Florence is like the birthplace of STEM, so when visiting here, going to the Galileo Museum is a…read moreMUST! Learning of not only Galileo, but his followers who came after him and the benefactors - the Medici family, was inspirational. It made me realize how bravery is foundational to how science evolves a society, and how essential loyal benefactors are to helping with the change. Truly amazing.

In ancient times, to know the time, people used the sundial, a measurement tool based on the…read moredetection of the position of the sun. Sundials had a gnomon, the bar whose shadow marked the time on the dial. Standing outside the Museo Galileo near the Uffizi Gallery at the Palazzo Castellani in Florence, my partner, our friends, family member, and I stumbled on the Monumental Sundial on our way to find an establishment for lunch in September. Originally built in 2007, a tall bronze obelisk constitutes the gnomon of a modern sundial, which casts its shadow on the lines of travertine marble and brass flanked by the signs of the zodiac in glass and marble placed on the ground, indicating time and date. It was visually stunning.

The museum is to die for. The exclusive store was very nice. This was part of my Birthday…read morecelebration and it really did not disappoint! We stopped at the cafe as we were leaving for a nice drink. If you love Gucci, you need to see it!

I had such an incredible experience at Gucci thanks to Eduardo.He went above and beyond to help me…read morefind some truly special pieces, and his attention to detail, product knowledge, and genuine enthusiasm made the experience unforgettable. He wasn't just assisting with a purchase -- he was curating an experience. He anticipated what I might love, found hard-to-get items, and made sure every detail was perfect. His professionalism and warmth truly represent the best of Gucci. Employees like him are the reason I'll always return. Gucci is fortunate to have such a dedicated and exceptional team member.

AVOID AVOID AVOID…read more The garden is all around beautiful. But I went to the bathroom right above it, and basically paid to be assaulted. I was groped and forced into the bathroom by the man working there while waiting for my friend. Had to scream to get away. Truly traumatized. I've been living in Florence for 6 months and never felt that un safe. The sad truth I have to leave reviews to warn people because I don't know what the staff will do after I informed them. Be safe.

Everyone hypes about Piazzale Michelangelo or the San Miniato church, but this rose garden is…read moreliterally right behind these tourist magnets and yet offers the same stunning view of Florence except in a much more lovelier setting! Welcome to Florence's city rose garden! Located downhill of Piazzale Michelangelo, this is an easy walk down to quickly escape the crowd. In fact, if you are hardcore and are trekking to the Piazzale on foot from the San Niccolo neighborhood, why not take the more scenic route through this rose garden. Sure it's not well-manicured like a palace garden but it's free to enter and is still decently maintained enough to have roses blossom around you! Most likely, Piazzale Michelangelo that you are heading or coming from is filled with a huge crowd, so take a quick breather here and experience the Florence skyline in a less-stressful and more floral way! --- tl;dr version: 1) Located downhill of Piazzale Michelangelo with almost equal skyline view 2) Perfect scenic route if you are trekking to the Piazzale 3) Much less crowded and more beautiful than the Piazzale

The Florence Cathedral, commonly referred to as the Duomo di Firenze, is one of the world's largest…read morechurches and probably the most stunning building I've ever seen. It is the beautiful crown jewel of the beautiful city of Florence, a gothic cathedral built between 1296 and 1436. The dome, envisioned at the project's inception, was only completed over a century later. It remains, in 2025, the largest masonry dome ever constructed. We made a point of visiting the Duomo almost as soon as we arrived in Florence, then ran across it several more times over the course of our two-and-a-half-day stay. It felt like the spiritual and practical center of the city. I don't think you can avoid the Duomo on foot any more than you can miss it in Florence's skyline--not that you would want to. The exterior is exquisite. The dome, the gothic architecture, the extravagant details. All that pink, green, and white marble. You get a lot out of the Duomo just by staring at it whenever you happen to walk by. The cathedral is free to enter, but there is almost always a line. We waited in it twice, once just to grab a postcard from the gift shop. It wasn't bad, maybe five to ten minutes, but that was in mid-November. The interior was gorgeous, too, vast and intentionally bare relative to, say, St. Peter's or the Duomo's own exterior. No gold, but a wealth of stained glass and God knows how many tons of marble. There was a small gift shop downstairs, where we purchased a magnet and a postcard for our kids, left at home. I thought about getting the nice Christmas ornament of the dome, but it cost almost €80. We wanted to go to the Opera del Duomo museum on our last afternoon in town, but the window was too tight, and we realized we would've been better served buying a pass for a few of the standalone attractions--the museum as well as the baptistry or the belltower. In any case, I'm pretty sure we'll be back to Florence, and I look forward to revisiting the Duomo.

Saluti da Firenze!…read more Bathed in architectural beauty, artist charm, and centuries of history, my partner, our friends, family members, and I arrived in this Italian city of culture last Monday afternoon. Located in the heart of the stunning Tuscany region, the city is surrounded by natural and manmade beauty at every turn. Home to globally renowned landmarks such as the Florence Cathedral and Michelangelo's David, Florence offers a journey of discovery and enlightenment. Situated at the Piazza del Duomo, which is the busiest square in the city, Florence Cathedral is dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, dominates the skyline, and gives it real character and grace with its famous Brunelleschi's red dome. The construction of the building started at the end of the thirteenth century because the Florentines wanted to excel not only in commercial terms but also in architectural terms. It was not completed until the 15th century and is the fourth largest cathedral in Europe. We visited the area on our 2 days during the day and evening. It is highly recommended to visit the square in the evening, when the day trippers have gone home. Admission to the cathedral was free, and the huge line moved quickly. The marble façade in green, pink, and white was absolutely stunning. The rest of the interior may seem simple at first until one stands beneath the dome and gasps at the masterpiece above. No words can describe its presence and the sheer scale; it's a must-visit!

We came hear on Christmas Day and glad we did. Booking was easy online, and rooms were not…read morecrowded. The rooms are geared for both English or Italian speakers (hint cards are in picture notes that they slide through the door) while "puzzles" are written in both languages. We did both rooms. Zodiac, unique in how it begins, as there is a role play there of trying to escape the zodiac killer after he has "kidnapped" your party. Tesla was our second, quite creative and puzzle themes were really on point. Highly recommend!

Great escape room. Me and my wife played "The Bank" and won right when our time was up. The rooms…read morewere well decorated and the puzzles were really clever and fun. Every time we needed a clue the host was outside to give us picture clues through the door to help us out, rather than just tell us what to do. There were combination safes in the vault there were a lot of fun to figure out. I highly recommend playing here.

We visited the Boboli Gardens and the Palazzo Pitti on our first afternoon in Florence, and what…read morewith the Duomo views and the Medici glamor, it was a nice introduction to the city. The palace was originally commissioned in 1458 by a Florentine banker named Pitti. The Medicis picked it up in 1549, and it remained a ruling class residence until 1919, when it was gifted to the nation and turned into a museum. It's a giant place, literally palatial, with a kind of forbidding, fortress-like aesthetic. Seems like a weird place to live, but what do I know. We walked in on a Wednesday afternoon, and neither the gardens nor the museum were crowded. We started with the Boboli Gardens, which were quite attractive, even in mid-November with nothing in bloom. It felt like a large, inclined park, pleasant to walk, with impressive fountains and tremendous views. There was an empty amphitheater and an ancient Egyptian obelisk. Tons of old statues, including a fenced-off 17th century work called "The Abundance," where we saw a weird lady sneak in to molest the base. We wandered up the garden's main axis and reached the Giardino del Cavaliere, an intricately landscaped walled garden with truly fantastic views. We spent about an hour in the gardens and another hour in the Palatine Gallery, Palazzo Pitti's primary museum space. The gallery contains over 500 paintings, most of them from the Renaissance, a collection that once belonged to the Medicis and their successors. I'm sure we would've gotten more out of the visit had we taken a guided tour, but we did pretty well walking through those endless rooms on our own. We had a good time at the Palazzo Pitti and would recommend it to anyone visiting Florence. Less mandatory than the Uffizi or the Accademia, but a great place to absorb the lavish splendor of the Medicis.

From the front, it doesn't look like much - a standard U shaped brick palace. But what you don't…read morerealize is the majestic, jaw-dropping botanical maze that follows. This place is HUGE, with views beyond what the eye can meet - spanning from Tuscany country side on one end and the city's architecture on the other. After landing at the airport, dropping our bags, we headed straight here and did not regret a minute of the exploration.

I liked it but I wouldn't say it's something I'd recommend because it's pretty small and crowded. I…read moredoubt there's a "good" time to go but who knows. It was something to kill time and I did learn something so I gave 3 stars. However, I've been to many museums and this one didn't really strike it for me. The place does have a few interesting props so definitely check it out if you're bored and have kids. I went with my boyfriend and he wasn't into it.

The Leonardo Da Vinci museum was a great museum showcasing Leonardo's inventions big and small…read more Almost all of them had interactive models. There were stations where you could build his bridge and other famous shapes. There was also a room showcasing his famous artwork. Highly recommend! Was about 30min to go through most of it.

This theatre turned bookstore is the coolest tourist destination in Florence! If you love books and…read moretheatres. It's beautiful inside. It's a great spot to rest your feet and use the restroom with a purchase. Moulin Rouge was playing while I picked up a new book! Prices are very reasonable for new books too. Even better than in the USA.

This place is amazing!!…read more Not only is it a phenomenal book store with tons of selections, it's an entire experience. Upstairs has seating like a movie theater with tons of comfy seats. They are constantly showing a movie and have a whole lineup listed for upcoming showings. They hold cool events too. There's seating with tables available to do work upstairs. Multiple people were there studying and doing work. Cafe available downstairs during certain hours. Gotchic revival mixed with art deco feel. There is an elevator to access the upstairs for anyone with mobility needs.

You cannot visit Florence without visiting Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David…read more Though I had a tour guide, I felt like the pace was too slow. It's a great museum, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather beat the crowds to see David, and then take my time strolling through all the other works of art. Seeing 17' of David in person is unreal-- a human made this out of rejected marble. The magnitude of David's height and attention to detail is incredible and the lighting under a skylight highlights every vein and definition of muscle even more so. If you're looking for a deep dive art history lesson, I'd recommend using AI. Note: try to book skip-the-line tickets in advance. If you're unable to, you can try to book through a third party booking system such as Viator, but you'll be paying more.

Over a million people visit the Galleria dell'Accademia every year, and they all go to see one…read morething: Michelangelo's David, arguably the most famous statue in the world. The David was sculpted between 1501 and 1504, then unveiled in the public square in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, where it stood for almost 400 years. It was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873, and has been the museum's lifeblood ever since. €20 a ticket and more for merch, plus lawsuits for unauthorized use of the David. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. We only had about two days in Florence, one of them set aside for a Tuscan wine tour, but we weren't leaving without seeing the David. Our concierge booked us same-day tickets when we checked into our hotel, and we went at the appointed entry time, at 5:00. The museum was plenty busy, even on a Tuesday during low season, but I believe we visited under ideal conditions. We entered the museum and bam, there was the David, standing majestically in the heart of the Accademia. He was in his own domed alcove lined on one side with bench seating, where people could sit and look up at his giant marble ass. Like everyone else, I'd seen images of the David all throughout my life. But seeing it in person was a revelatory experience. I know size isn't everything, but when it comes to iconic statues chiseled from single blocks of marble, size certainly matters. The David is 17 feet tall and completely breathtaking. A beautiful colossus, every inch of his famously nude body sculpted in wondrous detail. We took advantage of the thin crowd and spent quite some time circling the statue, while also reading about it on Wikipedia from the comfort of the benches. An extraordinary, educational pleasure. The rest of the museum was nice, too, if entirely secondary to the David. There were several other statues and old religious paintings, as well as the Hall of the Prisoners, featuring four unfinished Michelangelo sculptures. These cut a path to the David and were fascinating in their incompletion. Michelangelo apparently saw the work of a sculptor as freeing the forms lying inside each block of stone. This sounds like something an artist would tell a reporter, but looking at those unfinished sculptures, I could see the figures trying to make their way out. The Galleria dell'Accademia is small, and we were in and out in about 40 minutes. If you're a tourist in Florence and have €20 and 40 minutes, I can't imagine a better way to spend them than at David's enormous feet.

The secret is to go to their private shop on the second floor, not their tourist shop on the…read morebridge. The private shop is cool (the men enjoyed the AC while we shopped), spacious, and quiet. Some specialty pieces are only available here, and it's fun have Alessandro talk you through the provenance, inspiration, and history of some of the pieces he made or of artisans they showcase. I looooove the Alessio Boschi necklace I discovered here, it's one of a kind, and not something I saw at any of the millions of other shops/storefronts we checked out. And his dog is adorable.

This museum would be better described as a jewelry museum, sort of. It's a small, single room space…read morewhere you enter right off the street like a regular store. It is free to enter, with nicely displayed work that is a cross between jewelry and sculpture. His work would suggest ceremonial objects (some contain crystals or gems, female forms, and the occasional unicorn) or props for a Jules Verne movie. One large sculpture has a functioning Tesla 'bobbin' that released little electric bolts. Interesting and unusual.