Last week I took you with me to the sights of Rome and Vatican City, today I’m bringing you along with me to another part of Italy, Florence! It’s so amazing to experience the differences of this city compared to Rome. Apart from the red rooftops, the architecture is noticeably different and yet, just as beautiful! The scenery is just so gorgeous and it’s so peaceful to walk around and see everything that makes the city so unique.

Food

I’ve always loved Italian food so being able to eat pasta and pizza in Italy was so exciting, and so delicious! Is it that different than what we can get in the US? Not so much, but enjoying food with the beautiful scenery is just extra nice. We also made sure to get a lot of gelato, which I love way more than regular ice cream! There’s a lot of gelato places in big cities like New York City, but again, it was extra special getting gelato in Italy.

Ponte Vecchio

This arch bridge is so unique and cute and really stands out at night with the lights reflecting off of the river! They have little shops built into it, which makes it so different than other bridges, selling artwork, jewelry, and other souvenirs to remember your experience in Italy!

Campanile di Giotto

The first day we arrived in Florence, we climbed the top of this bell tower! It’s 417 steps up, which was very long and tiring, especially in the hot weather, but the views at the top were so worth it. You could see the entire city, which was extremely gorgeous and mesmerizing. I loved the city from so high up! This building is free standing but also part of the complex of buildings making up the Florence Cathedral.

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Dome

We decided to visit the Cathedral and the dome the next day. The line to the dome was extremely long! It was about 4 hours, which got really boring standing in the heat with nothing to do besides appreciate the clear blue sky and ravishing architecture. Since we were all in line, we were able to hop out and visit a few shops nearby, while one of us waited in line. I bought a really pretty, blue glass necklace!

It was 463 steps to the top of the dome, which was again pretty tiring and long. After climbing the bell tower (Campanile di Giotto), I don’t think it was worth waiting 4 hours for it because it was basically the same view.

Piazzale Michelangelo

This panoramic viewpoint was definitely my favorite site! Walking there was long but very peaceful with all of the small roads and scenery on the way. You could see the entire city from the lookout which was incredible and unreal. Especially at sunset, we could see all of the different colors of the sky and the city lights turn on as it got darker. I definitely recommend this site to anyone that comes to Florence! There were a lot of people and I did have to push past some people to get pictures, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as trying to see the Mona Lisa.

Baptistry of St. John

This site was pretty surprising because it’s just a simple, round building on the outside, but the inside was stunning with gold lining the walls and the ceiling! Below you can see the ceiling with the religious artwork inscribed in the gold, which is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.