Planning a 10-day trip for 2 in October, but could push it to November to avoid crowds. I studied abroad in Florence as an undergrad in the 1990s. It is close to my heart, and I would love to visit, but it seems overrun with tourists 12 months a year. Is there any time that it's not? If we stay in the Oltrarno is that any better these days?
We are also considering Lucca, Bologna, and an art pilgrimage to Ravenna to see the mosaics. Interests are food, art, history. All info welcome!
Believe it or not the number of tourists visiting Florence now is not much more than a decade ago, and actually the numbers are still slightly below those who were visiting Florence prior to Covid, in spite of the fact that the numbers of visitors to Italy are at the same level or higher than 2019, signaling that many visitors are discovering other parts of Tuscany and Italy and not necessarily concentrating in the usual suspects, like Florence or Rome.
It is not true that the crowds are the same 12 months a year. As you can see in the chart linked below (see the first chart), numbers increase dramatically after April and May, reach the peak in the summer months (while schools are out), to descend again when school starts. By November numbers are very low all the way through March, but as you can see April, May and October are nowhere as bad as the summer months. Obviously if you are only used to the numbers of people visiting the rural Midwest, even January will look crowded in Florence, but you are from the Bay Area, so you are used to seeing more than 10 people at once within 50 feet, so you will be ok.
https://ot.toscanapromozione.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bollettino-Toscana-2023-_annuale.pdf
Staying in the Oltrarno is an excellent idea. At the Ponte Vecchio, on via De’Guicciardini or Piazza Santo Spirito is probably not significantly different in terms of crowds, but away from those spots, especially in the San Frediano neighborhood (the westernmost in the Oltrarno) you will see no crowds.
We were in Florence in 2024 from October 30th to December 2nd (our 3rd long visit there) and stayed in San Frediano. Around the duomo was busy, but not the duomo museum and not the baptistery. The Ponte Vecchio was busy, including the area around both banks. Nowhere else was what I would call overcrowded and many places were remarkably uncrowded (for instance, the Uffizi first thing in the morning, San Miniato al Monte, the markets, the restaurants, the electric buses, the natural history museum, the pietre dure museum, Santa Maria Novella, and Santa Croce). November is a great time to go!
Ravenna has some of the most stunning mosaics I've ever seen - and there are so many of them!! It's well worth staying overnight so you aren't rushed, especially since it's a long journey for a day trip.
I enjoyed Bologna and am planning a return trip this spring, but it wouldn't make my must-see list on a 10-day trip. consider day trips from Florence - Siena and San Gimignano by bus (each is a full day), and Lucca by train (it's been reported here that you can visit Pisa and Lucca in a single day).
I would go to Florence later in October but before the clock reset to standard time (Oct 24), so you have more daylight sightseeing time, at least for most of your visit.
I had to sightsee aggressively to finish my Ravenna target list in two full days. I wanted to see all the mosaic sites and museums showing mosaics and art. I also wanted some time to walk the streets of the historic center, and I had to cut that a bit short for lack of time. I also didn't have time to go to Classis Ravenna, the history museum out in Classe. It's not far from Sant'Appolinare in Classe, one of the key mosaic sites, which I did see, so missing the museum was a disappointment.
