Field Report No. 02
Florence Tuscany, Italy
The David, the Duomo, Botticelli — then the food, which is the real reason to go. Hit the art early, eat late, and let the city do the rest.
Field Report
No. 02
Florence Tuscany, Italy
Worth the flight.
- Coordinates
- 43.7696° N, 11.2558° E
- Traveled
- June
- Kid-readiness
- High, if you hit the hits and bail. Ninety minutes in the Uffizi, gelato on the bridge, room to run in the piazzas.
- Where we stayed
- Hotel Indigo Florence, walkable to everything.
- The non-negotiable
- Sunset on the Osteria delle Tre Panche rooftop, Ponte Vecchio right below, the whole menu truffle. Book the terrace, not the covered room.
- What we'd skip
- The leather-jacket stalls by San Lorenzo — go to the real Mercato Centrale instead. And the climb lines for views you've already earned from the ground.
- Best season
- June, but the afternoon heat is brutal — build in a cool-off at the Giunti Odeon bookstore.
- Points & hacking
- Fly into Florence (FLR). Tuscany day trips are a 20–45 minute drive — Fiesole, Chianti.
43.7696° N, 11.2558° E
Florence is the rare city that earns its hype and then quietly out-does it at dinner. Do the art in the morning when it’s cool and the lines are short — the David, the Uffizi (ninety minutes, not four), and the Duomo dome if you booked the climb weeks ahead. Then the city is yours.
The best gelato we’ve had anywhere, full stop.
The food is the whole point. The rigatoni at Trattoria dei 13 Gobbi comes inside a hollowed parmigiano wheel, scraped and twirled at your table. Trattoria Mario is the lunch institution (cash only, go before noon), but the schiacciata at Gustapanino, eaten on the steps of Piazza Santo Spirito while the kids ran the square, we liked even more. Dessert is Vivoli, where the affogato comes through the buchetta, the old wine window cut into the wall, and La Strega Nocciola, the best gelato we’ve had anywhere, full stop.
43.7696° N, 11.2558° EWe threw JJ a birthday dinner at Al Fresco — wood-fired pizza in the Four Seasons’ eleven-acre Renaissance garden, koi pond and a playground behind the hedge. Worth the drive: Castello di Verrazzano out in Chianti for the full Tuscan lunch and four wine pours, a meal and not a tasting. Eat late, walk far, and don’t try to see all of it.
More places, scored the same way.
Browse all field reports