This gem of a city located in Italy is a paradise for art lovers, historians, foodies, and fashion connoisseurs.
Housing over a million works of Renaissance art and a lively shopping scene, the Italian town of Florence has been voted the greatest city in Europe by travellers in this season’s Travel and Leisure World’s Best Awards, taking the number one spot in the class for the tenth time in the past eleven years, and it’s clear that tourists are really putting the city on the map for hot travel destinations, with a growing increase in tourism to the city.
Numerous cities were rated by Travel and Leisure readers based on many different factors including areas such as the destination’s landmarks, culture, cuisine, friendliness, shopping, and overall value.
The birthplace of the Italian Renaissance is swarming with famed artworks which range from Michelangelo’s “David” to “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli, and of course its collection of classical sights that have the famed Gothic Cathedral such as the likes of Santa Maria del Fiore, better called the Duomo. The historical structures and artwork of Florence is complimented with tradition of the areas works in fashion and leather items such as leather ankle boots.
Fun Things to Do in Florence
An “open-air museum,” as the town’s tourism site calls it, Florence is dotted with towering cathedrals and a community of museums that collectively incorporate the best concentration of artworks in all of Italy, and among the greatest in the world.
Aside from its historical offerings, Florence is also famous as the birthplace of some of fashion’s most noted names, including the likes of Gucci, Pucci, Roberto Cavalli, and the Ferragamos.
Head to sights such as the Museo Ferragamo, where you could see where Salvatore Ferragamo first set up shop and browse through some 10,000 pairs of men’s and women’s shoes which make up the museum’s permanent collection.
When it’s time to search for some shoes for yourself, visit places such as Oltrarno, on the Southbank of the Arno River, where you will discover a range of craft studios specializing in wood products, jewellery, and metal vases. In San Frediano, a locality in Oltrarno’s west end, you will discover traditional offerings such as hand-wrought silverware, hand-made shoes of quality incomparable to shoes online, and antique glassware.
Florence is also home to a buzzing food arena, where you can sample everything from fresh mozzarella and pasta, to bread and elaborate chocolates and pastries at places like the Mercato Centrale.
If you would like to try your hand in cooking Italian specialties, visit Desinare, where you are able to take cooking classes that will teach you how you can prepare delicacies such as hand-rolled ricotta and spinach ravioli and desserts like the famous tiramisu, with wine pairings and a class on food photography contained in the mix, you’ll be sure to have the experience of a lifetime.
Heading to Florence also offers you access to the Tuscan countryside, where you can enjoy your days sampling Chianti wines amidst a lush natural landscape. There are plenty of day tours available from Florence that will take you around on a guided tour and bring you back to Florence at the end of the day, of course there is also the option to stay in Tuscany as well.
