Florence itinerary review

It looks fine, but then I like to plan my day sparingly. You might want to keep an "if I have time" list,in case you find yourself with time on your hands. If you have an interest in early Florentine art, you might want to add in the San Marco museum,m. It was the convent where Fra Angelico painted his beautiful frescos. It is only a block north of the Accademia and can be toured in an hour or so.

Other churches you might want to add in are (1) Santa Maria del Carmine (Brancacci Chapel), for Massaccio's and Masolino's work; relatively early Rannaissance painters from the early 1400s and (2) Santa Trinita (Sassetti Chapel) for some more magnificent work by Ghirlandaio (you will see more his (and his studio's) work in Santa Maria Novella). 30-45 minutes to an hour (tops) in each of these two churches will be ample. These two churches are not small, but they are more intimate than the Duomo and Santa Maria Novella.

Before our first trip to Rome & Florence, we read The Agony and the Ecstacy, the Irving Stone biographical novel about Michelangelo and those who influenced his life and times, e.g., Lorenzo Medici, the Medici Popes, Ghirlandaio (under whom Michelangelo apprenticed as a painter), Leonardo, Botticelli and others. That read really brought to life the times and the cities, especially Florence - which Michelangelo helped defend from the Papal armies. A great read before you go to Italy.

Definitely add San Marco Museum. It's a rare opportunity to see art in its original setting.

James,

Your itinerary looks very doable. A couple of suggestions.

• Day One: this might be a good day to take your food tour if the Gregorian chants are available on another evening. We particularly liked Eating Europe's Florence Sunset Tour, especially if you are planning to get dinner anyway.That saves the morning the next day for perhaps adding the Bargello and/or the Pitti Palace.
• Day Three: Prior to climbing the Dome, I would highly recommend reading Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King. It will make the climb so much more impactful. It is an easy read and the history of the Dome is any many ways the history of the Renaissance. The Duomo museum is amazing and deserves a couple of hours. You didn't mention the Santa Reparata. Since you are going to be at the Duomo, this is worth the visit and is typically part of the ticket passes.
• Uffizi: if you decide you want to visit the Pitti Palace and/or Boboli Gardens, you can save money by purchasing these along with your Uffizi ticket. Take some time during your visit to go to the cafe. It is on a rooftop and is a great place to relax.
• Beautiful sunsets: My most amazing pictures came from the Ponte Vecchio itself. The other was from the HotelTorreguelfa: The link shows you the views. https://www.hoteltorreguelfa.com/en/torre-guelfa-florence/tower-bar/.

Hope you have a great time.

Thanks everyone. I might work on how to fit in San Marco.

Sandy, I actually agree with you, I would have liked to do a food tour later in the day. I think that's a great way to pass an evening as I always found evenings and dinner harder as a solo traveler. I even looked at the Eating Europe tour (going to take one of theirs in Rome). The thing is a lot of the evening ones bill themselves as food + wine tours and I don't drink alcohol. I don't mind obviously if it's just an option as part of the meal, but if the focus is specifically on wine, for example stops at wine vendors to specifically taste a variety of wines, it seems like it would be kind of wasted on me.