the complete zunta guide to florence
matty and his lady are a-heading to europe, and more specifically, florence, and he's asked for my input in the area. emboldened by my success in advising matt f. during his italy trip, i've put a massive amount of suggestions behind the cut for the beautiful city. feel free to chime in.
sites to see: i'm not going to go into too much detail here, as guidebooks cover this sort of thing pretty thorougly, but my top stops would have to be: david at l'accademia; the duomo; a climb to the top of the campanile next to the duomo; the doors on the baptistry and the inside (luckily these last few things are all like within 20 feet of each other); the uffizi (it might be worth buying tickets in advance); the fra angelico frescoes at san marco; the church of santa croce; the church of santa maria novella near the train station; the piazzale michelangelo (here this is across the river and up many flights of stairs, but you should go at sunset and get an incomparable view).
where to shop: my faves: the mercato di san lorenzo (for cheapie souvenirs and leather); the mercato centrale (for food stuff); and the ceramic store called cheba. i would go into tons of detail here, but i really already did. to that massive entry, i would add: you should stroll down via dei ginori. there are tons of cute shops there, plus a jewelry one i always used to really like...and of course cannot remember the name of. it's a bit up on the right, though, and sells cute beaded baubles.
where to eat: MY FAVORITE CATEGORY! but, um, i already wrote about that too. short version: YOU MUST GO TO TRATTORIA DA MARIO FOR LUNCH. (here's a photo.)myou might have to share a table with some folks, but that's fine. tommy and i have been here like four times and if i were going back to florence again and had to eat at only one place i'd probably be happy there. it's only open for lunch and there is almost always a line, so if you have time, get there a wee bit early. it's a for real place. my grandma's best friend took me there once; she lived in florence in the 60s when her husband was consulate general and she said it was their favorite lunch spot. that's right; it's ANCIENT! here's another take.
other food spots: osteria vasari. if they've still got the pear pasta, get it.
if you're feeling cheap, stop in at a bar round 5 or 6, buy a drink, and then take in the MASSIVE HAPPY HOUR SPREAD. this was the best thing about italy - the happy hours, you'd buy a drink for five euro, and almost every place has a massive spread of delicious food that you can eat as long as you're having a drink or two. and you can go back as many times as you want.
aaaaaand...i'm totally blanking on everything else. but slow trav is a good resource - here is their florence list of restaurants.
any other tips?
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Around the Uffizi, I liked seeing the Ponte Vecchio (sp?) as well as the gardens on the other side of the river. There's also a good gelato shop not far from the Batistero as you walk away from the Accademia. Soccer games in Italy are great, but I think Fiorentina's season is over.
Oh my god. Can I get in on this game? Actually, I'll just give you a few more, because I could write a book on this. And that's annoying.
- Volta di San Piero, in the alleyway - there's a sandwich shop called Antico Noe. Probably the best bargain lunch place in the city.
- Near Santo Spirito , between the Ponte S. Trinita and the Ponte Carraia (?), there's a family owned place that is open... well, whenever the family feels like it. The owner is named Franco, so I always just called it "Franco's." Best pasta arribiata I've ever eaten, and it's usually filled with a nice combination of locals, families, and students. You def. get your money's worth for the food, and even though no one speaks English, the whole family is pretty adept at deciphering half-assed Italian and working with a lot of frantic American sign-language.
- The cheapest internet cafe I found was on Borgo San Jacopo, (across from my old flat, actually), and right around the corner from the Ponte Vecchio.
- My personal favorite is the Brancacci Chapel in the Santa Maria del Carmine.
(Oh! Also, I Fratellini used to have lunch specials that were a great deal - once a week, you could geta mound of mussels for practiaclly nothing.
(Via dei Cimatori, near the Ponte Vecchio. A good place to find if you're headed to Pitti/Boboli gradens, because it's kind of on the way, near Santa Felicita)
hooray! thanks, y'all. i'm sure that will be more than enough to fill the time we're in florence, which is, sadly, only a couple days.
but i'm already scheduling those restaurants into my calendar. woo!
Catherine... if I'd only known, last weekend we could've been sharing war stories about dirty old Firenze...
I studied abroad there Fall 2001, which of course means that most of the advice I can proffer will tend to run along the lines of 'where to drink.'
There's Guinness and the like on tap and English spoken (natch) at the Fiddler's Elbow in Piazza Santa Maria Novella (that is, the church, not the train station), but get there early if you want to enjoy their outdoor seating. A nice English pub is the Red Lion, only a few blocks from (east of?) il Duomo (via Ghibelina or thereabouts??). The Red Lion, for what it's worth, is also where we were finally, after several stops, able to find some English language news on 9/11.
Our personal bartenders (a Brit and an Irishwoman) at our favorite haunt, Stonehenge, are no doubt long gone (and it was more or less members only anyways), but if pressed, I could probably give you a decent run-down of the Florentine happy-hour circuit (circa 2001 of course). Can't quite recall the specifics, but I can tell you that it included, roughly in this order: early margarita pitchers at the Mexican restaurant (that's what we called it, but there can't be too many), pina coladas and assorted sissy drinks at Art Bar, and ginormous steins of bier at Amadeus (where a gaggle of Syracuse U. douchebags and collar-poppers tended to congregate—funny story there, but we won't get into it now...)
My favorite cover bands are probably long gone, too, but if they still happen to have Beatles Night at Be Bop (Tuesdays?), you might check it out.
In terms of more traditional sight-seeing, do make sure you cross the bridge and spend some time Oltrarno (or stay there if you can... beautiful and quiet). Obviously there's the Boboli Gardens, but also visit, as Catherine suggests, Piazzale Michelangelo and the nearby church of San Miniato (where the monks chant evenings), and the market at Piazza Santo Spirito (Sundays, if memory serves).
Per the G's advice above, I Fratellini is definitely the place to stop for a quick sandwich on the go. Right in the heart of the heart of the city, near Orsanmichele I think. Get a porchetta with some vino for a stand-and-eat. A quick bus ride to nearby Fiesole is justifiably popular for dinner and a hilltop view of Florence.
As far as football is concered, screw Fiorentina. Calcio's where it's at. Teams of hard-assed criminals beating the crap out of each other. And there's a ball involved somehow. Literally medieval. I believe it was going on at Santa Croce when I was there, but I think the finals were canceled before we could see the spectacle for ourselves. Heard someone lost an ear before they were through, though.
Also re: nightlife...
Bars and clubs seem to know on which side their bread is buttered and so tend to offer sweetheart deals to binge-drinking americani. Student IDs (including, I suspect, generic International Student IDs) often get cover or drinks comped.
Indeed, the few bars I visited that required membership, including our regular spot, comped it upon presentation of our IDs (with the exception of a place called Lochness).
Discoteque Space Electronica gave us free entry and free shots. And, lo and behold, it was almost entirely Americans inside (plus creepy men on the look out for Americans). Karaoked to Bon Jovi on Floor 1, danced to tunes from Grease on Floor 2. Yeah... quite lame.
If you indeed feel like hitting up the disco, though, (and even nightclub skeptics like myself feel like indulging on occasion) I'd suggest one that most decidedly does not cater to the Americans: the Brazilian-themed Maracanà.
I recall that it's pretty popular with its almost exclusively Italian clientelle, so there may be a line and legit cover charge, but it was alleged to be the cream of the crop. I seem to remember cage dancers, but that may just be faulty memory. Prime people-watching, at the very least.
... And if anyone in your party happens to be on the lookout for a tranny prostitute, it's via Nazionale all the way.
Scratch "Red Lion" from the above. That should be The Lion's Fountain.
OK, seriously... I'm done.
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