Potential repeat visit to Firenze

Good plan. I have been to Florence twice and seen all that you mentioned. Also, did a day trip to Siena.

Have you been inside the Baptistry ?? Small but stunning.

The duomo museum is very nice to visit too. Last summer (2019) we spent a week in Florence and took cooking classes that were informational and a lot of fun too.

We did a Food Tour-I think it was with Walks of Italy-that was fabulous. We also enjoyed the Medici Palazzo.

Duomo Museum, Pitti Palace, Medici tombs, Or San Michele, Santo Spirito church. And you'll probably find some additional gelato flavors as well. EDIT -- I didn't get there but I understand that the Galileo Museum is also very good. (I may have the name wrong, it's a science museum located near the Uffizi and the river.)

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions! The Baptistry and the Duomo Museum were both closed to the public back in 2014, so I’ll be glad to go see those.

For me (an art lover), The Magi Chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi was a wonderful stop. "Its walls are almost entirely covered by a famous cycle of frescoes by the Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli, painted around 1459 for the Medici family" (Wikipedia)

Thanks, Janet! Hadn’t heard of that one before.

WalkAboutFlorence.com has great Day Trips - we've done their BEST OF TUSCANY TOUR and their CHIANTI WINE & FOOD SAFARI TOUR. Another option. But, don't miss the DAVID and SANTA CROCE.

hey hey inbsig
lots of suggestions here for you. i'll just add a few more.
marthasitaly.com/gardens in italy
tuscanwinetours.com different wine tours to tuscany, maybe see dario the famous butcher with tasting and lunch.
eatingeurope.com with a few different tours
eatwith.com cooking classes or dinner in a locals house.
gpsmycity.com/florence walking tours to different parts of florence
the florentine.net/shhh secret bakeries within florence
withlocals.com/florence lots of tours listed what you can do or interested in
we stopped a pedicab near the duomo for a tour around florence, charged us about 30-40E to cruise around areas we wouldn't have gone to plus he sang opera because of his studies. one of our highlights in florence, did not expect it
since you have been, so many different options to check into. just giving you different options to look for, good luck with whatever you decide. have fun and enjoy
aloha

We like the Boboli gardens. Also consider taking the bus up to Fiesole for lunch.

Sign up for an exclusive Vasari Corridor tour, and take the secluded passage between the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace that the Medici made, above the throngs on the Ponte Vecchio. It was closed in 2016, and is slated for reopening in 2021. Its walls had been lined with hundreds of self portraits from masters, but it will now display other artifacts.

Another vote for Fiesole - 25 minutes by bus and a world away from the crowds of Florence. The hilltop village predates Florence by several hundred years, and the archaelogical museum is a pleasant place for a stroll. It features one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in Italy, which I'm told is still used for summer concerts. There's a belvedere walk that skirts the hilltop and which features picture postcard views of Florence in the valley below. If you're very ambitious you can continue your walk out to Monte Ceceri and find the place, marked by a simple monument, where Leonardo and his crew performed the first experimental test flight 400 years before Kitty Hawk.
If you get tired of all the winged cherubs another excellent but underappreciated possibilitry is the National Archaelogical Museum, with some of the best exhibits of Etruscan, Roman and Egyptian artifacts I've ever seen. In any other city it would be a headliner but it suffers in relative obscurity in Florence.

More great suggestions - thanks! Fiesole, for sure. Thanks also for the reminder about the Boboli Gardens, and I see that a ticket to the Boboli also includes admission to the Bardini.

Seeing “David” at the Accademia on both of my trips to Florence remains one of my favorite travel highlights anywhere.

I'm not "scienc-y" in the least but I really enjoyed the Museo Galileo. It was a nice break if you get "arted" out, lol.

I second art-lover Janet's recommendation of the Benozzo Gozzoli chapel --- I would think even an art-hater would enjoy it.

Do visit the Bardini Museum as well as the garden.

I agree with Pam about the Science Museum, but I am "scienc-y". Of course, who wouldn't want to say that she has seen Galileo's finger?

Santa Trinita and its Sassetti Chapel in particular:
https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-churches/santa-trinita.html

Santa Maria Novella:
https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-churches/santa-maria-novella.html

Piazza della SS Annunziata...
https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-monuments/piazza-ss-annunziata.html

...and Basilica Santissima Annunziata on one side of that piazza, most specifically for its Cloister of the Votivi:
https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-churches/santissima-annunziata.html

It was under renovation last we visited Florence but Brunelleschi-designed Spedale degli Innocenti, also on that same square, is on our list for next time. It has an important and touching history as the oldest public institution in Italy and one of the first foundling homes in the world. Don't miss the famous Andrea della Robbia tondos of the swaddled bambini on the facade! I'd read someplace that children left without any identification were sometimes given the surname of ‘Innocenti’ or ‘Innocente’ and so it became a common family name in Florence and some other parts of Tuscany:
https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/innocenti-museum.html

(Use the above links just for info about the landmarks. I've no idea at this point if the visiting info (hours, entry fees, etc) are still current or will be correct by the date of your trip. Other than the piazza, best to gather that info from websites for the attractions themselves.)

Wonderful info! Now I feel the need for more time there.

An additional note about the Sassetti Chapel (Santa Trinita) I'd mentioned earlier? What's so fascinating about that one - I thought so, anyway - is that people in the scenes who were contemporaries of the artist were painted from life, as they really looked versus romanticized images. Same with the clothing they are wearing, the hairstyles, etc. There are also some illustrations of 15th-century Florence in a couple of the backgrounds. It's a snapshot of the time in paint!

Look for Lorenzo de' Medici (The Magnificent) and his 3 young sons Giuliano, Piero and Giovanni in "The Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule" scene. Anyway, do a bit of reading up on this one before you go? I loved Florence...not that you hadn't already figured that out, eh?

Wow, Kathy! I find that thrilling too, just thinking about it, and will certainly keep an eye out.

Castello dell'Imperatore, Prato (PO), Toscana, Italy

To get out of Florence is sort of interesting. I don't want to be one of those people that says "This is the real Italy." Like i have any idea what I'm talking about. I don't know real euro from any thing. Yet we got out side Florence, and got to Prato on a day trip. This is real Italy, and they don't speak anything other than Italian . Yet the food I got was the best ever, perfect, and the beer was freaken cheap..

Thanks for suggesting Prato! I see that it’s just 30 minutes by train.

I’m sure it’s extra-crowded, but I’d love to attend the annual May music and dance festival, Maggio Musicale.

Another fine suggestion, thanks!

hey hey inbsig
another town/village a train or bus ride away is pistoia. friends told me about it and it's in my saved folder.
pistoia blues festival in july.

discovertuscany.com/summer-music festivals and events
tripsavvy.com/pistoia italyheaven.com/pistoia
passion4food4fashion.com
known for plant nurseries/flowers, chocolate, cured meats and breads, market day, cafes/bars.
keeping all this on my bucket list when we can travel again and just some other options for you. good luck and enjoy.
aloha

Thanks! I see Pistoia has a hospital founded in 1277, with a very colorful Della Robbia frieze going around it. I also see that it’s pretty close to Prato. I wonder whether a Pistoia-Prato day trip would work well. This thread is so much fun - it feels as if we’re all traveling virtually together.

Ah, Pistoia, we loved Pistoia --- it was one of our only two daytrips from Florence when we stayed there for 5 weeks. 30 minutes by train and pretty much untouristed (in September 20 17) and with a pedestrian-only historical center.

If you like green and white striped 12–14th century buildings, Pistoia has at least ten.

The frescoes in the small 14th century Cappella del Tau (next to the Museo Marino Marini) were perhaps our favorite things to see and we had the chapel all to ourselves.

Thanks, Nancy! Appreciate the Pistoia details.

I'm big on Della Robbia, so I also loved that hospital in Pistoia.

Mm, yes - I just found some pictures of it:

http://www.travelingintuscany.com/engels/pistoia/ospedaledelceppo.htm
The faces are wonderfully expressive.

Be sure to visit the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, this is a magnificent museum. You can see Michelangelo’s “The Deposition.” The Synagogue is worth a visit, too. A short train ride to Pisa is also a great visit. The Ospedale degli Innocenti has a very interesting history as well. I definitely would purchase a FirenzeCard as long as you can still bypass the queue. It is a huge timesaver! Planning a trip to Florence is always fun!

Great suggestions, Spello, and welcome to the Forum! This hypothetical trip starts with flying into Pisa and spending 2 or 3 nights in Lucca, so an afternoon excursion to Pisa would probably happen then. I’m glad you mentioned the Florence Synagogue, which I’ve only seen from the outside. I would certainly want to pay it a visit.

The already mentioned Duomo Museum was my favorite. The real Baptistry doors are ten times more impressive that the copies on the Baptistry.

You don‘t mention where you will be staying. We stayed at the Casa per Ferie Suore Oblate dell‘Assunzione Borgo Pinti, a nun-operated hotel. Our cab driver said it was the best location in Florence. Especially good if you are a solo traveler.

Thanks for the suggestions, Stephen! Good to know about the Baptistry doors. As for lodging, ones I’m considering are the Hotel Dali, Hotel Balcony, Hotel Bodoni... I’ll take your suggestion under advisement also.