4 Day Florence Itinerary for Art & History Lovers

Stop 17:30 AM~ 2 hours

Train to Florence

We took the train from Venice to Florence, but it should be similar wherever you're coming from! Italo train runs across all major cities of Italy with multiple departures a day so you can arrange what best fits your trip. The link below shows you ALL the different ways of getting to Florence, so use this resource to compare options and prices!

Stop 312:00 PM~ 1 hour

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

Full disclaimer: we never made it inside — the line was four hours long the day we went. 😱 But the outside alone still made this one of my favorite cathedrals of our whole Italy and Spain trip. ⛪ The green, pink, and white marble and that shape are unlike anything else I've seen; it just screams Italy! Entry to the cathedral is free, but that's exactly why the line was SOOOOO long when we arrived. I would recommend booking tickets just to gaurantee entrance into the cathedral and climb the famous Duomo while you're at it!

Stop 52:30 PM~ 1 hour

Piazza della Repubblica

We found this square just by wandering around Florence, and it was the liveliest stop of our afternoon. There were live buskers performing and a cute little merry-go-round turning in the middle. This square used to be the city's original Roman forum and medieval market and the Column of Abundance in the plaza marks the literal center of Florence. 🎯

Stop 74:30 PM~ 1 hour

Ponte Vecchio

You're crossing a bridge from 1345 that's still lined end to end with goldsmiths' shops, which is why people call it the most precious bridge in the world. Look up and you'll spot the Vasari Corridor, the Medici's private crossing built above the shops in 1565. The bridge is truly one of a kind, it almost feels like you're just walking on a normal shopping street - not an actual bridge across the whole river! 👑

Stop 18:00 AM~ 1 hour

Vivoli Affogato and Gelato

Vivoli is known for their famous affogatos. The line was long when we went but moved fairly fast, took maybe 25 minutes. Perfect for those who love both coffee and ice cream 🍦 My favorite was the pistachio for its nutty flavor, and I'd definitely go back!

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Stop 311:30 AM~ 1 hour

Vasari Corridor

The Vasari Corridor is a 750-meter elevated passage built by Giorgio Vasari in 1565 above central Florence. The one-way walk starts inside the Uffizi, crosses Ponte Vecchio and exits near the Boboli Gardens. Walking the Medici family’s private route between home and their seat of power makes the city’s history feel suddenly real. Its windows open onto views of the Arno and historic center you can’t get from street level. ✨

Stop 52:30 PM~ 1 hour

Pino's Sandwiches – Salumeria Verdi

Florence is Panini capital, and a friend sent us to this family-run salumeria near Santa Croce. It's been making its own schiacciata since 1991 and builds more than thirty sandwiches to order. Plenty of the fillings are vegetarian or vegan. see the menu (opens in a new tab) Mine came crispy on the outside with really high-quality ingredients inside, and it was so delicious! I even spotted Pino himself behind the counter after all these years! 🥪

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Stop 19:00 AM~ 3 hours

Palazzo Pitti (Galleria Palatina)

One ticket here gets you five separate collections, so it's really a stack of museums folded into a single palace. The art is stunning, and rooms of completely different styles and eras follow one after another. The Palatine Gallery still hangs its paintings the dense way the Medici and Lorraine grand dukes arranged them.

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Stop 33:30 PM~ 1 hour

Gelateria La Carraia

Gelateria La Carraia sits right at the Oltrarno end of Ponte alla Carraia, the second-oldest bridge in Florence, so you eat your cone with the river in front of you. It's been scooping since 1990, and the counter runs to semifreddo cakes and zuccotti too. The house creations, the Delizie Carraia and the Opera Carraia, are what they're known for. I got a double scoop of passion fruit and key lime, and the passion fruit was SO good 🍦. I'd order it again in a heartbeat, and there was barely any wait.

Stop 18:00 AM~ 2 hours

Accademia Gallery

The Accademia is a compact Florence museum with the largest collection of Michelangelo’s sculptures in the world. Its rooms move from Michelangelo’s unfinished Prisoners to early Florentine paintings, Giambologna’s full-scale clay model and nineteenth-century plaster casts. The musical-instrument rooms give you a completely different side of the collection beyond the sculpture galleries. 🖼️

Stop 312:30 PM~ 2 hours

Osteria Pastella

Best meal we had in Florence, HANDS DOWN! The signature truffle tagliatelle gets flambéed inside a whole wheel of Grana Padano Cheese right at your table 🧀. They scrape out the melted cheese, toss the pasta through it, then bury the plate in truffle. So creamy, SOOO truffly. We also had the caprese with burrata and really good tomatoes, and I loved the little dried olive flakes on top. It's a family-run Tuscan kitchen near Santa Maria Novella that makes its pasta fresh daily and cooks over charcoal, and the room is loud and busy in the best way.

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Stop 54:30 PM~ 2 hours

Museo Nazionale del Bargello

The Bargello calls its sculpture collection the most important of the Italian Renaissance anywhere in the world, and the roll call backs that up. 🏛️ Donatello's bronze David and his Saint George live here, alongside Michelangelo's Bacchus and Brutus. Verrocchio's David is in the building too, and so is Brunelleschi's Sacrifice of Isaac. The Della Robbias, Giambologna and Cellini all show up as you go. Then the rooms keep running past sculpture into arms, textiles, enamels and ivories, ending at the ninth-century Flabellum of Tournus.