FLORENCE is a historical city....
by Nice_Girl
FLORENCE is a historical city. What's to do and what's to see ??? This city counts around 40 museums, 24 churches and lots of interesting places (piazza).
I suggest you the Cathedral (Sanbta Maria Del Fiore and its Duomo), il Battistero, Piazza Del Duomo and Piazza San Giovanni, Piazza della Signoria, le Uffici (museum very interesting and absolutely great for its paintings, sculpures and environment!), all these sights are located in the nearly same area.
Don't miss Piazza and Palace Pitti, on the other side of the River, cross thus the Ponte Vecchio (interesting for jewelery).
Go also to FIESOLE, by bus. A very small city but offers you an incredible view on FLORENCE and its Arno river.
Local Vendor
by bren1125
I stumbled across a local curio shop "Mario Wine and Gift Shop". Mario is quite a character and along with his wife, give you quite a pleasant stop. He explained to me the "healthy" benefits of the local Liquore di Limon, complete with four cupfuls. He was very eager to share his bounty and not in hopes of a sale but I believe he could tell his wife it was just to share their culture. Buon giorno Mario!
Florence outletcenters
by tan1415 about The Mall, The groove, Space,Barabarino and other g
Hi All,
I think Florence and not Milan is the outlet fashion capital of europe.Like milan the actually outlets are quite a distance away. Compared with milan...the outlets in Florence is a lot closer to the city.Around 30/50km from Florence.
All these outlets are open till 8pm. So you could literally shop till you drop.
In florence there are basically 2 outlet area.
1) Is the area around the Mall:with the mall, the groove, D&G,Trussardi and of course Prada Space outlet.20 stores.
2) Mcarthurs Glenn Barbarino Outletcenter.100+ stores.
I seperate these two areas because one is to the north of florence and the other is to the south. The distance between the two area and the size of the outlets makes it inadvisable to visit both in 1 day.
What also differentiates between these two area is that the southern outlet centers are the older and more traditional centers. They are all outlets from the highend brands. very expensive items become less expensive based mainly on clothing and other fashion items.
The northern outlets is the wellknown mcarthur glenn outlets..featuring not only clothing but also others tuff like luggage, cooking stuff etc. They have a few high end brands, but also alot of regular brands.
It depends on your budget and tastes where to visit.
The barbarino outlet is the easiest and closest to visit from florence. 100 shops in one open air mall. Lots of shops that are more regular priced affair with a sprinkling of high end stores.
If you a taste of high fashion or have the budget to burn...head to the southern outlets. These are more spread out but they deliver on all the high end brands. I am pretty sure you will leave with a great bargain..how ever expensive it might be.
What i missed: Gucci is from florence.We drive past the gucci HQ when driving to the souther outkets.What i dont see is a major Gucci factory/outlet store like what prada has.(Ps Prada I believe is milan based)(PPS there are 2 gucci outlets ..big one in the Mall and a small one in Barbarino) You can buy all sorts of stuff. But buying the highend italian fashion are great bargains certainly compared to where you come from.
Matter of fact if you are a male, shopping here once a year for your business wear would save you so much money.Literally 1000s of euros. Regular outlet prices seems to be like standard 30% lower price compared to the italian retail prices.
During the sales certain items could be slashed even further...from an extra 30% to an wopping 70% from outlet prices.
Examples:
Ferre mens dress shirt from 91€ to 29€
Burberry sweater from 120€ to 15€
Tods ladies shoes for 65€
Bruno Magli ladies pumps for 60€
Pal Zileri suits from 1000€ for 150€
Moving by bus
by gial1
There are many bus lines in Florence. The only problem is that traffic in Florence is bad and often bus schedules cannot be respected because of traffic.
Anyway this is a good way to move around Florence.
Getting Sick of Italian? Cheap Chinese! great Food
by meaganelizabeth about Capitale della Cina
Just behind the train station, this very beautiful Chinese restaurant became a large part of my life! Enough Italian food, and to keep my budget for shopping, I ate Chinese here frequently. Great Chicken and Cashew.
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The Cathedral and Duomo
Il Duomo
The Tribuna today
Santa Maria del Carmine church (Florene, Italy)
