Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi, Fendi, Prada, basic bitches wear that shit & I’ve always prided myself on my ability to be self-aware. It’s my brand of humor, kinda? Basic Bitch Police can TOOT. IT. AND. BOOT. IT. because I spent 2 days in the world capital of Gucci, wine, cheese, and every other good thing on this planet and I want to TELL YOU ABOUT IT.
We left Rome on Friday morning - it took us about an hour and a half to get to Florence by train. If you’re in Rome for an extended amount of time, I’d definitely recommend spending a few days in Florence. It feels like a vacation within a vacation. The ride is easy & really pretty.
Our AirBnB was gorgeousssssss, the pictures don’t do it justice. It was only about a 15 minute walk from the train station & 10/15 from pretty much everything else. I think when we go back we’ll try a hotel or AirBnB on the river/closer to the Ponte Vecchio, but this was in a really cute area of town & had a nice view of the hills. Also, the single most sustainable/environmentally friendly home I’ve ever stayed in. Love that.
Aside from this exact AirBnB, I have no idea where you should stay in Florence. I’m positive there are a hundred beautiful places, but I can’t really make a list for you, ya know? Someday I’ll be back here & will have some very boujee recommendations for you.
I do, however, have plenty of food/wine/things to do recommendations!! I’m almost positive they’re no different than anyone’s who studied abroad, but this is my blog and you’re getting my recommendations!!! Overdone or not!!!
Probably more gluten-free friendly than others!!
Food/Drink/Gelato Picks
Some of my favorite places we went, gun to my head, I couldn't tell you the name of. Florence is a super walkable city with a million great places to get food, drinks , gelato, apertivo, or my 3rd pre-dinner aperol spritz. Part of the experience is walking around and getting what looks good! Probably steer clear of the super touristy areas for the best food, but an aperol spritz is an aperol spritz and my favorite way to drink them is while people watching confused tourists from the Mid West.
All’Antico Vinao - Via dei Ner, 74 R
The absolute best food I had in Italy. Gets Rob’s highest praise too. We has some really, really good food in Italy (dur) but I audibly moaned biting into this. Blanking on what Rob got, but I had il Capo (prosciutto, pecorino, and truffle sauce) and I know I will never be able to replicate it so I guess they just have to cater my wedding. BEST PART FOR YOU GLUTEN FREE PEEPS - Starbene Senza Glutine is a gluten free bakery right down the street where you can get gluten free focaccia. Bring the gf focaccia to all’antico & no questions asked (assuming this happens a lot) they’ll make the sandwich for you! The guys are super funny and personable so I kind of assumed they would bully me for being GF? But all they asked was “should we change our gloves?” then got back to it. They have pictures of them with Billy Joel all over the wall. This is my happy place.
Starbene Senza Glutine - Via dei Ner, 13 R
Gluten free E V E R Y T H I N G (and it’s super good) I loaded up on croissants because those are what I probably miss the most, but they have literally everything from breakfast - dinner, pastries, bread, pasta, you name it. If anyone wants to pick up some of the olive oil focaccia and mail it to Boston, I will pay you.
Mister Pizza - Piazza del Duomo 5r
OKAY. Hear me out. I know it’s called Mister Pizza, it sounds lame, and you’d expect it to be touristy and really bad, but this was one of if not the best pizzas I had in Italy. They do gluten free (why we chose this place) and I think it’s the first time Rob has ever had a bite of something gluten free of mine & genuinely liked it. Not-gluten free pizza was bomb too according to Rob. Any place that puts an entire ball of burrata on top of an already cheese covered pizza is A+ in my book. Mister Pizza, if you’re looking to franchise in the US, please HMU.
Don Nino - Piazza del Duomo, 11.
S’fancy. If you’re not allergic to everything on earth like I am, you can also top your gelato with lil tiny macarons. The salted caramel is THAT good good & if I wasn’t also allergic to the cannoli flavor, I would’ve eaten all of Rob’s (I ate a little by convincing myself gluten is different in Italy). It’s pricier than most gelato, but, also, cuter than most gelato. About 100 feet from Eduardo’s if you, like us, are on a mission to get the most gelato in your system as possible.
da Florence - via del Parione, 16 r
UGHHHH. We were planning on going here but it was closed when we got there. Everyone told us to go, I’m obsessed with the menu, the interior is GORGEOUS, and I’m sO MAD THEY WERE CLOSED WHEN WE GOT THERE. If you get there before me, lmk, but bet that I will 1000% be there next time I’m in Italy.
Signorvino - via de’ Bardi, 46 r
Mister Pizza. Mister Wine. Elegance. This is actually an adorable, super good wine bar perpendicular to the Ponte Vecchio. My favorite thing about wine tours in Florence is that you expect a tasting to be small pours, but they LOAD you up. We sat outside, got #wasted (do you see this picture? That was the best shot I managed to get), made friends with an Australian couple, went out to more wine tastings/ partying with the Australian couple all night, blacked the F out and only came to when we were all scarfing down Venchi together in the middle of the street realizing we never told each other our names. Ugh, I loved them.
Moyo Firenze - Via Dei Benci, 23r
Our Australian friends had never had Moët/Veuve/Dom before because it’s that expensive in Australia, so we went on a drunk mission to find what I call a “boots n pants” champagne bar (boots n pants n boots n pants). Not only were the cocktails here strong enough to kill me, they were delicious and the apertivo spread was UNREAL. I swear to God we only went out to eat a few times in Florence because we’d do pre-dinner drinks, eat the bar out of house and home, and then realize we were too full for dinner.
Things to Do
Gucci Garden - Piazza della Signoria, 10.
If you’re at all interested in fashion/Gucci, this museum is SO COOL. The museum itself is comprised of a lot of conceptual art and vintage pieces/paraphernalia. The concept of the museum was designed by Gucci’s CD, Alessandro Michele, with collection rooms curated by Maria Luisa Frisa. I was absolutely geekin’ over the vintage/curated pieces - the decade collections were SO cool. Downstairs they have a store filled with one of a kind pieces (sigh, someday) and Gucci Garden exclusives. There’s also an indoor and outdoor restaurant that carries Massimo Bottura’s (yes, the owner of the consistently rated “Best Restaurant in the World” Osteria Francescana in Modena) name. We spent probably about an hour and a half here but, if Rob was at all interested, I could’ve spent longer. I just felt bad at a certain point. He was a good sport.
Ponte Vecchio/Piazza del Duomo/Piazza della Signoria/Pitti Palace/Palazzo Vecchio/Uffizi Gallery/The Boboli Gardens/Galleria dell’Accademia all those old reliable places.
Quite literally a “what you see is what you get” situation but it’s unbelievable seeing them in real life. The view from the Ponte Vecchio at sunset - PHEWWWW. These are all really touristy spots but if you’re in Florence and a nerd for the Renaissance like me and my significant other, you’ll think it’s really cool. That being said, I never want to hear the words “selfie stick” ever again.
We waited in line for a little bit at the Galleria dell’Accademia but it wasn’t too bad! Obviously the main draw to the museum is Michelangelo’s David (way bigger than I was anticipating), but it has a ton of really interesting Renaissance era art including Michelangelo’s Slaves and Rape of the Sabines. Dark names, dank art.
“Ohhhh the sling shot... so it’s like David ...from David and Goliath” - my limp, hungover ass announcing that I’m the dumbest creature they’ve ever let into the museum.
Piazzale Michelangelo
Admittedly, doing this walk in patent leather pants, lil bit of an early morning hangover, meat sweats in full swing hours before I was ( we spoke about this in my last blog post they’re very real), was not my best showing of athleticism.
Once I stopped complaining, the walk was really beautiful. You go for the aerial view of Florence (and the fake David) but the gardens on the way up were 1) gorgeous and 2) a great excuse to stop walking for a moment and catch your breath when you’re going through a “oh my god I’m going to throw up at 10am and my pants won’t stop fucking vsqueaking even though I rubbed olive oil on them and I’m sweating to bullets when it’s 50 degrees” episode. Best picture of me on record?? Hunny had some SODIUMMMMMM and her face is SHOWWWWING ITTT.
I’m sure the view from San Miniato al Monte (that last church pictured) is incredible, but I took one look at the stairs and gave it a big “we’ll get her next time, I can kinda see it from down here).
Last but not least, go to the original Gucci. That entire shopping area is really cool, but that Gucci store is a religious experience. It’s packed with people dropping your yearly salary on crocodile bags, but you can go in and look around without feeling like you need to buy something or gtfo. As you all know, baby got her first pair of Gucci shoes & wore them in bed that night because I wanted my VAT refund.
Ferragamo, Roberto Cavalli, and Emilio Pucci
were also founded in Florence if thats exciting at all to you!!
I absolutely loved Florence and I can’t wait to visit again someday! I’ve been told the only place in Italy more “on brand” for me will be Milan, but I’ll also have to test the entire Amalfi coast and Lake Como before I make a call. One of the many benefits of dating an Italian boi is that I know I’ll be back here soon. Thank you Florence for the meat sweats, your sulfite free wine, my fancy shoes, and for letting me eat more cheese in 2 days than most people eat in a year.
I dedicate this post to our Australian friends who we never exchanged numbers with and probably will never see again - thank you for teaching me about Australian wildlife and explaining to me how real the Outback is while we sipped our 7th glass of Chianti. Love n miss u.
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