Wondering what Florence is like in winter? This guide covers what to expect during the winter months, how the season changes the experience of the city, and which sights are especially worth visiting.
I spent 10 days in Florence in February, exploring its museums, churches, neighbourhoods, and viewpoints in the quieter post-Christmas season, so this guide is designed to help you make the most of Florence in the winter months.
Why Visit Florence in Winter
Florence never feels empty, but in winter, it feels manageable and more atmospheric. The air is crisp, the sun is mostly bright, and winter sunsets can be downright spectacular.
More importantly, the museums are calmer, guided tours run with smaller groups, and you can walk around Florence at whatever pace you want. There is no constant flow of tourist traffic to adjust to. If you plan things right, you can actually feel like you are exploring Florence rather than enduring it..
The city is still buzzing with tourists, but it feels more like a busy Sunday than an amusement park of the peak season. The palaces, churches, and museums are all open, and first thing in the morning, you might just have them to yourself.
During my February stay, I stood in front of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus completely alone, and wandered the streets of Oltrarno with only local people for company. My local trattoria served delicious Tuscan winter food and always had a table available.
It is still a good idea to pre-book your museum visits in advance, but you will not face the epic queues of the summer season. And if you are a keen photographer, you’ll love the quiet streets, especially early in the morning.
Weather in Florence in winter
Florence in winter is not quite as warm as Rome, but that simply means that you need to dress for the weather. In December and January, the daytime temperatures are around 10 degrees and in February, around 12 degrees. Nights do get cooler, dropping to 1-2 degrees in December-January and 3 degrees in February.
You do get rainy weather in Florence in winter, but even on rainy days, it usually doesn’t rain all day long, even when the forecast says it will. On average, you might get two or three days of rain during the week. And if you are staying in the old town of Florence, all the main attractions are only a short walk away, so you won’t be walking far in the rain.
You will also appreciate central heating in Florence in winter. Coming from Australia, I certainly did. Hotels, indoor attractions, restaurants, and even trains are all heated in Italy.
How to Dress for Winter in Florence
I was comfortable in Florence in February, wearing a proper winter puffer jacket, a couple of layers underneath, and waterproof boots for walking around the city and not worrying about the forecast.
A lightweight umbrella was also handy for unexpected bursts of rain. You do not need heavy-duty winter gear, but it is worth dressing for chilly mornings, cooler evenings, and damp weather underfoot.
Exploring Florence in Winter
The main thing to adjust for in winter is the limited daylight: in February, the sun rises around 7:30 am and sets between 5:30 and 6 pm, so it’s worth planning around these hours.
Aim to visit museums and palaces first thing in the morning or last thing in the afternoon. And when the sun is shining, wander the streets in search of hidden gems, visit artisan shops and churches, and linger in cafes with stunning views. Or go on a quest of discovery with themed walking itineraries (check out my detailed self-guided walking itineraries for Medici Florence and Da Vinci’s Florence).
All the places described below are within easy walking distance of Piazza del Duomo. The furthest walk is to the two sunset viewpoints: Piazza Michelangelo and San Miniato al Monte Abbey. Both are a 25-30-minute stroll, with about 10 minutes of a steep uphill section at the end.
Now that you know what to expect from Florence in winter, here’s what the city’s most popular attractions actually feel like in February, from quieter museum mornings to crisp sunset views and long climbs up the narrow, twisting stone stairwells.
Duomo and Piazza del Duomo
- Time to visit: 1-3 hrs
- Tickets: Duomo website
Florence’s central squares like Piazza del Duomo truly shine in winter. There are no loud crowds, no rubbish floating across the steps of the Duomo. Just a huge cobbled square with enormous marble structures rising to the sky.
Those imposing structures are the Duomo Complex made up of five monuments: the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Brunelleschi’s Dome, Giotto’s Campanile (bell tower), the Baptistery of San Giovanni, the Crypt of Santa Reparata (beneath the cathedral) and the Opera Museum (where most of the original artworks from the complex are kept).
Florence Cathedral (Duomo)
The story of the Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), or simply the Duomo, is essentially a story of waiting for its dome. Construction of the cathedral began in 1296. By around 1418, most of the church had been completed—but there was a huge problem: the vast octagonal space where the dome should be was still open. No one knew how to build a dome that large without it collapsing.
Until Filippo Brunelleschi came along several decades later and, with support from Cosimo di Medici, designed his ingenious dome, the largest ever built at the time, in 1456.
To properly appreciate the Duomo, you should take an organised tour to climb the famous dome. The climb is hard work – it takes 45 minutes to an hour to climb 463 steps, but it’s an atmospheric experience as you make your way up (and then down) through the centuries-old narrow stairwell.
Your reward is a 360-degree view of Florence from the top, an optional opportunity to step out onto the roof terrace, and a close-up view of Vasari’s monumental frescoes of The Last Judgement from the two wraparound balconies beneath the dome’s ceiling.
The best tour is the one that offers exclusive access to the Roof Terrace. That’s the tour I took, and there were just five of us in the group. Apart from a brief course on art history, a visit to the Cathedral, the Dome climb and a visit to the Opera del Duomo museum, where you can see the original Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, this tour also gives you exclusive access to the Duomo Terraces.
The terraces are an amazing hidden gem in Florence that can only be visited on an organised tour. Your group will be the only people on the terrace, accompanied by a security guard who will unlock the door.
From the terraces, you get fantastic views of Florence and unique views of the Duomo’s roof. There are even some centuries-old cat prints to spot on the roof tiles.
If you prefer to explore independently, the Campanile, the Baptistery, and the Opera del Duomo can be visited with timed entry tickets, which let you avoid the hustle of queuing up. But the cathedral is free to enter, so there are no skip-the-line tickets for it. And the queues are long. Even in winter, be prepared to line up for at least 30 minutes.
Giotto’s Campanile
Unlike most bell towers, Giotto’s campanile is not attached to the cathedral but stands beside it, rising almost 85 meters towards the sky.
As you crane your neck to take in the campanile, notice the life-size statues placed in various niches. These were carved by Florence’s finest artists, including Donatello. Of course, today, the sculptures are replicas; the original works are kept at the Opera del Duomo museum.
If you did the Duomo tour, your ticket will also give you access to the climb of the Campanile. If you don’t mind another 418 steps, do climb to the top for a fantastic view of the Duomo dome. The viewing platform has an unfortunate protective wire mesh, but you can take photos through it with your phone. In winter, the air is often crisp and clear, and the view can extend over the Tuscan countryside.
The Baptistry & the Gates of Paradise
The most extraordinary features of the Baptistry are its bronze doors. The world-famous Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti may have marked the beginning of the Renaissance. To fully appreciate The Gates of Paradise, first, have a look at Ghiberti’s earlier gates on the north side of the Baptistry. They are beautiful but in a medieval kind of way, with flat figures in stiff postures.
Then walk to the Gates of Paradise (they face the cathedral), and you will see how the scenes on the panels appear 3-dimensional, full of movement, emotion, and realism. When Michelangelo saw Ghiberti’s new gates, he proclaimed them as beautiful as the Gates of Paradise. And in winter, you can actually approach the gates and have a close look without fighting through the crowds.
Tip: if you feel like a coffee break at a cafe on Piazza del Duomo, make sure to check the prices. Often, there are two sets of prices: one for drinking your coffee standing up and one for sitting at a table. The table prices can be as much as 10 times higher than the takeaway prices. The one cafe that doesn’t charge the table surcharge is the Opera del Duomo cafe. Don’t worry, you don’t need a ticket to the museum to enter the cafe. And there are indoor and outdoor tables.
Uffizi Gallery
- Time to visit: 1-3 hours
- Tickets: Official Uffizi website
- Priority tickets: Priority Escorted entry
The Uffizi Gallery is another of Florence’s great treasures that benefits enormously from thinner winter crowds. The museum houses some of the world’s most famous paintings, sculptures, and other art forms.
Think Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio. The museum’s art collection is immense. If you are in Florence for the art, the Uffizi is your holy grail.
My advice is to book for the first entry slot – 8.15 am. Then turn up 30 minutes before your entry time to exchange your electronic ticket for the paper one and take your place in the queue to enter the gallery. This process can be surprisingly confusing with different queues for different things, so you want to give yourself plenty of time to get organised.
If you’ve done it right, you’ll be one of the first few people to step into the gallery when it opens. Once you clear the security screening, head upstairs – that’s where most of the important art is (explore the first floor afterwards).
Upstairs, the rooms are arranged chronologically, from medieval art to the Renaissance. Towards the end of the hall, you’ll find Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and The Allegory of Spring, da Vinci’s Annunciation, Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo, and Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch.
If you followed my advice and haven’t lingered too long in the medieval rooms, you have a good chance of finding yourself alone in front of the Birth of Venus, or in the Leonardo room. Just you and some of the most beautiful art in the world. That’s the beauty of visiting Florence in winter.
When booking your ticket, if you plan to visit Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, the most economical option is a combined ticket for the Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace, and Boboli Gardens.
Ponte Vecchio
Ponte Vecchio is one of Florence’s most iconic landmarks. And even though it’s always buzzing with tourists, a stroll along Ponte Vecchio is almost a rite of passage for experiencing Florence.
If you have the time, continue walking up the street from the bridge to explore the charming neighbourhood of Oltrarno. This is where you’ll find the best artisan shops in Florence.
My favourite way to see Ponte Vecchio was at sunset. Winter sunsets here can be surprisingly vivid: pink, orange, and lavender skies reflected in the Arno.
Gallerie dell’Academia
- Time to visit: 1 hr
- Tickets: official Academy Gallery website
Have you really been to Florence if you haven’t seen Michelangelo’s David? You may have seen a copy of the monumental statue in front of Palazzo Vecchio or one at Piazza Michelangelo, but the real David is safeguarded in the Accademia Gallery.
If the thought of another museum doesn’t excite you, don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be a long visit. The Academia Gallery is quite small. Once you walk through the Hall of Colossus with several sculptures by Michelangelo, towards the magnificent David, admire some paintings, including several by Sandro Botticelli, and explore Bartolini’s plaster casts gallery, you are done. Just make sure to pre-book your tickets online, turn up 15 minutes before your allocated time slot, and you’ll avoid the long queue.
Medici Chapels & Basilica of St Lorenzo
- Time to visit: 30 min to 1 hour
- Tickets: Timed entry tickets online at Tiqets
If you are interested in the Medici family or in Michelangelo’s art, you can’t miss the Medici Chapels. The chapels form part of a monumental complex at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the parish church of the Medici family. The chapels have a separate entrance to the basilica and require a separate ticket/booking. As with all famous sites in Florence, it’s best to buy your tickets online in advance.
The main rooms to see at the chapels are the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo, where his statues adorn the sarcophagi of prominent Medici family members, and the monumental Chapel of the Princes, strikingly decorated with white, red, and green marble.
Basilica of San Lorenzo
- Time to visit: 30 min – 1hr
- Tickets: Purchase at the Basilica (separate ticket for the library)
Medici Chapels are part of the larger complex of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. From the street, San Lorenzo is not much to look at. The exterior of the basilica appears rough and unappealing. This is because it was never finished. It was supposed to be covered by a spectacular façade by Michelangelo, but due to a lack of funds and changes in the Medici family’s fortunes, the decorative covering was never added.
The most interesting space in the basilica is the Old Sacristy. The room is almost a perfect cube with semicircular arches and a segmented hemispherical dome. Brunelleschi was a pioneer in using the principles of geometric optical linear perspective in architectural design. And he applied his mathematical knowledge to the design of the Old Sacristy, fusing science and art.
In 1444, Cosimo founded the first public library in Europe – the Laurentian Medici Library. The library was first housed at the Medici palace, but Michelangelo later designed a dedicated space for it adjacent to the basilica. The spectacular library contains over 3,000 manuscripts collected by the Medici family.
Piazza della Signoria
Dominated by the fortress-like structure of Palazzo Vecchio – the seat of Florentine government since the 13th century – Piazza della Signoria is the civic heart of Florence and an open-air museum of Renaissance art, which makes a visit to the piazza one of the best free things to do in Florence.
The entrance to the palace is flanked by a replica of Michelangelo’s David – the symbol of Florence, gazing toward the Uffizi Gallery located right behind the palace. To the right of David is Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus, and to the left is the imposing Neptune fountain.
To the right of the palace is the Loggia dei Lanzi – an open-air gallery originally intended as a forum for Florentine citizens to address the city. The Medici later turned the loggia into an art gallery – fine art was more important than free speech to the Renaissance rulers of Florence.
A curious bit of trivia – when you face the Loggia from the steps in front of it, you’ll see two lions flanking the stairs. The one on the left is from the Renaissance, but the one on the right is a thousand years older, dating back to Roman times.
Palazzo Vecchio
- Time to visit: 1-2 hrs
- Tickets: timed-entry tickets on the Florence Civic Museums website.
- Palazzo Vecchio and Arnolfo Tower tickets only on Tiqets
Towering over the southeast corner of the Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio looks more like a fortress than a palace. And that is because when it was built in 1299, security was much more on Florentines’ minds than refined architecture. However, the interior of the palace is anything but rugged. It is exquisitely refined.
From the Hall of the 500, where da Vinci’s painting may still be concealed behind a false wall on which Vasari painted his frescoes, to the exquisitely decorated Leo X Apartments and the Apartments of Elenora, Palazzo Vecchio is the most spellbinding of the Medici’s three palaces in Florence.
Apart from the spellbinding decor, the palace hides a network of secret passageways that you can explore on a Secret Passageways Tour. The tour is run by the official Palazzo Vecchio tour guides, who have the keys to unlock all kinds of doors at the palace. If you enjoyed the scene of Robert Langdon disappearing into a secret passage behind an ancient map painting in the Inferno movie, you’ll love this tour.
At the end of the tour, you can remain in the palace for as long as you wish. Among the treasures on display in Palazzo Vecchio, you’ll find Dante’s death mask, Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes and Michelangelo’s The Genius of Victory.
Santa Maria Novella Basilica
- Time to visit: 30 min to 1 hour
- Tickets: Entry with Audio Guide
I find the Santa Maria Novella Basilica (Basilica di Santa Maria Novella) to be Florence’s most beautiful church. Over the centuries, its interior has been decorated by works of Giotto, Duccio, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Masaccio, Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi, Vasari, Paolo Uccello and even Michelangelo.
The entire history of the Florentine Renaissance can be traced in this church, and its frescoes have inspired many artists, including da Vinci, who worked on the cartoon for his Battle of Alighieri in this church while hosted by the monks.
My favourite part of the church is the Chapel of Filippo Strozzi to the right of the altar, with Filippino Lippi’s amazing frescoes, his last works, in fact. There are also crucifixes by Giotto (at the centre of the nave) and by Brunelleschi (in the Gondi Chapel), Holy Trinity by Masaccio, Ghirlandaio’s frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel, and Brunelleschi’s pulpit from which Galileo was denounced by the church.
There is so much art by so many artists in Santa Maria Novella that it may be challenging to interpret without a guide. I highly recommend getting an audio guide with your entry ticket.
Santa Maria Novella Perfumery
Adjacent to the courtyard of Santa Maria Novella church is the most beautiful shop in Florence – Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. It was established as a pharmacy by the Dominican friars living at the monastery, and by 1381, the friars were selling rose water extract as a disinfectant, thought to be particularly useful during the plague. The friars grew their medicinal plants in their kitchen garden.
The present pharmacy dates to 1612, and it is decorated with exquisite Renaissance frescoes and a vaulted ceiling. When Catherine di Medici became the queen of France, the friars created a special perfume for her that is still sold in the store.
Surrounded by such beauty and heavenly scents, you may not be able to resist buying something from their incredibly inviting and picturesque line-up. I couldn’t.
Tip: Keep in mind that there are three branches of the shop in the city, so make sure to go to the original pharmacy on Via del Sale near Santa Maria Novella church.
Basilica of Santa Croce
- Time to visit: 30 min to 1hr
- Tickets: Timed-entry tickets
While the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella is a Dominican church, the Basilica of Santa Croce (Basilica di Santa Croce) is a Franciscan basilica dedicated to St Francis of Assisi.
Today, it is famous for being the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, including Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, Rossini, and an honorary sarcophagus of Dante, even though the poet’s remains are buried in Ravenna, where he died. Such famous dead inspired the basilica’s other name – the Temple of the Italian Glories.
Unsurprisingly, the church is decorated with Renaissance masterpieces, including frescoes by Giotto, a crucifix by Donatello, a chapel designed by Brunelleschi, and Michelangelo’s tomb designed by Vasari.
It takes some working out to figure out which sarcophagus is whose inside the church, and it’s a good idea to take a guided tour of the basilica. With a guide, not only will you know what you are looking at, but you will also learn about some of Florence’s most distinguished personalities and their historical context.
San Marco Monastery
- Time to visit: 1 hr
- Tickets: Timed-entry tickets on Tiqets.
San Marco Monastery is a stunning and peaceful escape from the buzz of Florence. The monastery forms part of what was known as the Medici Quarter, along with the Medici family home – Palazzo Medici-Ricardi and the family church – Basilica of San Lorenzo. Cosimo di Medici had a cell reserved for himself at San Marco for when he needed it as a retreat from the world.
San Marco Monastery is mainly famous for two of its former Dominican monks who became highly influential figures in Florentine art: Fra Angelico, an artist of the early Florentine Renaissance, and Savonarola, who practically brought the Florentine Renaissance to an end.
Fra Angelico’s frescoes and paintings are what bring most people to San Marco today. On the monastery’s ground floor, the Fra Angelico Museum displays a dazzling collection of his paintings and altarpieces. But that’s not all of Fra Angelica’s art at the monastery.
While living at San Marco, Fra Angelico painted frescoes in 9 of the tiny monks’ cells and a large, often copied, fresco of the Annunciation at the top of the Dormitory stairs. His most famous work is the altarpiece for San Marco that you can see in the museum.
A century later, another Dominican monk, Savonarola, became a leader of Florence, preaching against corruption in the church, extreme asceticism and the destruction of secular art and culture. In 1497, he infamously held a bonfire of the vanities into which Florence citizens tossed items of luxury, including pieces of Renaissance art.
A year later, he fell out of favour and was burned at the stake on the same spot on Piazza della Signoria where his bonfire of the vanities had burned a year earlier.
Palazzo Medici Riccardi
- Time to visit: 30 min – 1 hr
- Tickets: buy at the Palazzo
This palace is where the story of the Medici family began. If you watched the Medici TV show, this is the palace where the family lived at the time. It was home to two of the most illustrious Medici family members – Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent. This was the time of Medici’s greatest patronage of the arts, the era known as the Golden Age of Florence.
Artists like Verrocchio, da Vinci, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo were part of the Medici court in Palazzo Medici-Ricardi.
There isn’t much to see inside the palace that dates back to the Medici times, apart from the stunning Magi Chapel, famously frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1459. The frescos that cover three walls in the chapel paint the story of the procession of the three Magi on their way to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus.
Gozzoli elegantly combined the religious theme with a depiction of several members of the Medici family, including young Lorenzo and Juliano, Cosimo, and their allies like the Byzantine emperor. The frescos are absolutely exquisite, and if you visit early in the day, you might have the chapel to yourself. This is the beauty of visiting Florence in winter.
Brancacci Chapel
- Time to visit: 30 min to 1 hour
- Tickets: Florentine Civic Museums website
This stunning chapel (Cappella dei Brancacci) in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Oltrarno was considered a training school for Renaissance artists. Both Michelangelo and da Vinci studied Masaccio’s frescoes and his use of light to define the human body.
Unlike the flat light in medieval art, Masaccio painted the scenes in his frescoes as if they were illuminated by a single source of light, like the chapel’s window. By accentuating the play of light and shadow, he gave his painting a natural and realistic appearance – a technique that da Vinci later mastered like no other artist.
The frescos in Brancacci Chapel were initially designed by Masolino da Panicale, but he was shortly called away, and his 21-year-old student Masaccio did most of the painting. Although Masaccio was also called to Rome before he could finish the chapel, and Filippino Lippi completed the remaining sections.
Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens
- Time to visit: 2 hrs
- Tickets: Consider a combined ticket with the Uffizi Gallery and Boboli Gardens on the Uffizi website
- Alternatively, purchase just the Pitti Palace entry tickets.
In 1550, Cosimo I de Medici and his wife Eleanor of Toledo moved the Medici court from Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti on the southern bank of the Arno River to enjoy the fresh air of the Boboli Gardens. It is the largest and most lavish Medici palace in Florence. In later centuries, the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty occupied the palace, which succeeded the Medici in 1737, and the first Kings of unified Italy from 1865.
The entire first floor of the expansive palace is taken up by the Palatine Gallery and Royal and Imperial Apartments. These over-the-top halls house the Medici art collection, including the largest selection of paintings by Raphael in the world and works by Titian, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, and Rubens.
The palace opens up on the sprawling Boboli Gardens that take up the entire hill from the palace to the city wall. There is enough Renaissance art in the gardens to venture on a leisurely treasure hunt. Right outside the palace is the stunning Buontalenti Grotto with artificial stalactites and stalagmites and Michelangelo’s four Prisoners statues set to support the grotto’s walls (the original statues are housed in the Gallerie dell’Accademia).
Pitti Palace is enormous. As are Boboli Gardens. If you are concerned about missing great works of art, it is best to join a tour of the palace and the gardens.
But if you are not too worried about learning what is what and simply want to walk through a sumptuous palace, the most economical way of purchasing a ticket is to get a combined Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens ticket. Just make sure to hold on to it between your visits to each place. If you lose the ticket, you’ll have to pay for a new one-off ticket, and you’ll have to queue up for it.
Bargello Museum
- Time to visit: 1 hour
- Tickets: Bargello website
Located in the former prison, across the street from Badia Fiorentina church, where, according to legend, Dante saw his beloved Beatrice for the first time, the Bargello museum houses most of Florence’s statues and sculptures.
The most famous works include Donatello’s bronze David, possibly the first nude sculpture of the Renaissance, Michelangelo’s David, Apollo and Bacchus, Giambologna’s Mercurius and Ghiberti’s and Brunelleschi’s panels that they submitted for the competition to design the doors for the Baptistery.
If you are a fan of Leonardo da Vinci, don’t miss Rustici’s Anghiari Battle, which he modelled on Leonardo’s drawings for his monumental fresco for Palazzo della Signoria (now Palazzo Vecchio)
Basilica Santo Spirito
- Time to visit: 15 – 30 min
Located in a quiet corner of Oltrarno, not far from the Brancacci Chapel, the Basilica of Santo Spirito (Basilica di Santo Spirito) is the last work of the great Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi, of the Duomo Dome fame.
The exterior of the church appears rather plain – you can easily walk past without noticing it. Which is what makes it a lovely hidden gem. The interior of the church, however, is quite an impressive sight.
The space is divided into three aisles by rows of soaring columns. The geometrical symmetry of the church is set off by the uniform colours of its walls and the arched ceiling. Creamy whites, dark greys and earthy oranges accentuate the symmetry and create a particularly harmonious appearance.
In 1492, the basilica provided refuge to the young Michelangelo after his patron, Lorenzo the Magnificent, ’s untimely death. The friars allowed Michelangelo to study human anatomy by dissecting the corpses in the convent’s hospital. As a gesture of gratitude, he sculpted a wooden crucifix for the altar. After missing for over three centuries, the crucifix returned to the basilica and can now be viewed in the octagonal sacristy.
Sunset Viewpoints
Florence lies in the valley, surrounded by mountains. And the best place to watch a sunset in Florence is from one of the hills. You have two options, and both are about a 20-30 minute walk from the Duomo, across the Arno River and up a steep hill.
If you enjoy the party atmosphere, head to Piazza Michelangelo. It is a large square overlooking the city, with a replica of Michelangelo’s David and various food, drink, and souvenir stalls. There are usually street performers entertaining mostly young crowds while they wait for the sunset.
If the sight of an excited crowd makes you want to run the other way, go to Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte instead. The view here is almost the same, and instead of a party crowd, there is a beautiful medieval church here that you can visit before the 6.30 pm service. You can visit the service too and listen to the monks’ soulful singing, but you won’t be able to walk around the church during the service.
Clet’s Street Art
For a bit of a break from the Renaissance, keep an eye out for cheeky art by Clet on Florentine street signs. His artistic alterations to the road signs pop up unexpectedly here and there and always put a smile on your face. Here are a couple of signs I came across. See how many you’ll spot.
How to Get to Florence
Getting to Florence in winter is no different to any other season. You can fly to Florence airport, which is just over 9 km away from the historic city centre (a 20-minute taxi ride).
However, the most convenient way of getting to Florence is by high-speed train. Driving & parking in Florence can be a chaotic nightmare, and the high-speed trains are faster and more relaxing than flying. Direct trains from Roma Termini depart every 30 minutes, taking just over 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The easiest way to book train tickets in Italy is via the Omio app. You can show your electronic tickets to the conductor in the app – no need to print anything. And you’ll have all your train tickets in the same place, regardless of what train network you travel with.
Where to Stay in Florence in Winter
I spent almost two weeks in Florence, staying at Locanda Orchidea, and I could recommend this charming B&B highly enough. Located in a 13th-century historical palace, Torre di Donati, which may have belonged to Dante’s family, Locanda Orchidea is full of character. It is conveniently located a 5-minute stroll to Piazza del Duomo and a 10-minute stroll to Piazza della Signoria.
My room was very spacious, anchored by a large bed, a side table big enough to double up as a writing desk, a wardrobe and a lovely chest of drawers. The Tuscan theme of the room decor made it all the more inviting. I asked for a quieter room and had a lovely view of the internal courtyard and rustic rooftops from my window.
All the important things are taken care of: a comfortable bed, a good modern shower with fluffy white towels, a blow dryer and toiletries, a mini fridge and a kettle. The cleaning service left the room smelling of flowers every morning, and the automatic heating kept the room cozy and warm.
Breakfast was a delicious spread of hot bread rolls and croissants, a selection of cold meats and cheese, sweet pastries, cereal, yoghurts, juice and coffee. And the statue of Dante Alighieri in the entrance hall always reminded me of the palace’s long history.
More on Exploring Italy
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- Leonardo da Vinci in Florence: In the Footsteps of the Renaissance Master
- Walking Through Medici Florence: Palaces, Power and Art Patronage
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I stayed in Florence in July so I was so hot. A visit in the winter sounds sublime. Plus your B&B is gorgeous. Thankfully there are so many museums and churches to visit so you didn’t have to freeze.
We’re off to Florence tomorrow and so excited !!
It still looks pretty sunny in winter. I’d definitely consider coming to Florence in winter if it beats the crowds.
I dropped Florence when I had to prioritise my Italy itinerary (it’s years now). Still a bit sad about it, but maybe there will be opportunity to return.
I lived in Florence for a year and I couldn’t agree with you more! Florence is truly beautiful all year round, but the architecture truly shines during winter!
Love the cheeky street signs! I have fond memories of my visits to Florence in the summer and then the fall. There is so much to see and do and enjoy.
I have not yet visited Florence but it is high on my list. It looks so beautiful, and I definitely love the idea of visiting in winter. Fewer crowds and less oppressive weather sounds perfect!
I couldn’t agree more with your post about experiencing the enchanting beauty of Florence in winter. While many people tend to visit this mesmerizing city during the warmer months, they often overlook the unique appeal and charm it holds during the winter season.