Warm stone, and a centre built for walking
In summer the light comes off the ochre plaster, not out of the sky, and the paving is still warm at midnight. You can cross the whole centre on foot in half an hour, which is exactly why the city keeps cars out of it. Florentine reserve is not coldness; it is what a small city becomes after letting strangers in since the Grand Tour.
The line on Via Ricasoli, and the palace over the river
The Accademia is €20 plus a €4 booking fee since 15 March 2026, Tuesday to Sunday 08:15–18:50. Its own ticket page still shows the old €16, so check the total before you pay. That is €24 for one corridor and the famous figure at the end of it, cut from a block other sculptors gave up on, and the line on Via Ricasoli forms before the doors open. Two euros more, €26, buys the 48-hour ticket that adds the Bargello: two Davids by Donatello, Michelangelo's Bacchus, rooms quiet enough to hear your own shoes. I take the Bargello.
Palazzo Pitti with the Boboli Gardens is €22 on the day, €25 booked, and Boboli alone climbs from €10 to €13 if you reserve a slot to walk in a garden. It is the third palace of most trips, when the looking has run out. I'd spend it on lunch.
Sant'Ambrogio: an iron hall with an osteria inside
Everyone gets pointed at the Mercato Centrale. Florentines shop at Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, and the city's own market list gives the hours flat: Monday to Saturday, 07:00 to 14:00, shut Sunday. Butchers, cheese, fish and a small osteria inside the iron hall; fruit, veg, plants and cheap shirts under the canopy outside. Saturday at nine is my slot. In September and October ask for schiacciata con l'uva, flat oily bread pressed full of wine grapes, pips left in. Bring small notes. The Sant'Ambrogio car park is the one by the market: the rare Florentine errand you can drive to.
The Uffizi costs €16 after four
Uffizi pricing is a staircase and most visitors get on at the top. On the day, €25. Booked in advance, €29, four euros more for a time slot. Since 1 January 2026 anyone entering from 16:00 pays €16, or €20 booking that slot ahead. The planner pays €29, the one who wanders up at four pays €16, same rooms. Buy on the gallery's own site: a reseller's "skip the line" fee charges you for a queue four euros already skips.
463 steps and a burned monk
The Duomo. Brunelleschi raised the dome without a wooden frame to hold it, using herringbone brickwork that engineers still argue about. It's 463 steps to the top, no lift. Climb before lunch, not after a bistecca.
Ponte Vecchio. In 1593 the Grand Duke threw out the butchers, who'd been dumping offal into the Arno, and brought in goldsmiths. Cross it, then look back from the riverbank, where it finally looks like a bridge.
The Vasari Corridor. The Medici's private raised walkway for crossing the river without meeting the public, now open to that same public. It reopened in December 2024 after an eight-year closure. Book ahead; it isn't cheap.
Piazza della Signoria. Look down. Near the fountain a round plaque marks where Savonarola, the monk who burned Florence's "vanities", was himself burned in 1498. Most people walk straight over it.
San Miniato al Monte. Keep walking uphill past Piazzale Michelangelo to this free church. Legend says Saint Minias, beheaded in the city, carried his own head up this hill. The monks sing Gregorian chant at vespers, which is when I'd go.
Free museum day. On the first Sunday of every month state museums are free, the Uffizi included. Half of Europe has read this sentence too. Arrive early.
Rare bistecca and the fourth stomach
Bistecca alla fiorentina is sold by weight, cooked rare, not negotiable. Ask for it well done and the waiter takes it personally. I wouldn't test that.
Lampredotto is the fourth stomach of the cow, simmered for hours and stuffed into a bread roll with green sauce. It's better than it sounds, and it's my pick for anyone who claims they'll eat anything. Da Nerbone inside the Mercato Centrale has been serving it since 1872.
Ribollita and pappa al pomodoro are what Tuscan grandmothers made from stale bread, and restaurants now charge you for it. Pay up.
For lunch, Trattoria Mario on Via Rosina has shared tables, no reservations and fish on Fridays. For a sandwich, All'Antico Vinaio on Via dei Neri sells schiacciata the size of a laptop. My advice is one between two.
Rocket doves and lantern pea-shooters
On Easter Sunday a cart packed with fireworks is towed into the Duomo square, and a dove-shaped rocket runs down a wire from the altar to set it off. If the dove flies well, the harvest is good. That is a lot to ask of one firework. Easter 2027 falls on 28 March.
In June, Calcio Storico fills Piazza Santa Croce with sand and four teams of large men playing something between rugby and a bar fight, as they have since the Renaissance. The final is always 24 June, the patron saint's day, with fireworks after.
On 7 September, children carry paper lanterns for the Festa della Rificolona, and other children try to hit them with pea-shooters. It's a tradition.
What's on
| When | What |
|---|---|
| First Sunday of each month | State museums free (Uffizi, Accademia, Pitti, Bargello). Next: 4 Oct, 1 Nov, 6 Dec 2026 |
| 28 Mar 2027 (Easter Sunday) | Scoppio del Carro: a cart of fireworks explodes outside the Duomo |
| Spring 2027 | Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 89th edition (opera and concerts) |
| June · final on 24 Jun | Calcio Storico in Piazza Santa Croce, then San Giovanni fireworks |
| 7 Sep | Festa della Rificolona: paper lanterns in Piazza SS. Annunziata |