Travel guide Florence - Firenze

Italy has put a great deal of effort into helping farmers with a new activity: farmhouse accommodation. This activity allows to enhance and preserve the heritage, while diversifying the activities and promoting warm encounters. Rustic or luxurious, Tuscany is full of very pleasant farmhouses.

To share a typically Italian moment, it's time for anaperitivo! At around 7pm, many bars and trattorie offer, for the price of a drink, a whole range ofantipasti. This way, the broke can eat at a very reasonable cost and the smart ones will find themselves in the middle of the entertainment at the passeggiata time.

The Arno rises in the province of Arezzo and flows through Florence and Pisa, among other cities. Its banks romantically divide these two cities, with the reflection of their palaces on the river. In summer, bars and ephemeral restaurants set up shop for an aperitif by the water's edge. Numerous bridges span the Arno, the most famous being the Ponte Vecchio.

In Florence, since the 16th century, the four historical districts (Santo Spirito, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella and San Giovanni) have been fighting each other in the Calcio Storico. A brutal sport, between football, rugby and wrestling, codified in the Middle Ages. A spectacular 100% Florentine tradition that takes place every year in June in Piazza Santa Croce.

These dry, crunchy cakes are typical and originate from Tuscany. Originally, like most regional specialities, they were a poor sweet made with stale bread, sweetened, spiced and filled with almonds. To enjoy them, it is best to dip them in sweet wine(vino santo) or savour them with a coffee, it is a delight.

Born in the 19th century, Chianti, after many agricultural ups and downs, regained its nobility around 1980. There are three types of Chianti: Chianti with 80% Sangiovese (the region's main grape variety); Chianti Riserva, bottled after three years in oak barrels; and Chianti Classico, which is more elaborate and recognizable by its black rooster.

When you think of Tuscany, one of the first images that comes to mind is a landscape of hills and cypress trees. Far from being a cliché, rising to the sky from the gentle curves of the Tuscan hills, cypress trees grow on the side of the road, drawing one of the oldest landscapes in the world tamed by man.

When you think of a stay in Tuscany, you think of the dolce vita, that pleasant and unique Italian music. A desire for the good life that can be found even in the cities, in Florence and Pisa. Be prepared to chat on a street corner, to wait in a restaurant. Let yourself be carried away by this gentle hedonism.

The history of Tuscany begins with that of the Etruscans around the ninth century B.C., whose culture has left fascinating evidence. Named "Tyrrhenoi" by the Greeks (from which the sea takes its name), the Latins gave them the name "Trusci". They seem to have passed on their love of life and elegance to their descendants today.

Olive oil, raw or smoked ham, pici, cheese, truffles... The irresistibly tempting shop windows of the local grocers, real Ali Baba's caves, make you succumb to the temptation. In addition to contemplating the museums and the architectural wealth, a trip to Tuscany would not be fully authentic without tasting the local flavours.

Any visit to Florence is, more or less, a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the master of the sublime, Michelangelo. From his first works as an apprentice to the mythical David, via the sublime Tondo Doni and the Pietà sculpted for his own tomb, it is an opportunity to understand the evolution of his art. The great shadow of genius is everywhere!

The Renaissance is to Florence what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris! Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Brunelleschi...: their imprint remains immense. The Florentine Renaissance is the period that saw the birth of the most geniuses, that theorized perspective, exalted fresco, invented humanism and survived the apocalypse predicted by Savonarola.