A Long Weekend in Florence: The Offbeat Plan
Three days adds Piazza della Signoria’s free outdoor sculptures and the Oltrarno’s working artisans on top of the Duomo dome, Accademia, and Uffizi, still no rental car and no Tuscan day trip. The 2 day version trims day 3 entirely, and the 4 day plan adds Santa Croce and a hilltop sunset on top of everything here.
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Duomo complex and a lampredotto cart dinner |
| 2 | Accademia, Uffizi, and Ponte Vecchio’s real history |
| 3 | Piazza della Signoria and the Oltrarno’s workshops |
Book these before you go
- Reserve Accademia Gallery tickets , the smaller gallery, its capacity sells out first
- Reserve Uffizi Gallery tickets for the same day’s afternoon slot
- Book the Duomo dome climb , one fixed timed slot that cannot be rebooked
Day 1: The Duomo complex and a cart for dinner
Head straight for the Duomo complex first, before jet lag turns into an excuse to skip the queue-free planning: Brunelleschi’s dome climb needs a fixed timed slot booked via tickets.duomo.firenze.it , 463 steps with no lift and no rebooking once confirmed. The EUR30 Brunelleschi Pass also covers Giotto’s Campanile, the Baptistery, the crypt, and the Opera museum across 3 days, so treat today as the ticket’s first use, not its only one. For dinner, skip the sit-down trattoria and get a lampredotto panino from L’Antico Trippaio’s cart in Piazza dei Cimatori instead, EUR3.50-4, dunked in its own broth.
Day 2: Accademia, Uffizi, and Ponte Vecchio after dark
Book the Accademia for first thing in the morning, its capacity is smaller than the Uffizi’s so mornings sell out first in peak season, then move to the Uffizi in the early afternoon once the initial rush thins. Both galleries charge a EUR4 per person booking fee on top of the EUR16-20 and EUR25 tickets. In the evening, walk Ponte Vecchio for its actual history rather than its jewelry windows: goldsmiths have run these shops only since 1593, when Grand Duke Ferdinando I evicted the butchers previously there, and the Vasari Corridor still runs unseen directly overhead.
Day 3: Piazza della Signoria and the Oltrarno’s workshops
Piazza della Signoria’s open-air sculpture gallery, the Loggia dei Lanzi included, costs nothing to walk through, and the David posing there is a 1910 replica, not the original that stood on the same spot for 369 years before its move indoors. Cross into the Oltrarno after lunch for Piazza Santo Spirito, the neighborhood’s actual living room, and the working leatherworkers, goldsmiths, and bookbinders still operating storefronts along Via Santo Spirito. Detour to Zecchi on Via dello Studio if pigments and Renaissance painting technique interest you at all, it still grinds its own blu oltremare by hand. Compare hotel rates on the Oltrarno side if the workshops above sell this half of the city.
Zecchi keeps shopkeeper hours, not museum hours; check ahead rather than building an afternoon around a shop that closes for a two-hour lunch like most of its neighbors.