"FLORENCE ~ THE RENAISSANCE CITY " a Florence Travel Page by longsanborn

I have always wanted to visit Florence for as long as I can remember. In fact, the first time I saw Florence (and Tuscany) was in the film called "A Room with a View" (1985) starring Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith and Daniel Day-Lewis. From the film, I remembered very well the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria.

Finally in June 2006, I made it to Florence and, like many hundreds and thousands of tourists before me, I fell in love with the charming and artistic renaissance city.

To set foot in Florence is to enter a time warp. Millions of visitors come to Florence for one thing - the Renaissance art. The historic centre of Florence city contains more art treasures per square metre than any other city in the world. And, amazingly, the Florentines have accepted the millions of curious visitors to their lovely city with dignified grace and animated warmth.

That is why I love visiting Florence; the beautiful city, friendly people, wonderful italian cuisines and glorious shopping!

Florence city centre is compact and manageable. It is practically impossible to get lost, with the ever visible dome of the Duomo and the River Arno and the four central bridges acting as reference points. Majority of the main sights and museums are clustered in the area around the Duomo, Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, San Marco, Santa Croce and Oltrarno zones.

During the summer, around Easter and on public holidays, Florence spills over with visitors, so the sights are crowded and huge queues can form at the main museums and attractions. The best times to sightsee in relative ease are the in-between seasons, from January to March (avoiding Easter), adn from mid September to mid December.

I strongly recommend booking tickets for the Uffizi and the Accademia museums; this could save you a 2-hour wait. Booking fee costs Euro 3 and you have to pay & collect the tickets from the museums. Better go the day before.