Katie Wanders : A Wanderer's Guide to (two days in) Florence

Adam and I made plans to each take the kids somewhere fun this year while the other had a chance for some kid-free time.

For my part, I took the kids to Florida to visit my snowbirding parents in Daytona Beach Florida, while Adam and some friends had a guy's weekend skiing at Pico. In turn, Adam was taking the kids to South Carolina with his parents to visit family, and I had a 4-day weekend to myself. I quickly started searching around google maps, the only way I ever book a flight, and instead of something "simple" like Florida, a round-trip flight to Rome priced at $380 caught my eye. From here, an idea was born. Why spend a long weekend in the US when I could spend it abroad for truly a fraction of the price. An inexpensive flight, cheaper lodging and food, public transportation and no rental car needed. And of course, the chance to explore Italy with a glass of wine behind a plate of pasta.

While I was more than happy to go alone, I quickly ran through my friend list of people who would A) be interested in traveling abroad and B) were okay with traveling the way I travel. I choose to travel in a budget-friendly way, focused on wandering and experiencing the culture through good food and a lot of walking instead of high end resorts and seeing big ticket items through tours. Instantly, Corey came to mind as someone who was wildly easy-going, and was okay with skipping the tourist high-ticket items in exchange for a long lunch filled with seafood. It was a pretty quick yes and from there, our Girl's Trip to Italy was born.

My travel buddy for the week

We left New York a little after midnight and our 8-hour flight arrived in Rome around 2:30 pm with the 6-hour time difference. After an uneventful flight where I had an empty seat next to me about about 3 hours of combined sleep (and an angry watch with a sleep score of 33) it was time to start our day in Italy.

The plan for the first leg of our trip was to immediately leave Rome and start with two days in the city of Florence. Florence was the halfway point between our two destinations (Rome and Venice) and we figured it was best to end in the city closest to the airport.

Once we grabbed Corey’s camera gear at the baggage claim, we followed signs for ground transportation/train and took the Leonardo Express train out of the airport and to the main railroad hub of Rome, Roma Termini. This could not have been easier and you didn’t even have to bother to buy a train ticket. As long as you have a credit card or google/apple pay, you could walk right up to the gate, tap your phone, and hop right on the next train.

Sunset over The Duomo from Piazzale Michelangelo

Ponte Vecchio

Streets through Florence

Walkways along the Arno River

The Leonardo Express is about a half hour ride and brought us directly to the main train station (Florence Santa Maria Novella). From here, we hopped on the high-speed train (ItaloTreno) to Florence. It was about a 2 hour train ride with comfortable seats, with fold down tray tables and luggage storage overhead. The trains had free wifi and bathrooms on board, making it a truly easy way to get around Italy. The tickets are cheaper the farther in advance you buy them. Because we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get out of the airport. and we had pretty loose travel plans we wanted to keep open, we ended up buying our tickets the day of (to Florence) and a day or two ahead for Venice and back to Rome. We bought our Florence ticket right at the airport at a machine (55 euros) where an attendant helped us, and purchased the other two train tickets online.

We arrived in Florence at the Santa Maria Novella station around 6:30 pm and from there, walked about 15 minutes with our bags to our Airbnb, just in time to drop our bags and head out into the city for our first meal of the day. We were a bit jet-lagged and definitely hungry so our first night in Italy was an easy dinner of pizza within walking distance of our Airbnb, away from the main hub, in an area that was a mix of business, residential, and hotels.

After pizza at Piccolo Cesare (eggplant, sausage, carmelized onion) we walked down to the Piazza di Santa Naria Novella, in more of the downtown area, for our first gelato of the trip at La Sorbettiera. We passed sports bars with chanting drinkers, and bustling city centers filled with gelato-eating and aperol-drinking patrons. We eventually ended up back at our Airbnb where I enviously watched Corey sleep and tried to adjust to the time. I eventually fell asleep around 2am, ready for a big mileage day exploring the beautiful city of Florence.

Parco delle Cascine

Lamps along the walkways

We started off the morning at Parco delle Cascine right on the Arno River the main river through Florence, which was a great spot for the birder of the group (Corey) and the “happy wanderer along a River in green space” (me). The park was mostly greenspace and walkways/bikeways with local traffic from runners, bikers, and dog walkers. I loved the intricate detail of the footed land posts and was thankful to start the day on a slow and quiet note. We seemed to be the only tourists and watched people walking their dogs along the river on a truly beautiful day in Florence. From there, we continued on for some gelato recommended by Corey’s friend at Sbrio Gelatificio Contadino.

Ponte Vecchio and the postcard of the same bridge

View from Ponte Vecchio

Gelato in hand, we walked through the narrow alleyways, making our way to one of the more known sights in the city, Ponte Vecchio. Florence’s most famous medieval stone arch bridge spans over the narrowest section of the Arno, and is known for being one of the remaining bridges with houses and shops. The best view of the colorful passenger-only bridge is from the other bridges along the Arno, and you can certainly stroll across the bridge as well. I found a watercolor painted postcard of the famous bridge with the intent to send it back home to the kids, or at the very least, frame it in my bathroom of travel prints and postcards.

We left the bridge and made our way to the Piazza della Signoria, the square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. We stopped in the theater-turned-bookstore Giujti Odeon (cool to see but underwhelming) before heading to walk what Florence is most known for, The Duomo, or the “Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore”. The Duomo (the Italian word for cathedral) is the medieval cathedral with the iconic red dome and the third-largest church in the world. The church seems free to enter but a prepaid ticket is what you need if you want to climb the Duomo for a view of the city.

Early on in our trip planning, we decided we were going to skip the more popular attractions like a climb to the Duomo and a visit to Michelangelo's David. I didn’t want to join a tour or wait in crowded lines and instead, wanted to save my budget for the food and wine, wandering the city and taking in the culture of the city and energy in the piazzas. We walked by the Duomo, appreciated the true beauty of the building, and continued our stroll (a half marathon of mileage, really) through Florence.

The Duomo

Walkways along the Arno River

Gelato stops

We decided it was time for a late lunch and headed to another recommendation, the Osteria Vecchio Vicolo for our first pasta dish of the trip. Corey opted for a special pasta with pistachios while I decided on the Octopus carbonara dish which ended up being one of my favorite meals of the trip. We snagged a table on the sidewalk, watching the world go by with a glass of wine and a plate of pasta.

From here, we slowly made our way back to the AirBnb where I had a lot of work to finish, and Corey had more birds to ID. We planned to meet at Piazzale Michelangelo per the recommendation of our AirBnb host **and every single guide to Florence, usually the sign of a skippable attraction in the Katie Wanders guidebook. To the surprise of no one, the high point of the city known for its stellar sunsets was mobbed, with vendors, more human traffic than a Christmas Day in New York City, and an impromptu wedding on the stairs of the plaza. I decided to run from the AirBnb to the sunset destination, and laughed as I ran through crowded streets, dodging cars and luggage before coming to an abrupt stop in the flow of humans climbing the walkways through the rose garden to the piazzale.

After taking in the beginning of the sunset, we left the crowds behind and descended back into the city, making our way back to the house to find something light for dinner after our late lunch of pasta. We sat down for some sushi next to the AirBnb and made a last minute stop at a 24 hour bar where pastries and desserts were served.

By the time we put our heads on our pillows, we had walked almost 32,000 steps, which comes out to about 15 miles. We didn’t take any public transportation that day, just the train in from Rome and then our own two feet as we made our way around the city.

We both really enjoyed Florence, and I loved experiencing Italy’s city on the river. The next morning, I was back to my computer to finish some reports due that day while Corey went back to the park for more birds. We caught the 11:30 am train out of Florence, bound for the stunning canal city of Venice.