Florence Itinerary Help!

You need to make a spread sheet with when these places are open! Honestly, your list might be a bit repetitive, with too many museums and too many churches, especially after your time in Rome. (You will be what I call “museumed out!”) I’d take a full day or even overnight to visit Siena, a beautiful medieval town with a stunning Duomo and great shops, and views.

That said, the Accademia is off the beaten track, and small. You could easily knock that one off your list the day you get there. The best exhibits are the Michelangelo Prisoners you see in line on the way to visit David, and of course David himself. The rest of the museum pales in comparison to the Uffizi. and these exhibits. See what sounds interesting and what you have time for.

I didn’t see Piazzali Michelangelo on your list, but do Not miss it! Incredible views of Florence. You can go after the Accademia for sunset. It is on the opposite side of town, but an easy bus ride. yYiu might want to visit again in the daytime.

Instead at pushing to visit every church and museum in town, go for some experiences, like a market tour/cooking class, shopping (the stationer makes fabulous marbled paper right there), climb to the top of the duomo, visit the baptistery (the doors are all restored and on view for the first time in years!), have lots of gelato, relax and enjoy “Dolce far Niente” (the sweetness of doing nothing).

That’s my two cents worth!

Only you can decide what is most important, second most, third, etc. Read the guide books, especially the RS "Europe 101." You should also leave time to see the city & nearby areas to better imagine life in Renaissance & Baroque Florence. And of course to enjoy the 'now' town, eat & sleep.

We think the prime museums are the Uffizi & Pitti Palace (on a combined ticket with Boboli Gardens) and the Duomo Museum. Second tier would be Santa Croce, Medici Chapel, Accademia and the Bargello. Most of the museums and churches in Florence and the surrounding area of interest and worth visiting, but there are so-o-o-o many of them most people (us included) become numb & forget too much. In 1996, we did the Duomo (undergoing renovation), Baptistery, etc. Last fall, the crowds & lines there were so immense we passed this time. Except for the dome itself, the major artworks are in the museum (which was nearly empty) nearby. We repeated the Uffizi, some favorites and visited some new places. Still have much more yet to see. Next time.
A day trip to Pisa (by train) or Siena (by bus) would be a good way to take a break from packed Florence.

When I first read your plans, I started to panic because I am not nearly as organized as you. Then I remembered, my trip is my own. There are a few places I specifically want to see, but most of my time will be spent simply roaming around and exploring in an unplanned way. My point is that even if you don’t see everything on your list, you’ll see many beautiful things and you’ll be in an amazing city, so your trip is bound to be fabulous!

San Croce is worth a couple of hours. It has the tombs of Galileo, Dante, Michelangelo and Machiavelli.

Thanks all! We are artists/art historians, and while we are doing more “lay of the land” stuff in Rome and Venice, Florence’s itinerary is going to be a bit ridiculous on purpose. That said, I am including some non-art activities, they just weren’t in this list. Also, I’m not sure we’ll hit everything in this list. The point was to ask which of these things if any could be done on a Friday night after arriving by train. Thanks!

San Miniato is the perfect late afternoon/evening place to visit - it is an easy bus ride - #13 - arrive in time for vespers - 5:45pm - tour the church and enjoy the amazing views. You can then walk down to Piazzale Michelangelo for further views of the beauty of Florence and take the bus -#12 back or walk down. Depending on the time of the year you get great views - either of the colour of Florence or the evening light - sunset is spectacular.

We are artists/art historians, and while we are doing more “lay of the
land” stuff in Rome and Venice, Florence’s itinerary is going to be a
bit ridiculous on purpose.

LOL, you sound like me. I went a little ga-ga over the ridiculous riches of Florentine art. While I won't arrange an itinerary for you, you'll do much better than so many others who've allowed fewer full days to work with. Well done!

I'd keep an eye on the ticketing but if you are going in the summer (when is this trip?) the Uffizi may very well be open late on Tuesdays so you could stretch some museum-visiting time:

https://www.uffizi.it/en/notices/uffizi-open-during-summer-evenings-2019

If considering skipping anything, I'd trim the Boboli Gardens right off the top, and warn you that the Pitti can be a real time suck. Concentrate on the Palatine Galley and skip everything else: the room after room after room of stuff in that one alone can make you cross-eyed after awhile (and I'm an art geek!)

Very pleased to see Santissima Annunziata on your list! That one is so often overlooked, and the frescoes in the entry Cloister of the Votivi are wonderful, IMHO. Some additional pix and background, if you've not run into this site yet.

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Santissima-Annunziata.html

And I'll dodge the flying vegetables for this but really, the interior of the duomo was a "meh" for us so I wouldn't spend a ridiculous amount of time in the queue for that one if it's really long and time is short. The baptistry, however, is a real stunner, and the museum gets high marks as well. We weren't wowed by the Medici Chapels either: an over-the-top example of Medici excess, and Mike's female forms on "Dawn and Dusk" and "Day and Night" are, well, not his best. They're essentially muscular men with pasted-on breasts. IMHO, I'd do this one only if you have the time to spare.

Do take a gander at the sculptures on (free) Loggia dei Lanzi when you pass through Palazzo Vecchio:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Loggia_dei_Lanzi
https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-monuments/piazza-della-signoria.html

From your list:

Santa Maria Novella: yes

Accademia: yes, but could be just an hour to see the sculptures unless you love less-known medieval/Renaissance paintings like I do

San Marco: yes

Annunziata (Basilica): yes

Hospital of the Innocents: I liked it a lot but I had way more time than you do

Leonardo da Vinci Museum: didn’t see

Uffizi: yes of course and first thing in the morning, we spent most of the day there

Palazzo Vecchio: didn’t see

Bargello: yes

Galileo Museum: I didn’t see it but my husband enjoyed it

Santa Croce: yes

Duomo: I also think that it’s better outside than inside, and that the Baptistery and the Duomo museum are the things to see instead

Orsanmichele: yes

Medici Chapels: I would skip this

Mercato Centrale: lots of fun, eat there

Brancacci: yes absolutely and take binoculars

Pitti Palace: I skipped this on purpose. But it does have good special exhibits.

Boboli Gardens: I’m a gardener and found this very boring except historically. If you have to see it, walk down from the top of the hill rather than up from the bottom

Bardini Gardens and Villa: I loved the museum and the gardens will give you great views.

San Miniato: yes, absolutely
You don’t need me to add even more to your list, but I really enjoyed the tiny Benozzo Gozzoli chapel and the Palazzo Davanzati. The sandwiches at ‘Ino near the Galileo museum are really, really good --- it might be a good plan for you to eat at places like that and spend more of your time seeing the things on your list. The bakery/café S. Forno a block from the Brancacci chapel is another such place to eat --- I ate there a lot.

Yes, you could make a spreadsheet, and we do, but you could also write your places and their times on a big 5-day paper calendar that you make --- it helps to be able to see day by day what’s available. Also, of course, mark all of your places on a paper or Google map. The historic center is very small and you can do most of what you want to do. Yes, certainly you can see things between 3:30pm on Friday and dinnertime, which is at least 4 hours later.

Thank you!! I love the idea of heading up to San Miniato on our first evening there to get the views and orient ourselves!

We’ll do Uffizi and Academia in separate mornings. Does it matter if I go to either of those Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday morning?

If the little bar graphs on Google are a good indication, Tuesdays are less crowded than the weekend. But Tuesdays are busier than Wednesdays because of Mondays being closed.