Please sign in to post.

Short trip report for a short visit - Bologna and Florence

While we were planning our annual trip to Croatia to visit family, I checked the Hilton Team Member website and found 3 nights in Bologna €40 per night w/free parking and 4 nights in Florence €50 per night w/€10 per day parking. I grabbed them and started to plan a 7 night driving trip to Italy.

The drive from Rijeka, Croatia on a Monday morning was uneventful. It took us about 4 hours to drive to Bologna and 5 to drive back to Rijeka the following Monday.

Hotels** I would not recommend either of these Hiltons because they are just too far away from the city center. It was an approximate 20 minute cab ride each way, costing between €25-30 each time. Because of the room cost saving it was worth it for us. But, they did have great a/c during our 95+ degree week.

Bologna. After checking in, we drove up the very high hill to visit the Madonna of San Luca and Sanctuary. Thank goodness we had a car because it was just too hot to walk all the way up there. It was empty, just a few other people. We did climb up the dome but is was only a little over 100 steps. There is a tourist train which runs 5x a day.

The next day we visited
The Lamentation by Niccolo dell’Arca at the Church of Santa Maria Della Vita
The incorrupted body of St. Catherine of Bologna
St Filipino Church
Cathedral of St. Peter

We were so tired and it was so hot we decided to take the hop-on hop-off bus just to sit and cool off. The commentary was actually very interesting and enjoyable. At least for me, hubby decided to take a nap. Afterwards while we were having a lovely early dinner, the heavens opened up and down came the rain. Perfect timing. We ate verrry slooowly and the rain stopped by the time we had our coffee.
But the heat was still there. Walking under the porticos does help with the beating sun, but it was just too hot to enjoy. No place we entered had a/c. The restaurant claimed to but it was ever so weak. Many, many churches in Bologna, all beautiful inside. The city is much smaller than I thought. Oh, no lines or crowds anywhere in the city.

The next day we drove to Parma and visited a prosciutto factory. It was about an hours drive but the scenery was delightful. The tour was just 5 people. Very interesting and fun, the best smells. Of course we purchased some to bring back to Croatia.
During our drive there we saw a road sign for Castello di Torrechiara so we stopped on the drive back. Again, about 10 people there. It was signed in Italian and English and a fun diversion.
The next morning we visited the Parmigiano Reggiano Giansanti di Muzio cheese farm before our drive to Florence. Again, a fun morning, it was just us 2 on the 10:30 tour (the 8:30 tour had 6 people). More great smells and great info for our future purchases. Oh, of course we purchased cheese to go with our ham.

Posted by
4159 posts

*Florence *3.5 days
I’ll just list the places we visited with a short comment as you can look up info easily.

Academia - followed Rick’s audio guide. We had 7pm tickets but went over at 5pm. There was no line so they let us in early.

Galileo Museum - very interesting, very big, very over my head. Hubby loved it. We went at 9:30 when it opened - no line.
Uffizi - 11:00 time waited about 10 minutes, line very short. Followed Rick’s audio but he started it on the second floor so head up there immediately.
Santa Croce Church - very few people there, hubby wanted to see all the famous tombs
Palazzo Vecchio - impressive as were the statues near by

Florencetown walking tour In the Footsteps of the Medicis. Hubby is a big fan. 2.5 hours, so hot it was almost unbearable. Anyway.
Medici Chapel - again, walked right in
Baptistery and Duomo Museum - walked right in. Was able to relax and sit and reflect on those beautiful doors.
There was a very long line for the Duomo, only line we saw but we attended 5pm Mass Saturday night which was in English so we were okay.

Casa Buonarroti (Michaelangelo’s family home). No line, very interesting if you are a fan.
Pitti Palace - Royal apts still closed. Costume museum always fun. But the rest of the palace is just overloaded with art from top to bottom, every inch. Art overload for us. And the stairs, find the elevator, it saved us.
Boboli Gardens - very impressive but it was about 96 degrees and no shade. We had to leave early.

Posted by
4159 posts

A few FYI’s

Why we were here in August I don’t remember, but we were. I have to remember next trip how HOT it was. And, it seems no place except Starbucks and the Hardrock have a/c. There was some a/c units around the Pitti Palace and we practically laid over them.

It was actually too hot to eat during the day so I have no restaurant reviews. We ate dinner at the hotel each night, but

Fabulous, delicious gelato at GELATERIA SANTA TRINTA just over the bridge outside the city. Our tour guide took us there. The first time I had vanilla and apricot, the next day they didn’t have the apricot but had peach. So refreshing. So fresh. PS, it is never too hot for gelato.

We went to the Mercato Market, not for us. It’s like the food court at the mall. When I do eat, I want to have a table and be served.

The Leather School store at Santa Croce, in Rick’s book under shopping. It took us a while but we found it. Don’t go by the street number, look for the huge sign. Our tour guide did tell us the numbers do not go in any order and red is for businesses and blue/black for residents. Anyway, we found it after walking through the gate and around, across, and up the stairs. They have very expensive leathers, and less expensive leathers. I specifically wanted a navy blue belt. Don’t worry if they are too big. After paying, they will cut it down and add some extra holes. Mine was one piece of leather and costs $57. I love it. Hope I’m not sorry I didn’t buy a black one too.

Florence was relatively less crowded than we expected. Even our cab drivers said there were less tourists. We walked past the Uffizi on Sunday 2x during the day and there was no line, no one at all.
We never felt jostled or pushed or penned in. In that respect we lucked out because we didn’t wait on any lines.

Well, that’s about it. Hope it helps if you are planning a trip to Florence.

Posted by
3498 posts

Barbara, this is perfect timing as we go to both Bologna and Florence in October. I hope it has cooled off by then as we are not fans of sightseeing in super hot weather. And your right, it’s never too hot for gelato!

Posted by
948 posts

Thanks Barbara, really great TR with lots of interesting ideas, we have Bologna on our short list!