Florence on Foot

Written by Peter Carmel | 05 February 2010
Posted in Travel Journals - Italy- Venice to Umbria

Bidding a fond farewell to the magical city of Venice, we boarded the vaporetto waterbus loaded with all our luggage bound for the train station.  We purchased our tickets to Florence with credit cards (about $52) and waited about 2 hours in the station.  Since Venice is the beginning of the line, the cars were nearly empty, though we had reserved seats for the duration.  We could have ordered food, but we had brought snacks and drinks to tide us over for the comfortable three hour trip.  The trains are comfortable and spaciously laid out.  The WC is similar to what you would find on an airplane.  The train system in Italy is excellent, far superior to what we are used to in the USA.  It's a great way to travel through the Italian countryside.  Window seats are your best choice.

Arriving at the Florence train station, we decided we had too much luggage to walk the eight long blocks to the Hotel Panama so instead we took a taxi.  The Hotel Panama proved to be reasonably comfortable and incredibly inexpensive.  The buffet breakfast was excellent for this price point, and it goes without saying how much we appreciated unlimited cappuchios made to order.  Though we did not drive to Florence, the Panama Hotel has free parking for those who need it.  The only drawback to the Panama is the long walk to the attractions of downtown Florence. 

One of the treasures we discovered in Florence was the numerous street shopping opportunities.  It's easy to spend many hours walking through the many farmers and flea markets.  Also of interest are the several ornate medieval churches and of course the Florence duomo.

The Ufizzi Museum is a must see for eveyone visiting Florence.  Originally an immense Medici palace, every room is packed with priceless artistic treasures from the renaissance.  Such a museum is quite overwhelming and is best taken in with the aid of a guide.  We researched extensively before choosing Angela Buriani, an art historian living in Florence.   It's impossible to emphasize how important it was to be guided from gallery to gallery, with one or two works given special attention. in each room.  We came away with extensive knowledge of the artist, the history and the politics surrounding each work.  This guided tour of the Ufizzi museum was the highlight of our visit to Florence.

With our trip to Italy nearing the halfway point, we then rented a car and began the next phase of our trip driving through the Tuscan landscape.  Our next destination: Cortona and Tuscany.