. The US State Department offers translators for medical emergencies – contact the US Embassy in Florence, along the river east of the city. It is necessary to have medical insurance.
The 911 code in Italy is 112.
Discounts
We really didn’t find any discounts we could take advantage of in Florence except for one – and it was a good one. It is possible to register for highly discounted train tickets throughout Italy. (Lee, write more)
When you go to Florence, make sure you pack…
plug adapters
Cloth shopping bags