Florence is not so big, and the historical centre can be easily visited by foot, that’s the best way to enjoy the streets and the atmosphere of the city, but there is a good public transportation service which is useful to cover distances in a short time and have more time to dedicate to the city.

There are several kind of buses: the city bus is called “autobus”, the regional coaches are called “Pullman”.
Ataf buses are the city lines, and cover almost every corner of the city. In the historical centre there are also small electric buses with circular paths (Li-Nea) that can be used with the same ticket of the normal buses.

You can buy the tickets in every newsstand and tobacco shops (see the sign with the “T”) and then validate on bus; the normal ticket costs 1,20 euro and lasts 90 minutes. There are also daily tickets (5 euros), 3 day tickets (12 euros) and “carta agile”, a card with 10 tickets for 10 euros. You can also buy the ticket on the bus (just ask the driver) but the cost is higher (2 euros). The most part of the lines stops at Santa Maria Novella Station and Piazza San Marco.

For the tourists there’s City Sightseeing Tour bus service, with daily tickets and two different lines and multilingual guides that allows you to tour the city seeing the most important tourist attractions and hop on and off to visit what you want. Tickets can be bought on board.


To get out of Florence use the coaches: Lazzi, Sita and Cap. The bus station is right behind Santa Maria Novella Train Station.

To get to Florence Airport you can use the shuttle: departures every 30 minutes from 6.00 to 23.00, the shuttle will take you right in front of Santa Maria Novella Station and back. The single ticket is called "Volainbus" and costs 5 euros, 8 euros if you want the return ticket too.

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Here’s a list of the best vintage shops in Florence: here you can find clothing, jewellery, handbags, shoes and more, from the twenties to the eighties, and you can also find some incredible vintage masterpieces of the best Italian super-fashion griffes, as Gucci or Armani...
Don't forget to hang around piazza Ciompi flea market too!

Pitti Vintage – vintage clothing and accessories
Sdrucciolo dei Pitti 19/R
Florence, Italy
50125
Phone: +(39) 055 230 2676
http://www.pittivintage.com/

Beggar Len – vintage clothing
via R. Giuliani 106/R
Florence, Italy
50100
Phone: + (39) 055 417 028
+(39) 335 543 0252
http://www.beggarlen.com/

Anna – vintage jewellery (from twenties to eighties)
Borgo Allegri
50100 Firenze

Pennylane – vintage clothing and accessories (sixties and seventies)
Via Verdi 53/R
50100 Firenze
Phone: +(39) 055 248 0498
http://www.pennylanevintage.com/

Officina Vintage – vintage clothing and accessories
Boutique
Via del Giglio 41/R
50100 Florence (historical center)
Tel. +(39) 055 215 828
http://www.officina-vintage.com/

Showroom
Via F. Botticini 20
50143 Florence (Legnaia zone)
Tel./Fax +(39) 055 719 1340

Nadine Shop – vintage griffes clothing and accessories (Pierre Cardin, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Hermes, Gucci, Fendi, Ferragamo, Valentino, Pucci, Saint Laurent...)
Lungarno Acciaiuoli, 22/R
50123 Firenze
Tel.: (+39) 055 287 851
http://www.boutiquenadine.it/

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Here is my top ten tips to save some euros when visiting Florence: it's quite an expensive city for Italian standards, so let's pay attention to our wallet!

1 – save some money using the bus instead of taxi to move in Florence. Buy multiple tickets or “Carta Agile” to get 10 bus rides at the price of 8… and walk if you can, it’s free!

2- if you’re gonna visit several museums buy inclusive and multiple tickets.

3- Don’t book your visits, it usually has a charge. to avoid long waiting lines just wake up early and go in the early morning ;-)

4 – if you want to do wild shopping and you’re looking for the great Italian fashion brands, go to the outlets, the surroundings of Florence are full of outlets! (see this post for more info about Florence outlets!).

5 - take advantage of the sales: the best are in January-February and August-September. At the end of the sale season you can find up to 70% sales.

6- avoid pubs, restaurants and bars in the historical centre, they’re much expensive than the ones located in the other city neighbourhoods.

7 - Go to Happy Hours (from 18.30 to 20.00) to get drinks for less and to eat something for free.
8 – buy fresh and typical food in markets instead of shops, it’s surely cheaper and usually even the quality of products is better.

9 – if you have a car, don’t even try to drive or park in the historical (unless you have the microchip card) centre or park where’s forbidden: you’ll soon get a collection of fines, and Italian police won’t leave you in peace until you pay them, even if you live abroad.

10 – get information about special days and offers: 2 euro discount on cinemas on Wednesday, discount on museums tickets on special days, student fees (especially for architecture, arts and history students), special fees for groups.

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1 . Pizza, bread and pastries at Pugi, the best bakery in Florence. You can find Pugi at:

P.zza S. Marco 10
Tel. 055 280981

Via S. Gallo 62/R
Tel. 055 475975

Viale De Amicis 49/R
Tel. 055 669666

2 . Meat! Big bloody steaks, that’s the masterpiece of Florence, and I love it!

3 . Celebrations for San Giovanni day (saint John), June 24th. Huge fireworks and lots of people in the streets.

4 . My bike. Forget your car in Florence, if you don’t want to waste time in traffic jams use bus, bikes or feet!

5 . Air conditioning. Summer in Florence is incredibly hot...

6. Shopping and hanging around in the city markets. My favourite one is Sant’Ambrogio: fruits and vegetables, meat, clothing, shoes, books, and more…

7 . Rock Bottom Records Shop. Here I buy food for my soul: a great selection of rock ‘n’ roll, beat, garage, punk, vinyl records, both new and second-hand, at reasonable prices.

8 . A compact umbrella, the one you can store in a bag. When it starts to rain, it could last forever :-(

9 . Sales! Fashion! Shopping! Sales in Florence are a jungle but I’m a beast!

10 . A cup of tea or a cappuccino with my friends at the Caffè La Loggia in via Pietrapiana, a cool and charming cafè with the best hazelnut cappuccino in the world.

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When you have an holiday in Florence an entire year wouldn’t be enough to see all the beautiful thing of Florence.
Here’s my decalogue of the most important cultural and architectural issues that you can’t really miss in your trip to Florence: the most important museums, churches, and suggestive corners of the city.
If you are well organized you can see all those things in about 4 intensive days.

1- Uffizi museum – masterpieces of Botticelli, Giotto, Cimabue, Masaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello and many others.

2- Palazzo Pitti- it houses several minor collections in addition to those principal of the Medici family.

3- Piazzale Michelangelo – an incredibly beautiful panoramic view of Florence from the hillside, and a wonderful roman church nearby, San Miniato al Monte.

4- Market of San Lorenzo – the city market, with clothings, leather goods, typical food…

5- Galleria dell’Accademia and Michelangelo’s David… the masterpiece of Michelangelo, the statue of David, it’s here!

6- Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore – the cathedral of Florence, with the magnificent Brunelleschi dome.

7- Ponte Vecchio – how romantic! A bridge over the Arno river, sided with small ancient buildings which house traditional jewelery shops.

8- Oltrarno – a typical old neighbourhood with traditional shops, small hidden streets and beautiful fiorentine houses.

9- Santa Maria Novella church – a wonterful example of the early italian gothic style, that’s my favorite church!

10- Piazza della Signoria – probably the most famous view of Florence, with Palazzo Vecchio facing the square.

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In Florence you can find a lot of nightlife, there are several discos opened all night long, playing almost every kind of music.
Here is a list of the coolest discos of Firenze, enjoy the night!

Tenax
via Pratese, 46
The most famous disco in the city, the temple of house music. Every saturday there's "Nobody's Perfect"night, starring the most famous house djs from all over the world. Live music on Friday night with free entrance until 23.30.

Central Park
via del Fosso Macinate 2
Legendary disco club in the middle of the park Le Cascine, with open air dancefloor on summer. Dance and latin music, very popoular and crowded.

Yab
via dei Sassetti 5/R
One of the coolest disco in Firenze: very famous for the Monday hip-hop night. Opened every night except Saturday and Tuesday.

Meccanò
viale degli Olmi 1
Cool disco in Florence, playing hip hop, house and comemrcial music, also have a pretty garden for summer. 80' Dance Revival on Saturday nights.

Boston T
Viale Europa 160
That's cool! Disco, cocktail bar and restaurant, with a young and talented chef. Very chic club, sometimes here you can also meet some celebrities.

Tabasco
Piazza Santa Cecilia 3
Historical gay club in Florence, the first gay disco in Italy, when it opened in 1974. Built in the place where Dante used to meet Beatrice, it still have an original structure from 1500; here you can have drink, watch some videos, make new friendships.

Maracanà
via Faenza 4
Brazilian disco club and restaurant, very colorful and funny, with brazilian animation and samba dancers.

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