Travel & Stay

Florence was our first trip together and a big reason why we wanted to get married in Tuscany, here are some of our favorite places from that first trip if you want to recreate our first trip there:

• Buca Lapi - One of the oldest restaurants in Florence with one of if not the best bistecca alla fiorentina you can get.

• Ristorante Oliviero 1962 - Really refined takes on classic dishes, was simply amazing

• All’Antico Vinaio - Probably the most famous sandwich shop in the world with lines to boot but as much as we would love to say its overrated, it really isn’t especially the original location. Try going off peak either when they open or between typical meal times.

• La Prosciutteria Firenze - Line at Vinaio getting you down? No problem, there is another world class sandwich shop just down the street serving some ridiculous porchetta sandwiches.

• Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco - The best and we do mean the best meal we ever had in Florence (might be one of our favorites throughout all our travels in Italy). We still think about the braised wild boar over polenta and the panna cotta to this day. When we revisited this year it was just as good if not better than we remembered, if you only have one meal in Florence make sure this is it.

• Gelateria dei Neri - Amazing gelato in a really convenient area, was the first scoop we had in the city. Also right down the street from Vinaio, so if you are overheating from waiting in the line you can always just walk down here.

• Gelateria Della Passera - Now there are plenty of great gelato places in the city (and a bunch of fake ones, check out this article to know how to spot fake gelato), but this is the king of them all, absolutely perfection in a scoop. 100% worth the journey across the river to have it.

Here are some more recommendations we stumbled upon visiting last December

• Trattoria Sostanza - Old school trattoria with like 8 tables, ridiculously good and no frills. Their chicken in butter sauce is just amazing.

• Trattoria 13 Gobbi - Amazing rustic Florentine food, their rigatoni is their most famous dish (and definitely worthy of that praise).

• Bondi Le Focaccine - Hopefully you are still with us at this point because we saved the best for last. Above we gushed about All’Antico Vinaio and how amazing it was…. We would eat the sandwiches here 99/100 times over at Vinaio, not only are they incredibly cheap (~2 euro each, cash only) they are one of the most amazing things we have ever eaten in Italy. Its a hole in the wall that is super unassuming, you would never know it unless you were a local (which is why it was our wedding planner that brought us here), it comes up as a pizza place on google, but wow their focaccia sandwiches which they make right in front of you and toast in the oven are going to blow your socks off. Get the uncured sausage with whatever other toppings you want but you can honestly just order anything and it would be amazing.

There is not only food to eat in Florence so here are some of our other non-food places in the city:

• Uffizi Galleries - Absolutely beautiful art gallery that contains some of the most famous works from the Renaissance period, the gallery itself is a work of art, highly recommend.

• AquaFlor - Gorgeous and upscale scent shop, from candles to soaps to perfumes and colognes, anything to do with smell they have it and does it ever smell good.

• The Gallery Michelangelo - Florence is known for its leather goods, and this is arguably the best place to get some.

• Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore - Hard to miss it, its in the middle of the city center, we suggest getting tickets early in the day to do the walk the dome tour to get a great view of the city

• Opera del Duomo Museum - Sculpture museum containing works from some of the greatest Italian masters, last time we did this we got a ticket included with our walk the dome tour of the Duomo.

• Piazzale Michelangelo - Its a long hike up a giant hill but you are rewarded with a stunning view overlooking all of Florence, don’t worry there are bar windows along the way where you can grab an aperol spritz (not to mention a bar at the top which is definitely more expensive than the to-go places along the way)