Christmas in Florence

In the morning churches will be open. Although there will be Mass service. Some also in the evening. There are organ concerts taking place in others. Just keep your eyes open for local events taking place, as they change from year to year. The High Mass service in the Duomo on the night of the 24th will be spectacular as well. Most other places, including shops, will be closed. However many restaurants and bars are not. Just walking in the streets is like being in a museum. Florence is, after all, an open air museum.

Reserve spots in advance to climb the Duomo (very strenuous but SO worth it!).

Make reservations at Ciccalone for a romantic and special dinner one night, it's fantastic! Be sure to stop by Pizza Man for lunch one day as well - my boyfriend and I liked this better than any pizza we had in Naples!

A friend who's lived in Tuscany for decades tells me that Christmas there is a much quieter holiday than in the USA. Families get together; it's not as much of a time for partying as here. Not to say it won't be fun -- I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. You may just want to be aware of the quieter tradition.

Heading to Florence for Christmas 2016 too. Just looked into all of this. Yes, pre-book your tickets to the Uffizi and Academia. Rick Steve's recommends an official site http://firenzemusei.it for booking to avoid costly extra fees. Cost is 16.50 Euro per person. The Accademia can take less time, so we booked that for 4 pm on 23 Dec and plan to see the Duomo earlier in the day. Academia is Open until 6:50 pm on 23 December. We are going to the Duomo in the am. The uffizi is open on 24 December and I think we need a lot of time for that, so we are going in the am. Book restaurants too since you need to know if they will be open. We booked Enoteca Coquinarius for 24 December. You can book that restaurant online. Rick Steves also recommends Osteria Vini e Vecchi Sapori -- get your hotel to book that -- they have no website and no email, but get great reviews and I think it is reasonable. Not open on 24 or 25 December.

Check with Walks of Italy. We took the morning walking tour that includes the Academie and did their Uffizzi afternoon tour tickets are included and we walked right in.

There were 12 of us in the morning and only 6 in the afternoon. Marco, who was our guide both times, was very knowledgeable. I thought it was well worth the price, especially with the tickets and expedited entry.

We were there the week before Christmas. It's a great time, the crowds were small. Have a wonderful time!

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all the valuable inputs! It has only increased our excitement for our trip to Italy. I will definitely book tickets to Uffizi and Academia before hand. On 25th, since most places will be closed, we'll head to Ponte Vecchio and just walk around since Firenze is an open air museum anyway.

Thanks,
Sriporna