I am looking for recommendations - open sights, restaurants and where to spend our time. We are landing in Rome late night on Good Friday after a week in Portugal. We are heading to Florence via train(any advise) on Easter Sunday. We are a non-Christian family of four - one daughter is studying abroad as a college junior and the other is a high school sophomore. We leave Italy on Tuesday April 2. We do have hotels booked in both cities. We are considering going to Mass as it will be a historical event as well. All thoughts are welcome.
Posted by
San Jose, CA
1994 posts
I've not been there for the Triduum or Easter, but some of the most beautiful liturgy in Florence is at the Badia Fiorentina. (The church building is very early, around 1000 AD, but with an extensive Baroque remake; it's the liturgy, not so much the church building, that I find beautiful; however, there is a beautiful Lippi painting.) The Badia is a monastic community; as with any church service, but particularly monastic churches, you really need to plan to stay through the whole Mass, maintain silence, avoid photography, and dress modestly/appropriately... it's incredibly disruptive when people treat liturgy as a tourism event. Obviously all the other churches will also have multiple Masses. San Miniato al Monte is a really beautiful church with a stunning view over Florence; it's another monastic church/community; sunsets from there are really beautiful; it's up the mountain from the P Michelangelo.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
If you get to Florence early enough, you'll have an opportunity to see the Scoppio del Carro, Florence's traditional and highly colorful Easter morning festival/celebration. We stumbled on it by accident one year and it's one of our all-time highlights of our trips to Italy. If you Google "Scoppio del Carro" you can read all about it. As I remember, it gets going around 10 AM, and the streets around the Duomo will be packed with people.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16232 posts
The actual scoppio del carro, when the cart is lit up, is at Noon sharp, however there is a bunch of pageantry going on prior to that. So 10am is a good time to get there.