European Destination of the Week - Florence
If you’re planning a trip to Italy, make sure that Florence is on your itinerary. It is a city steeped in centuries of history, art and architecture, and it’s perfect for a mini-break or a stop off on a longer trip around Italy.
The best times to visit Florence are low season April-June and September-October when accommodation will be cheaper. Early December is lovely too, if you don’t mind a nip in the air. The streets look incredibly beautiful with winter mist in the air.
You’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to activities. Florence is packed with gorgeous churches and museums. The most recognisable church has to be the Duomo, with its candy-striped bell tower. Other churches you should check out are Santa Croce, Santa Maria del Carmine and Santa Maria Novella.
If you’re a fan of art, you can’t visit Florence without a trip to the Uffizi gallery. Here you’ll find the work of the great masters, including Donatello and Fra Lippi who flourished under Medici rule in the late thirteen hundreds.
Take a day trip out to nearby Fiesole which nestles in the Tuscan hills. It was here that Leonardo Da Vinci tested his flying machine, and where Boccaccio wrote the Decameron during his exile.
Florence’s history dates back to pre-Roman times when a settlement was established on the banks of the River Arno. After a power struggle between rival families the Guelphs and Ghibhellines in the medieval times, the city came under Medici rule after the plague. Florence suffered heavy damage in World War 2 and was one of Mussolini’s strongholds.
The city’s mercantile legacy can be seen on the Ponte Vecchio, where street traders still peddle their wares.
Find cheap flights to Florence on FlightComparison.co.uk.