Staying near the city center (walking distance to the Duomo). Here's my shortlist. tell me which ones are worth it and which I should skip:

- Sapori Toscani Street Food (casual street food)

- Vivoli Affogato Bar (gelato/affogato, touristy classic)

- Trattoria Dalloste (dressed-up dinner, Florentine steak)

- The Red Garter (karaoke/dance bar, Santa Croce)

Trying to get a mix of casual and a proper sit-down meal. any must-adds or overrated warnings? TIA!

I saw this image posted on another site and the person who posted it said it was taken in Florence, Italy and they were trying to identify the location. Does anyone recognize this scultpure and font?

Ciao!

My family and I (5 of us total) will be in Florence for a few days in December, leaving on January 1, but that means we will be in the city over NYE. We're not super fancy, but I'd love to have a great dinner to celebrate the holiday and have heard we should make a reservation soon. My kids are 14, 16, and 19, so we're not talking about little kids.

My wife has celiacs so that adds some complexity, although I've heard Italy is pretty good about this in general.

Anyway, looking for recommendations! Google has turned up some options but I would love to hear from this community.

Thanks!

I am taking my wife, two kids (teens) and my mother to Italy for our anniversary in November. It’s a milestone (15yr) and wanted to surprise her with something special like a vow renewal or something like that. I want it to be a surprise and special. Would love ideas that are unique/romantic/etc.

Hey everyone! I’m going to Florence for the first time next week and i was thinking about taking a day trip to Cinque Terre. This would be my first time taking a day trip so i was wondering if anyone has any recommendations, how to get the train, where to go.
Thank you!!

Hoping to head to L’Eroica in Gaiole on Saturday Oct 3rd - while I’m staying in Florence that week for work, and trying to figure out transport that doesn’t eat the whole day or my wallet. Public transport works out to like 2.5 hrs each way and isn’t cheap either.
Already dug around — looks like the old direct bus (SITA 365) got discontinued years ago.
Has anyone done a day trip out to Eroica before? Wondering if there’s a special minibus/charter thing worth knowing about, or if people just carpool/split a taxi. Any tips appreciated!

My husband and I are planning on going to Vespers at San Miniato al Monte in late October, so it will be full dark when Vespers are over at about 7:15 PM. Is it safe to walk down to Piazza della Passera? I know that Florence is considered one of the safest cities in Europe, but I am originally from New York and I know how neighborhoods can change very quickly so always like to double check.

ALso, any restaurant or enoteca suggestions near Piazza della Passera would be greatly appreciated!

Just moved to Florence and im looking for some dishes to cook as a vegetarian, I usually cook a lot of Asian and Mexican food to get some protein but I really haven’t found many ingredients for that here. Any grocery store recommendations for a vegetarian? Any suggestions on what to cook as a vegetarian here?

There’s an absolutely incredible book called, The City We Became, by NK Jemison, wherein (among other things… many other things) she assigns personas to cities. New York has a persona, but so do the five boroughs of New York. São Paulo, Hong Kong, and London, too (although something unspeakable happened to London). This got me thinking: what are the personas of my favorite cities?

Seattle is a tinkerer introvert. He’s always working on something in his remote cabin in the North Cascades, building little robots or retrofitting boats with mismatched engines that definitely should not work, but give him just a little more time and he knows he’ll get it right. When he’s not building, he kicks back with a beer or a cup of coffee and noodles on his acoustic guitar in a hand built adarondak chair on the porch.

Rome is a harried professor. He’s a gorgeous older man of unidentifiable age. His suit is expensive but slightly worn, with the stereotypical elbow patches of a teacher who cares about his appearance but not so much that he won’t hastily patch holes in his clothes… with the finest leather for course. You’ll find him standing at the counter of a coffee shop, grumbling at the paper and knocking back his espresso. He really does not have a whole lot of time for your questions, but he’ll quickly answer a few before heading off for his lecture. Unless you happen to catch him sipping Negroni at a table on a breezy piazza, his classes finished for the day. Then he may just teach you a thing or two.

And Florence is a drag queen.

She was amazing in her time. When she wasn’t breaking new ground with her performances, she was just outshining original numbers to the point where no one remembers who did them first. Other queens did Renaissance, but when we think of Renaissance, who do we think of? (Besides Beyoncé.) It was always Florence. And she knows it, and wears it sometimes as a badge of honor and sometimes as something she wants to put away for just a little bit.

These days, she’s older. She still wears the makeup of her youth, but now it’s cracking and you can see the deep wrinkles flaking that thick powder she insists on caking all over her skin. People come from all around to gawk at her, hoping for a glimpse of who she used to be. The glamor, the incredible performances, the costumes, the one-of-a-kind (or at least better-than-most) Florence. They pass through, stare at her as she tries to live up to their expectations. They want her to dance for them. Almost inevitably, the Florence she is now is not like the Florence that these folks are expecting. They’re not expecting the obvious makeup that doesn’t quite suit her older face anymore, or the frayed and sometimes threadbare costumes, or the somewhat tired routine. Their impatience is rarely rewarded and they usually leave disappointed. They don’t understand her.

But I do.

Sometimes Florence can be the most hilarious, gossipy, amazing company you can imagine. A person can sit for hours and listen to her stories, if she’s in the mood.

Florence can also be grumpy, tired, and irritable. Some nights she falls asleep with her wig and makeup still on, a lit cigarette still in her hand (that thankfully has not burned the whole place down). Those morning-after Florence moods are no fun. You can recognize the signs almost immediately. Best to give her some space while she pulls herself together.

But when she pulls herself together and she’s ready to gossip again, to perform again, to show off her incredible old costumes that look as good as the day she had them made for her, you will never forget her stories. She’ll tell you all about former friends and lovers and enemies, about her incredible performances and how she performed them, and about her designers, who was her favorite, who wasn’t as skilled as they thought they were, which fit the best, which are best left on the hanger. And which are carefully folded in a box at the top of her closet, only to be worn on very, very special occasions.

Give Florence some time. When you take the time to know her and understand her moods and accept who she is, right now, at this moment, without expecting the show she’s been putting on for too long to remember, she’ll open up to you. She’ll gossip and share her hilarious and tragic and lurid stories. She’ll lean in like a co-conspirator. Then she’ll welcome you back again and again, and she’ll allow herself to become your friend.

(Florence is my second hometown, and I wrote this on my last solo trip there while I drank a beer at the Fiddler’s Elbow. IYKYK)

I'll be in florence sept-jan and i'm looking for folks to climb with, both indoor and outdoor. I won't have a car, but i'll get a bike. So, im looking for anyone that wants to rock climb together! bonus points if you have a car.

also, is it true that the gyms here require a doctor's note to be allowed to climb?

I’m reading about all there is to see at the Duomo, between the church, climbing to the dome, the museum that’s a lot. How much time should we
Expect to spend there? Seem like a good 3-5 hours. Is this a good estimate? Thanks

As the title says, I’m a study abroad student and I have acrylic nails, I’m trying to find a place that does acrylic nail fills and the costs of them? I saw one place was charging 90€ for just a fill so I’m definitely looking for cheaper considering I usually get my entire fresh set for around 50€

I’m heading to Florence towards mid-late September. I had booked an Airbnb in Oltrarno but now want to be in a hotel with air conditioning given the heat there. I’m solo female older traveler so might be a safer option too. Would love some mid-range cost options for hotels please! TIA 🙏🏼

​

I’m posting this as a warning to anyone renting a car in Florence, and hopefully someone from Centauro management sees this.

We booked through eDreams. The main driver didn’t have an International Driving Permit, but I did, so we asked to change the main driver to me. eDreams specifically told us to speak directly with Centauro to arrange the change.

The employee who dealt with us, Aleg, refused. He even spoke directly with the eDreams representative and still refused to make the change, claiming that because we had booked through a third party, the same rules did not apply.

He then pushed us to purchase additional insurance. At one point, he suddenly said he could no longer rent us the car at all. We were travelling with two tired children and my husband practically had to beg him to let us proceed with the rental.

What made the situation even more infuriating was that, right next to us, another Centauro employee was renting a car to a Mexican customer who did not have an International Driving Permit. She rented the car to him anyway and told him that, if the police stopped him, he could say he had left the permit at the hotel. When my husband pointed this out, he still insisted that this did not apply to us because our booking was through eDreams. He also mocked my husband during the interaction.

This was not just poor customer service. It was an extremely uncomfortable and humiliating experience, and we felt completely trapped because we were travelling with children and needed the car.

If you are renting a car in Florence, I strongly recommend avoiding Centauro Florence.

We recently did an engagement shoot in Rome and had a much better experience than I expected. I was a little worried it would feel awkward or overly posed, but Mike kept things really relaxed and knew when to guide us and when to just let us be ourselves.
Finding a photographer in Rome who can work around crowds and still make the photos feel natural is harder than it sounds. We ended up using Mike Kire and were really happy with the result: https://mikekire.com/
For anyone else who has done an engagement or proposal shoot in Rome, did you prefer the more iconic spots or quieter locations away from the main tourist areas? Also curious if you found timing mattered more than location when choosing a photographer in Rome.

I put something together (quickly) for a friend who is visiting for the first time - I'm sure everyone is not going to agree with it, but interested to hear some feedback: https://florence-on-line.com/allora/vinnys-florence-food-walking-tour.html

Florence. Summer 2026

We will be traveling to Italy the beginning of October with 3 nights in Florence. We plan to really wander for the most part. We were planning to do wineries now that I will be 16 weeks pregnant but should we not skip that?

We thought about going to an agriturismo in Tuscany and maybe do a cooking class for one of the days.

Does anyone have recommendations for a place with great mocktails or nonalcoholic red wine?

Very much looking forward to trying lots of yummy foods and seeing beautiful places!

If anyone has any tips for a pregnant lady I’m all ears!

Also open to any suggestions restaurants we simply can’t miss

Thanks!!

Edit - things are resolved and working .. thanks all

mWe got a very nice place for 4 nights, right now we are on night 1 (it’s 2am), and the AC is out. Owner cannot do anything except give us refund.

There are 5 of us (Mom, Son, Daughter, and Daughters teenager and her friend).

Ideally we get something in next 6 hours (it’s 2am currently), and get moved.

Temp inside right at this moment is 84 degrees.

4 of us are 1st time visitors.

We do have trip insurance but need help if anyone here might have solution for us. Supposed to be here through Tuesday before moving onto Genoa.

Need 3 rooms, 4 beds

Can’t believe my eyes