Ready to fall in love with Florence? This Florence Italy itinerary packs two unforgettable days of art, food, and sunshine into one magical adventure. Let’s make every moment in this Renaissance city count!
Our train to Florence was at 9:35 AM from Rome, so we booked a taxi with just enough time to get to Roma Termini… and then got stuck in traffic.
We arrived at Roma Termini with minutes to spare.
I flashed my phone with our tickets on the Trenitalia app, and we were waved right through to the train platforms. We booked all our train tickets through Trenitalia website HERE.
Pro tip: the platforms at Termini are announced about 10–15 minutes before departure. We hung out near platform 10, and boom Platform 8 was announced! We hustled on like we knew what we were doing. We really had no clue – and the guy with “INFORMATION SERVICES” on the back of his shirt only spoke Italian so we had to figure things out quickly.
The train pulled into Santa Maria Novella in Florence, and we waited for it to stop before standing up. That was a mistake. The second the doors cracked open, it was every tourist for themselves. Luggage. Elbows. Chaos. We basically had to swim upstream just to exit. Lesson learned: when the train doors open, be near the exit door and move fast!
Waze said our hotel was a quick 9-minute walk. Waze should add extra time for pulling suitcases on cobblestone in 100 degrees, having to dodge street vendors who are aggressively trying to sell you everything under the sun in leather – as the leather capital of Italy – but in this kind of heat, it is the last thing you’d want to see!
Eventually — finally — we found our hotel: Arte Boutique Hotel, tucked behind what looked like a castle door. We checked in and flopped into our beautifully air-conditioned room and just… laid there.
Once we rehydrated, we set out for lunch and stumbled upon a pizza place, Cacio & Pepe Ristorante, that was so good, I forgot all the pain of earlier. Like, we may have reached the pizza peak of the entire trip.
We wandered Florence (in and out of air-conditioned stores) then made our way to our 3 PM gelato-making class with Bondi at Gelateria del Bondi. It had great reviews. We were excited. Expectations were high.
Bondi gave a speech about the science and history of gelato and talked about being the gelato maestro, it was too long for kids of any age. Then we mixed a base, pour it into a machine, and 7 minutes later—voilà, gelato. The gelato was tasty, but we paid too much to sit in a tiny room for 1.5 hours and watch a machine work its magic for 7 minutes. Honestly, we would’ve been fine just buying two scoops each and calling it a day. And while Bondi was entertaining (this may be a stretch) in his own wildly eclectic way, he did go full “cash-only enforcer” mode for not having hundreds of Euros on hand. I don’t know that you need to take a gelato class – easy enough to make it at home with this gelato machine HERE. We make it almost every weekend and it is Italian perfection!
Dinner was a win. We had a reservation at Ristorante Il Latini Firenze, and oh. my. STEAK. Florence is the meat capital of Italy, so we ordered the biggest steak they had and had zero regrets.
Then, we rolled ourselves to Don Nino, just around the corner, for more pistachio gelato (because by this point, we all have a gelato problem). While we ate at a table street-side, a violinist began playing in the piazza and, I kid you not, a woman sat down next to him and started crying. That’s how beautiful it was. We all just sat there in the warm air, with gelato and music.
Funny thing is, when I was planning this trip, I considered skipping Florence. Can you imagine?! Thankfully, I came to my senses, because a few days here turned out to be some of the best of the whole trip.
Florence Italy itinerary
Day 2: In the Presence of David
We woke up determined to beat the heat (although we didn’t). A short walk to Shake Café for avocado toast, açai bowls, and coffee. The food was solid, nothing to write home about, but enough to power us up for our next challenge. . . confronting the giant naked man.
A few steps away, we entered the Accademia Gallery with a tour guide HERE. We breezed past 37,000 other statues that weren’t David and then BAM — there he was. Michelangelo’s David. Enormous. Majestic. Worth every second. That statue is magnificent.
After David, we wandered over to Ponte Vecchio — a bridge covered in charming little jewelry shops — and found a nearby lunch spot. At this point, I was starting to believe that bad food doesn’t actually exist in Italy. Soo good.
Desperate for a breeze, we ducked into Rinascente Firenze (a fancy department store), found the rooftop bar, and camped there like true survivors. With a view of the Duomo, an Aperol Spritz in hand, and a fan blowing air into my face, I was in heaven. Check out this rooftop for some amazing views!
On our way back, we stopped by a wine window — the ones where a glass of wine magically appears through a hole in an exterior wall. It’s even more delightful in real life. This is the Italy I dreamed of.
And then… Vivoli. We ordered the affogato (gelato drowned in espresso, topped with pistachios), and I can say is I am still dreaming about it. And Maven got raspberry gelato!
For dinner, we’d booked La Bruschetta, and let me just say — if we could’ve eaten here every single night, we would have. Every bite was flawless. Warm, cozy, totally unpretentious, and packed with flavor. It was insanely good. One of the best meals in all of Italy!
We walked off the food with one last gelato stop at Don Nino and took a slow stroll through the glowing streets of Florence, and just soaked it all in on our last night.
Florence, you tried to melt us… but we loved you anyway. Ha.
Next, we are driving through Tuscany HERE.
Drop me a line if you decide to go to Florence. I would love to hear from you.
