My parents are aging and trips across the pond are becoming less frequent. They still really want to see Florence and visit Christmas markets. Is Florence worth a visit in December? Thinking we could stay there 3-4 days then head north to Trento and then on to Austria. Thanks in advance for your thoughts/input.
Posted by
Green Bay
20977 posts
Florence will be a lot less crowded in December than summer prime time. Verona, Trento, and Bolzano all have great Christmas markets to visit on the way to Austria
Posted by
North Carolina
2479 posts
Certainly worthwhile! I was there briefly last December. It was pretty lively, but not quite as crowded as in the summer.
Posted by
Saint Paul, Minnesota
1534 posts
Florence is worth a visit in the hottest hell of a Florentine summer. However, it is certainly easier to visit in December. Some restaurants and shops will be closed, but there are plenty of others. Some places like the Uffizi will still be crowded in the middle of the day (however there it was mostly just crowded around the most famous paintings). We were not there as early as December 8th, but from what we've seen in other parts of Italy, you don't see Christmas things until after that day. Not like the Christmas-even-before-Halloween that you see in the U.S.!
Posted by
Rural Georgia
2181 posts
We spent 10 days in Tuscany December 2015. We had a wonderful time! The weather was nice, requiring a sweater in the morning but in the high '50s and lower '60s in the afternoon.
Since we had been to Florence before, we concentrated on the countryside, but we took an early bus into town. We took a Walks of Italy walking tour in the morning and a WOI Uffizi tour in the afternoon. We had skip the line tickets, but there was no line to the Uffizi and it was uncrowded. Florence itself was uncrowded. The Christmas decorations in Florence, Rome and other Tuscan towns were lovely.
We did see some Christmas markets in Rome, Florence, Greve and San Gimignano. Unfortunately most of the items were made in China and no different from what you can get at flea markets in the states. Still there are a few locally produced items, especially food items like cheese and honey.
We love traveling off season and December is a wonderful time to be in Italy.