Living in Florence: One Year in Italy as Expats

In this episode of The Getawayz Podcast, we’re taking you to Florence, Italy. The city we called home for a year when we first moved to Europe. From navigating the bustling crowds of the Renaissance capital to discovering hidden gems off the beaten path, we share what it’s like to live and explore in Florence. Whether you’re visiting with kids, traveling with a dog, or indulging in aperitivo culture, we’ve got tips, must-sees and favorite spots to make your trip unforgettable. Grab a cappuccino (or a Negroni), and join us for an inside look at one of Italy’s most iconic cities! Read more about Florence here and here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Erin. And this is the Getaways Podcast. Today we're taking it back to the beginning. Florence. The first place we landed when we moved in 2017. And let me tell you, that day was hotter than the center of the sun.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

But it was 42, so it was like 114 degrees.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yeah, it was brutal, brutal, brutal. But I just remember getting there and just being so happy to be there, even though it was so hot and there was a lot of drama getting there. But the city is just extraordinary, and that's what we get to talk about today. I know, I'm excited. So before we jump into all of the things to do and see and eat in Florence, do you have a favorite time to go there?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Um, I do, and it would probably be January when there's no tourists.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Right. It's cold though. Um, and it does get quiet like after the Epiphany in January and into February until probably Carnivale, right? It's it's pretty quiet with tourists. But my favorite time, I think, is spring, like March, April, when everything's in bloom, and we'll talk about the gardens in a bit. But it's the weather's good, there's not a ton of, it's there's tourists, but it's not overwhelmingly so, and it is just beautiful with everything in bloom, blue skies, but still like you know, not the center of the sun, summer heat, but it just kind of is the perfect time for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

So we're always tourists when we go places, but in Florence, it's such a small city that's so compact because all the buildings are so close to each other. When it's really high tourist season, it's impossible to walk, it's impossible to do anything, and everybody's so close, it just it's it's a lot. So I don't want to be anti-tourist. I'm just saying that it's much better when it's not touristy.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Right. And when we lived there for that first year, we were literally right next door to the duomo. So we were on the Via Roma, which is the street, which is a very populated area, obviously, you know, with the Duomo being right next door, you know, there's just people constantly coming and going, which was a blessing and a curse. But it was the most incredible place to see the pomp and circumstance of Florence, like, and especially at Easter time, the the um ceremony for Easter. There were so many parades that came through the um Duomo Piazza. Um, it was sort of a lovely intro to Italian culture in terms of respective history and tradition and all of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Because we would, you know, more we wouldn't have seen that if we didn't live right there.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

No, no, not at all. And we got had a bird's eye view of it all because it was right outside the window.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

It was it was perfect once you were up there. It's just getting out and getting around sometimes was difficult. But I wouldn't have wanted to live anywhere else, right, at that moment.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Yeah, I mean, it is really I it's one of my favorite cities. I think that the amount of history and art and culture is breathtaking to me. So there's a list of the places that's on everybody's list of things you should see, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

So you've got the Duomo, you've got the Dome, the Uffizi, the Academy. Which is David. Right. Ponte Vecchio. Right, which is the bridge that um the only bridge in Florence that survived all the wars. And then Pity Palace, and then the there's it's a it's a small city that doesn't have a ton of green, but the gardens that they have are really pretty great. And should we just dive into the sort of not places that everybody doesn't talk about? Yeah. Um, so the gardens are, and that's again going back to why I like to go in spring, um, Bardini and then Boboli, which comes out, it's the the gardens attached to Pity Palace. And then up by Michelangelo, where everybody sort of congregates to watch the sunset, is right below there is the Rose Garden on one side, and on the other side is the Iris Garden. And those, oh, and then the other thing that happens in April, March or April, is the Wisteria Tunnel, which is that one Bardini. Is that where Kim Kardashian and Kanye West got married? No, that was um Fort Belvidere.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Fort Belvedere, which I love that they have great art exhibits there.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, and it's also just a really cool walk, the sort of off-the-beaten path on the opposite side on the Alto Arno.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Um, and you can sort of meander your way through these tiny little streets and go up to Fort Belvedere, which, like Aaron said, has an art exhibit, but it also has like a pretty extraordinary view of the city.

unknown 4:50

It does.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Not unlike Michelangelo.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

I loved it. I thought it was very cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yeah, and and somewhere that's I don't think it's in a lot of like the guidebooks because it is sort of off the beaten path and it's a bit of a walk.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

But you can connect that to the bubbly garden.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yeah, you gotta walk through the streets a little bit. But yeah, yeah, no, they're all very close together. I mean, even getting from there to like the Rose and Iris Garden, it's not far, it's just meandering. Yeah, you know, it's it's what I love best about Florence is walking on those tiny little streets and sort of getting lost and and seeing where they lead you. All right, but what are some of the other things that are sort of a little bit off the beaten path that you love?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

I loved because we lived there, um, I loved going to Cashine, Cashine and riding bikes. I th you can rent bikes there and ride, it's a giant, like it's the only real big park in the city, but it's it's pretty big. I'd say probably like a mile or two long.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yeah, I don't have any sense of it's big. I mean, I used to walk cash there um periodically, and it's it's nice, and they have a uh market there on weekends and ice skating in the winter. Um it goes along the Arno and so there's a pool there, an indoor pool. Yeah. Um, but it's a very large park that has a lot of different areas. It is great for dogs, it's great for kids. Um while we're while we're on that, the other place where I would walk Rex, not Rex, sorry, Cash when we live there, and then Rex after when we go back, um, is there's a little park along the Arno on the other side, like close to the um Ponte Grazie, and they're it's right along the river. In summer they tend to make it like a club, but the rest of the time it's just a big park, and we used to play there every morning. I like that. Yeah. Um, and they do have a few dog parks, but they're few and far between. So if you're there with a dog, just sort of plot out where you're staying and make sure that there's a little bit of green around because it it's not that easy to find, but the ones that are there are great.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

So I think another one of my favorite things that I don't see in like the typical do this, do this, do this is going up to Piazza Michelangelo, and the views up there are fantastic. And then there's a restaurant right across the street called La Logia.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

La Logia, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

And you can get Perativo there, and the view is like phenomenal. You can see David, not the original one, and then all of Florence behind it. It's it's we take everybody there when we were living there.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah. Well, and it's also just like the quintessential picture of Florence because you've got the David, you've got the you know, the the rooftops of all of Florence, and it's just pretty, pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

I'll put all the stuff up on the website.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Yeah, okay. Um, I think you know what one of my top things is. All right, let's hear it. I know, I know what it is. The Medici Chapel, which is a tiny little chapel on the back side of San Lorenzo. Um, and it is I mean, it's crazy. There's when you walk in, you're you go into the crypt and there's tons of relics and and you know, interesting things to see. But then when you go up to the first level and you walk into the actual chapel, it is mind-blowing. Like it is what, like, I don't even know how many stories tall, but it's just a clean view. It's got uh art everywhere, it's uh it's marble everywhere, it's just breathtaking. And so there's that main chapel, and then there's other rooms, or there's the room that um that Michelangelo was imprisoned in one of the times is there, the other one is in the church of the San Lorenzo on the other side.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Um and there's like his drawings on the wall.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah, yeah. No, it's crazy. And then and there's um Pope Leo's I'm gonna make a lot of Catholics mad because I don't know the word, but the hat that the Pope wore is in there. Um it's just, you know, it doesn't take a whole a ton of time. You could probably do it in an hour or two for sure. Um, but I think it's definitely, definitely, definitely worth your time. In talking about that too, one thing that I want to say before I forget is Florence is the place where you buy front-of-the-line tickets.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Oh. And buy tickets because things sell out months in advance.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

You have to plan.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

You have to plan and you want front of the line because if not, even if you have tickets, you could be sit standing in line for a couple hours.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah. And like, for example, at the academy where David is, I mean, you could stand out on the street in front of it, no matter what the weather is, with tickets four hours, or walk in within 15.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

But I'm not kidding. Plan at least a month to a month and a half ahead and get those tickets because they sell out.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Yeah. Um, okay, so I love both the Medici Chapel and San Lorenzo. Um, you know, it's small and it sounds weird, but the Gucci Garden is really cool. And it will again only take you about an hour. It's not expensive at all. What is like 15?

SPEAKER_01 10:06

I thought it was like four.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Oh, maybe I will have to look it up. But not expensive. You don't need a reservation there, at least we never have. No, you don't. I took my nephew and his fiancee at the time there, honestly, mostly because the weather was bad and we needed somewhere to hang out, and I didn't really know how they would feel about it. And we all enjoyed it so much more than we were expecting. And and you know, we're not like super high-fashioned people, but it's really interesting to see the perspective of which things came about, and just the exhibits are super artistic and interesting. I mean, they're yeah, it's really, it's really nicely done.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

I I agree. Dylan Dylan liked it. Yeah, he did. He liked it a lot, didn't he? I thought he did. When I went the first time, right after it opened, I thought the exhibits were crazy. Like it had all the the video stuff.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

You did you see that when you went? No, I think it was everything was different when I was there. But I mean I I was really I like it. I it there was a lot more going on the first time I went, I felt like so. Yeah, this last time in December when we were there, it definitely wasn't as impressive as the first time, but I think it's still worth a visit. And they change it out, you know, periodically. So it could be it could be even better than the time we saw it when you're there.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Okay, so there's also a museum between Via Roma and I don't know how to pronounce the street. We just call it the Rich Street because it's where all the like high-end designer stores are, but it's called Strozzi. And it is it has more not it has more modern art. And I don't mean modern art like Jackson Pollock, I mean more contemporary art.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Well, and a little bit interactive, like we did an exhibit, and they then again they switched them out periodically, but where it was asking the question of if plants are affected by emotion. And so we came in and they gave us these little plants, and we went around and we watched a horror movie, a comedy, like little pieces of a horror movie, comedy movie, and a drama. And then we went down a three-story slide. Three-story slide down the middle, and they were, you know, doing the research to to try and see if there was a connection to the way that we felt and the way that the plant reacted, which, you know, kind of fascinating, super fun for kids. I mean, we it was just a fun, it was a fun thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

I mean, I have no idea what the results were, but um and we were just there this December for Christmas, and they had like this umbrella, dancing umbrella exhibit in that main hall that was really I liked it.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Which was actually in Amsterdam, yeah, the Rick's Museum. Yeah. So, and then there's also the Palazzo Vecchio, and Palazzo Vecchio has a really kind of interesting collection of different parts and history of Florence and of a little bit of Tuscany in general. It's the palace. Right. But one of my favorite things was there was a map room, and the whole room was maps with secret doors everywhere and and you know, places that you could. We had a guide, um, but he would like show us where all the secret doors are and where you could push and open it. But it's definitely worth seeing too.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

And and and I would definitely do it with the guide because especially if you have kids, because he like really cared for Dylan's experience there. Dylan was 10 at the time, but he took him into this like back room and let him try on like some of the king's clothes, like these very royal, velvety. It was it was really cool, really good pictures.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Yeah, I got to take pictures of him sitting in the throne. And so, yeah, I mean, obviously, there are millions of things in Florence to see. I know that there's the museum pass that a lot of people get. So it just depends on what your deal is, if that makes sense for you, or if you just buy, like, because like we recommended the front of the line, you don't get that with a museum pass. So I think you just kind of have to figure out what you're looking for, what time of year you're there, and how many museums you're gonna go to. We should also talk about the Ufizi. The first time we went, we did a kid's scavenger hunt.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Oh, yeah. So if you're going with kids, what we started when Dylan was seven.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

And then we moved there when he was nine, and so and then until ten, and then we've gone back as he's a teenager, and that's a whole different story. But we did the tour in the Ufizi, it was a scavenger hunt, a self-guided scavenger hunt. It was very fun while we were there. Some other things that I think are interesting with small kids is climbing to the top at the Duomo and you get a really good view, and it it wears them out. And then when you come down, there's a gelato place right there called Eduardo's, and it's it's organic gelato, but it's literally the, in my opinion, the best gelato in town.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

There is a new thing to do in Florence that we have actually not done, and it is the Vesari Corridor. So it starts at the Palazzo Vecchio and it goes all the way to Pity Palace, and it's up, elevated, so it goes up over the river, up on um Ponti Vecchio, and you wouldn't know it was there unless you knew it was there. But it was, I think it was built in like the late 1500s. So it was closed forever because it wasn't safe. And then they decided that they were gonna reopen it in 2021, but because of COVID and whatever, it only opened this December of 2024.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah, it was the 21st it opened of 2022.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Oh, we've December gotten tickets for that.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Probably not, but but we didn't even know because it was so new. And they've now they've lined it with the self-portraits of the people that have been in the palace and other art. So it's a whole new exhibit. Um, you know, I don't know how hard it is to get tickets at this point because I'm actually not sure how many people really know about it, but it's something that I was tracking when we lived there because it was supposed to be opening and be really cool, and then obviously it got postponed and postponed. But um, Vasari Corridor, check it out.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Oh, definitely check it out. And and so back to with the kids, there's also um Galileo Museum, which is pretty interactive that was interesting for kids, don't you think?

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah, I think I think you're like the eight, nine, ten are gonna be a little bit more interesting because Dylan was bored with it later when he as he got older.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Um, but yeah, definitely, definitely interesting. And there's like a sundial out in front, so it's just kind of a place where you can you're involved in a lot of the museum.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

What else would you do if you came with kids to Florence?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Well, I think the markets are really Mercado Centrale. Centrale, yeah. I mean, it's got everything where people do their shopping, so it's got the whole like farmers market aspect to it. And then it also has um it's a big food court which has an amazing variety of food and you know, not expensive, and everybody can kind of get what they want and meet in the middle and have lunch or dinner together. But you know, just to see the the fruits and the vegetables and the cheeses and the meat, I mean it's just it's it's kind of cool to see everything be so local, so fresh, and sold right there.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

All right, so speaking of food, which is I have to say that's my favorite part of Tuscany, like the food.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah, and there are so many places. I mean, it kind of goes back to like if you're in Florence and you're trying to decide where to eat, it kind of goes back to what I said earlier about walking down the little streets and kind of getting lost and seeing where it leads you. Because you want to kind of get off the big streets and find the family-owned little mom and pop and nona, you know, um restaurants and and find the you know, the places that might not have as big of a menu, but their food is is you know, fresh and and made with made with all the Italian heart. You know, the food is is it's not super complicated. I mean, much of it is uh provincial food, and like there's a soup, the bread soup called Ribolita, which is like vegetables and beans and bread, and it is amazing. Um the cheese is the pecorino, and you can go, you can get the old or the young um that's from the area, and that's definitely worth tasting. Um, obviously, the wine you've got the Chianti, the Chianti Classic, and then the Reserva, depending on how long it's been aged. But we will we will get into uh we'll do a whole thing on wine and food in Tuscany.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

So back to food, real quick. One thing that we learned about living there was the Parativo culture, which is wonderful. We brought it to the Netherlands. Anywhere we go, we take the Peritivo culture with us.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

So Perativo is what they there's a drink and a little bit of food, and the idea is that it's to open your stomach before you have your meal. So typically the drink would be like an Aperol spritz or a prosecco or something like that, and the snacks could be anything from cheese to uh facasha, little bits of facaccia, nuts, chips, anything like that. And they have it pretty much at any restaurant that you would come encounter with. Um it's it's a blessing. I think that I can officially say that Florence is a place that that nobody should miss. It's just it's something that everybody should see. I mean, I remember walking down the streets and just looking down, thinking, oh my gosh, like Michelangelo could have walked right here. Like it's bananas to think about how much history and culture and art and life has walked through those same cobblestone roads. Like it's it's really kind of Crazy. So if you didn't get it by now, we are saying go to Florence. Florence is you can't you can't lose going to Florence. It's fantastic. And speaking of that, we are, it is January, and we are already thinking about our summer vacation. So if you guys have any suggestions of beach, European beaches that you've been to that you love or that you would like us to cover, you can send me an email at Aaron E-R-I-N at thegetaways with a z at the end instead of a s dot com.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

All right. And I'm going to post a bunch of restaurants and um all the information that we put out today on the podcast on the website, which is www.thetaways with a z dot com. All right. Well, thanks for listening. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

We will see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Bye.

unknown 20:47

Bye.