Florence (Firenze in Italian) is the amazing capital city of Tuscany in central Italy, known worldwide to be the “cradle of the Renaissance”. Due to Florence’s artistic and architectural heritage, it is ranked as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
The city has so many monuments, churches, and buildings that you are spoilt for choice – you would have to spend months here to visit them all. The most famous is the domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo, and 600 years after its completion, it is still the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world.
Surrounding the centre there are medieval walls built in the 14th century to defend the city and at the very heart of Florence, in Piazza della Signoria, is the Fountain of Neptune, a marble sculpture masterpiece commissioned by Cosimo I dè Medici in 1559, which has recently been restored to its original glory.
Many of the ”fathers” of Italian painting and sculpturing, such as Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Botticelli, Paolo Uccello, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, lived in Florence at some time. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that Florence has numerous museums and art galleries where many of the world’s most important works of art are on display: the Uffizi Gallery, the Palatina gallery, the Bargello, the museum of San Marco, the chapels of the Medicis Buonarroti’s house with the sculptures of Michelangelo, and the Gallery of Modern Art. Just to name a few…
As the Chianti and Bolgheri regions are just south and southwest of the city, wine has always been important for Florence. The Sangiovese grapes make up some fantastic local wines, not only Chianti Classico’s but also the more recent Supertuscan blends.
Florentine food is not known to be “fine dining”, it stems more from the region’s peasant tradition where a majority of the dishes are meat based and not much goes to waste. Old dishes such as tripe (trippa) and stomach (lampredotto) are still sold at the food carts which are stationed all over town, and the bistecca alla fiorentina – a 1,2–1,5 kg charcoal grilled T-bone steak traditionally served rare – is the star on the menus at most good restaurants and leaves no one unaffected.
So, if you are looking for breathtaking culture, architecture, art, rustic food and rich body wines – Florence is definitely the place for you.
Tourism tax:
The authorities of Florence have introduced a city tax on all hotels. The tax is to be paid directly to the hotel, latest upon check-out.