Florence - The Residenza del Proconsolo

Hello everyone, we left Messina by train after booking a bed & breakfast overlooking piazza Duomo in Via del Proconsolo. An excellent establishment with a very good quality/price ratio. Breakfast served in the room after a detailed selection of the products we wanted. (Residenza del Proconsolo). Armed with a Lonely Planet guide, we decided to get around and see as much as possible over these 5 days, since the city's historic centre is very compact. The first planned stop was the Uffizi, but when we arrived, the next morning after our arrival, faced with a huge queue we decided to change the plan for our first day, comforted by the possibility of booking the museum visit for the following days and avoiding the queue (cost 9.50 euro including ticket). After booking the Uffizi we moved on to the Accademia Gallery to see the original David.

Here too a long queue met our eyes, but smaller than the one at the Uffizi, so we decided to join it. Here, too, the visit can be booked, but by now the morning was lost, so we stood in a very slow queue for an hour and a half and admired the majestic man who defeated Goliath just as his mother did and Michelangelo did too. Cost 8 euro, a bit too high for a museum that displays only the David and Michelangelo's Prisoners, but we should have expected it, since the ticket is titled "Homage to David". After an afternoon wandering the city, dinner and bed. The second day begins with another queue, much smaller, half an hour, to climb the cathedral's dome: cost 6 euro, which more or less is worth it; indeed, 463 steps are a godsend for burning off the previous evening's steak, and the view, both inside and outside, from up there is magnificent.

The only drawback for those who suffer from claustrophobia: the stairs are very narrow and get narrower and narrower as you go. In the afternoon, after the necessary rest, we set off for Palazzo Pitti. No queue here - maybe it's the 12.50 euro ticket? They seem excessive, but after a lovely walk inside the immense Boboli Gardens, where I recommend bringing a packed snack to enjoy later in some hidden, romantic corner (if you're a couple like me), we visited the Palatine Gallery, inside Palazzo Pitti, which, to my surprise, holds works and rooms to be compared with the Louvre. Not to be missed. On the third day we finally set off for the Uffizi, booked for 11 o'clock. We go in with no queue at all and go up to the second floor, where all the major works are gathered.

Among paintings of Madonnas with Child and works by Leonardo, Raphael, Botticelli's Spring and Caravaggio, a good few hours slip away immersed in the colours and the almost photographed faces in the paintings, which follow you with the proud gaze of those who will stay there forever to be admired. Coming out of the museum you are tired and excited at the same time, your brain no longer wants to concentrate; so the afternoon is devoted to shopping, around markets and various little squares. We devoted the last day to churches and smaller museums, perhaps free ones, visiting Santo Spirito, Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce. The latter is truly worth admiring, together with the glimpse of its beautiful square, my favourite. Finally I would like to point out the restaurants where I had dinner, since at lunch I only had a sandwich, and I felt really good there.

The restaurants are medium/high quality/price, so with dinners for two ranging from 60 to 70 euro, and they are located in different places according to where we were: "Il cinghiale bianco" near Ponte Vecchio, "Baldovino" at Santa Croce, "Trattoria Santo Spirito" at Santo Spirito, "Trattoria Poli" in a side street off via dei Calzaiuoli. All really, really excellent. Chosen after a careful selection based on various information. Guys, for further information, if it's within my knowledge, don't hesitate to contact me. bye