tuscany – Newby to Expert Traveler

In November, we had the opportunity to spend a few days in Florence. Prior to that visit, I had talked to a few people about Florence and virtually everyone I talked to practically gushed about how much they loved the city. After spending a few days there, my feelings about Florence are a bit more complicated, and while I’m sure that I’ll return someday, I’m not rushing to schedule a return trip.

Florence at Dawn from Piazzale Michelangelo

Certainly there are some absolutely wonderful things about Florence, but something bothered me about it and I couldn’t quite understand what that was. I enjoyed our stay there but were my expectations too high to begin with?

Architecture

From a building by building, block by block perspective, I’ve never visited a city more beautiful than Florence. No matter where we were, seemingly each and every block in Florence was beautiful. In the mostly residential areas, a pretty normal building is usually four or five stories tall and made with some kind of stone and stucco combination. The majority of the buildings have commercial space on the ground floor and living quarters above. The buildings are well maintained and the neighborhoods are clean.

In the main commercial area of town, closer to Ponte Vecchio, the buildings become a little more elaborate, with some taking medieval castle-like elements from the nearby Palazzo Vecchio.

There are also some amazing architecturally significant landmarks in Florence, including the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, the Baptistery at the Cathedral, and the Basilica di Santa Croce. Many of these buildings have taken on a three toned marble exterior style with green, pink and white marble that were extracted from nearby quarries.

Baptistery at the Duomo in Florence with Typical Marble Exterior.

The combination of these buildings mean that virtually wherever you walk in Florence, you will be surrounded by beautiful architecture.

Walkability

Florence is an extremely densely populated city. The main area of the city is comparably small for the population in the area. That makes it an excellent place to walk around. Population density is always good for shops, bars and restaurants, because there are more residents and visitors to support them. It also means that, for visitors, there are a lot of places to shop, eat and drink, without having to take a car or public transportation.

Well Preserved Buildings and Narrow Cobblestone roads

It’s so walkable, in fact, that there is a huge amount of the main area of the city that you can’t drive in for much of the day. The area is called the ZTL or the “zona a traffico limitato“, which you probably don’t need to speak Italian to translate. It restricts traffic to only residents, taxis, or buses. This dramatically cuts down on the number of vehicles and because of that, the roads are mostly for bikes and pedestrians during the ZTL times.

Quirky art in an alley near Palazzo Vecchio

As with many European cities, there are many narrow streets and alleyways that are fun to explore on foot. That’s where you will find quirky little pieces of art, small street shrines and some of the best restaurants.

Markets

The best cities to visit have great markets and Florence has some amazing ones. The most famous of those is the Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge over the River Arno. It is full of jewelry artisans. There are dozens of jewelers selling bracelets, watches and rings all along the bridge. The “Golden Street” is a fantastic place for any jewelry lover to shop.

There are also a couple of great markets for shopping for leather goods. Florence is famous for it’s leather shops and you will find plenty of places to buy leather jackets, purses, wallets, belts and even backpacks. There is a covered market near Piazza della Signoria and just a few blocks north of Ponte Vecchio called Mercato de Porcellino. In addition, there is actually a bigger leather market near the Basilica di San Lorenzo called the San Lorenzo Market. There you will find block after block of leather goods.

There is also a fantastic indoor food market near the San Lorenzo marked called Il Mercato Centrale. Of all of the farmer’s markets I’ve ever been to, this is my favorite. The market has two floors, the bottom is devoted to vendors selling meat, fish, vegetables, cheese and wine. The upper floor serves as a bit of a food court with the vendors selling a variety of delicious prepared food. I would not go to Florence without visiting this market.

Art

Replica of Michelangelo David residing outside of Palazzo Vecchio

You’re not going to find many places with better examples of Renaissance art than in Florence. The wealthy Medici family funded a lot of the production of art in Florence during the Renaissance. As a result, art is practically everywhere. You could spend days visiting museums such as the Uffizi Gallery, and the Accademia Gallery or you could simply wander the city and admire the statues on the Duomo, and in the Piazza della Signore. Renaissance art is in the blood of the Florence and you could spend a lifetime exploring all of it.

Fountain of Neptune at Piazza della Signoria

Shopping

Walking around Florence, you will notice some very famous and expensive luxury brands have shops catering to tourists. Brands like Fendi, Prada, Ferragamo, Tiffany and Bvlgari dominate the streets near Ponte Vecchio. This is in addition to the artisans in the jewelry and leather markets.

Crowds

We went to Florence in November, which should be low season in Florence. This did seem to be evident in the fact that we didn’t struggle to find places to eat and drink. We generally were able to get a table immediately and without a reservation.

But even though there seemed to be plenty of capacity at bars and restaurants, the streets seemed pretty busy. There were some fairly long lines at the Duomo, and I can imagine they were equally long at the Uffizi Museum and the Accademia Gallery as it is generally advised to buy ‘skip the line’ tickets for those museums. On side streets, you could catch a bit of a breather, but walking in the area around Ponte Vecchio or the Duomo was extremely crowded, even though it was November.

Tempering our Expectations

It took me quite a bit of time to understand why I wasn’t blown away by Florence. When I thought about the architecture, history, art and the markets of Florence, it seemed like it should have been a place that I absolutely loved. Something about it bothered me and I wondered why. I had a good time. I loved so much of what Florence had to offer, but it just didn’t seem that great.

Elaborate door near Piazza Della Signoria

I think what bothered me is that Florence is a victim of its own success. Even in the off season, it was crowded and felt too touristy. For example, while the leather artisans at San Lorenzo Market and the jewelers on Ponte Vecchio felt like a natural part of Florence, seeing Tiffany’s and Prada didn’t.

But I think the problem was that I had an idealized version in my head of what I thought Florence should be. Of course Tiffany’s and Prada are in Florence. There are millions of visitors every year and many of them can afford to shop there. It makes sense. Sometimes, we as tourists, want everything to feel authentic but at the end of the day the crowds provide business opportunities for investors and residents.

Horse drawn carriage near Piazza della Signoria

And of course, there are going to be lines for museums and the Duomo. These are massively popular attractions in a very popular city. Yes, it will be crowded on Ponte Vecchio. No you’re probably not going to get that perfect selfie standing in front of the Statue of David, there’s going to be a crowd of people there.

I wish I had tempered my expectations a little. I think when we planned the trip, I thought that it’s off season, and we’ll get to experience everything that we want without too much wait or crowds. It just not that way, I’m not sure that there is such a thing as a true off season in Florence, because it’s just too popular of a location.

If you can slow yourself down a little and maybe pick one museum or one major attraction per day, while expecting crowds, you should be able to really enjoy your stay. If you have time and energy to do more than one thing, than that’s a bonus. It’s obviously difficult when you make the long trip from the US to slow down and enjoy the little time you have in a location but its absolutely essential.

“We can always come back” is a bit of a mantra for us. It takes the pressure off of treating a vacation like a checklist of things we have to do. That being said, I think we will be back to Florence, but next time, I’ll understand that there will be crowds, even in the off season, and I’ll plan accordingly. With the correct expectations, I would have truly appreciated Florence. We can always come back right?

We definitely will.

We usually make it a point to visit a local market when we are traveling. For example, we’ve visited the Viktualienmarkt in Munich, the farmer’s market in Grecia Costa Rica and the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Of all of the markets that we’ve visited, Mercato Centrale in Florence is my favorite. If you’re planning to spend some time in Florence, this needs to be one of your stops.

Where is Mercato Centrale?

Mercato Centrale is about a 5 minute walk northwest of the Duomo in Florence. It’s also about a 5-10 minute walk east on Via Nationale from Santa Maria Novella Train Station.

Just outside of the Mercato Centrale is San Lorenzo Market. This market surrounds Mercato Centrale on three sides. It consists of leather vendors selling jackets, backpacks, purses and belts. These vendors tend to get a little aggressive as you’re walking through, but not too aggressive. From what I can tell, and I’m no expert, but the leather vendors appear to be primarily selling high quality leather goods made in Italy.

The Ground Floor is for High Quality Groceries

You will have to go through San Lorenzo Market to get into the Mercato Centrale building. The building is a huge two story iron and glass building with massive amounts of space for a variety of vendors. On the ground floor there are fishmongers, butchers and produce vendors as well as specialty stalls selling wine, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Unless you’re visiting Florence for a long period of time, and will be buying some groceries for your Airbnb, this area won’t be that useful. It is, however, fascinating to see the kinds of fresh fish, meats and produce that are available in the market. Fishmongers sell a variety of fish, as well as prawns, octopus, and clams.

Some of the available fish at a Fishmonger stall

The butchers, of course, are ready to cut meat to order. As a tourist, however, you might be more interested in picking up some cured meat that you will see hanging from the top of many of the stalls. You will also find cheesemakers in the market selling a variety of cheeses that are local to Tuscany. If you pick up a baguette from a baker at the market you can probably put together one of the best sandwiches you’ve ever made. By the way, if you have a long train ride out of Florence, putting together some sandwiches for the trip can make that train ride extra enjoyable.

If you’re bringing a checked bag, and would like to bring a bottle of wine home, I would suggest checking out the wine shop. Any wines that are truly local will be marked with a designation of DOC or DOCG. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata which basically just means that it’s up to quality standards for a wine of that region. DOCG essentially means the same thing but it adds ‘Garantita’ (guaranteed) to the end meaning that it has higher standards than DOC. Also, if you don’t have room in your checked bag, you can always just drink a bottle or two, no one’s stopping you, you are in Florence after all.

The more likely thing you might want to pack in a checked bag would be balsamic vinegar and olive oil. If you’re used to the olive oil that you find at an American supermarket, Italian olive oil is an eye opener. I’m used to the flavorless olive oil from Aldi, and essentially every restaurant we went to in Italy would have a bottle of olive oil sitting on the table that was just outstanding. People who brag about the quality of olive oil in Italy aren’t lying, seriously, grab a bottle, throw it in your suitcase, you won’t regret it (unless it breaks during the flight of course).

The Second Floor is for Prepared Food

All of that being said, we didn’t spend much time on the first floor. We weren’t planning to cook and I didn’t bring a checked bag, so the place that I really loved was the second level.

The second level is primarily devoted to prepared food. It’s a great place to get a snack or a full meal.

Cafeteria seating on the second floor with additional seating on the third floor

The first thing I noticed, and immediately went to, was the bar. I love craft beer, and when you’re in Italy, it’s not the easiest thing to find. However, the bar at the market has a number of beers on tap and even more in the bottle. The owner of the bar does an excellent job of choosing beers that not only cover a variety of styles, but also compliment the prepared food by the other vendors on the second level. He also has chosen beer that is of good very good quality, including some Trappist ales.

We sat down at one of the tables, and a server came out to take a drink order. I think you can order food from the vendors from the table, but we just chose to get up and look around and order it from the counters. I wanted to get a good look at all of the available food, anyway.

Scattered around the second level you will find vegan options, sushi, barbecue, and burgers. If you are looking for something a little more Italian, you will find crostini, arancini, and lots of sandwiches made with schiacciata and focaccia.

Sandwiches, Quiche and Baked Goods at Mercato Centrale

We visited the Mercato twice during our trip, and the first time I grabbed an arancini on the way out of the door. It was so good. It had just a little bit of ham and some cheese rolled up in a rice ball and fried. That was the first arancini I had ever tried and after that I was grabbing one wherever I found them.

On the second trip to the market, I grabbed some smaller arancini made with meat and tomato sauce and some fried stuffed olives. They were good as well, but I definitely preferred the arancini with the ham and cheese.

Lorenzo de Medici Cooking School

Also on the second floor is the Lorenzo de Medici cooking school. The cooking school offers two hour classes that instruct students on how to make a Italian Dishes. These dishes include pasta, bread, and desserts. Most of the classes cost 80 euros to attend, but some are a little more expensive. A full list of the classes being offered can be found on their website.

Visiting Mercato Centrale is a Must

If you are going to Florence for longer than a couple of days and you love food or wine, you absolutely have to go Mercato Centrale. If you will be in Florence for a week and have access to a kitchen I would absolutely pick up some groceries from the first floor of the market. They are of high quality and you will have an opportunity to talk with the vendors to get some input on how you should use their products.

If you are like us and only have a few days in Florence, you still should go, but the second floor is where you will probably want to spend your time. There is a variety of prepared food that should allow for you to do some taste testing and really try some foods that you might not normally order in a restaurant. And, of course, if you’re a beer lover, you’ll want to check out the bar. It’s got a great selection of beer and will be a nice change of pace from all of the Italian pilsners that you’ll drink while in Italy.

Also, if you have time, you might want to check out the cooking school. If we had been in Florence longer than three days, I might’ve done a class. Who doesn’t want to learn to cook like an Italian after all?

Tag: tuscany

Managing Crowds and Expectations in Florence