Florence Guides

Six long-form guides that each settle one decision the rest of this Florence city guide only touches in passing: which gallery to book if you do one, whether the dome climb earns its 463 steps, how far ahead anything really needs reserving, and what the water line on the walls means.

A traveller with a small wheeled bag watching the departures board in the concourse of Firenze Santa Maria Novella station during a Florence layover

Florence Layover: What 4 to 8 Hours Really Buys You

The transfer eats the layover. What is officially published about getting in and out, what is not, and the plan that survives contact with a timetable.

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A café table with a high-speed train ticket and a map of Italy, weighing the Florence or Rome decision for a first trip

Florence or Rome: Which City Deserves Your Days

One is an empire's capital with twenty-seven centuries in layers; the other is one perfect century you can walk across in half an hour. Seven dimensions, decided honestly.

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A traveller's table with a train ticket between a Florence skyline and a Venice canal view, weighing the Florence or Venice decision

Florence or Venice: Which City to Choose

One city is a gallery you walk through; the other is an exhibit you walk on. Seven dimensions, each decided honestly — including the ones Venice wins.

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A printed timed-entry ticket and a phone calendar on a café table in central Florence, planning how far ahead to book Florence attractions

How Far Ahead to Book Florence: What Sells Out

Three tickets in Florence genuinely need planning, two cannot be booked at all, and the rest you can leave to the morning of. The calendar, ticket by ticket.

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The narrow brick staircase between the two shells of Brunelleschi's dome on the 463-step Florence dome climb, with the curve of the vault overhead

Is the Dome Climb Worth It? 463 Steps in Florence

Four hundred and sixty-three steps between two brick shells, no lift, and a time slot that cannot be moved. Who it rewards, and who should take the stairs somewhere else.

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Late afternoon light on a brick Tuscan street leading to a cathedral facade, the Pisa or Siena day-trip choice from Florence

Pisa or Siena: Which Tuscan Day Trip to Take

One is a walled square you can see in three hours; the other is a city that takes a day and gives it back. The comparison, on time, cost and temperament.

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A stone high-water plaque set above head height on a rusticated palazzo wall marking the 1966 flood in Florence, on a narrow shaded street

The 1966 Flood in Florence: Lost, Saved, Still Visible

At half past two in the morning the Arno came over the parapets. Sixty years on, the water line is still painted on the walls — and the marks disagree with each other.

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The Uffizi colonnade in early morning light with the Palazzo Vecchio tower behind, the walk between the two galleries in the Uffizi vs Accademia decision, Florence

Uffizi vs Accademia: Which to Book If You Do One

One holds Botticelli and forty-odd rooms of Renaissance painting. The other holds a single statue nearly everyone comes for. Which one earns the morning.

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