In short
Florence is small — the historic centre is crossed on foot in half an hour — and that is precisely the problem: the density of masterpieces per square metre is such that the city saturates.
The centre, between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria, holds the essentials and the crowd. The Oltrarno, the left bank beyond the Ponte Vecchio, keeps the craft workshops and a neighbourhood life. San Niccolò and Santo Spirito are its hearts.
Arriving and getting around
Florence airport is small; many arrive via Pisa, an hour away by train, or via Bologna. Santa Maria Novella station is in the centre.
Do not drive into the centre. Florence enforces a ZTL, a limited traffic zone, monitored by camera: the fines arrive by post several months later, including to foreign hire companies. Central hotels can register a plate, but you have to ask explicitly.
Everything is done on foot. The tram links the airport and the outer districts.
What it really costs
Florence is expensive in the centre and far less so as soon as you cross the Arno or move a few streets away.
The Uffizi and the Accademia must be booked in advance, with a booking fee on top of the ticket. Without a reservation, the wait runs to hours or entry is refused in high season.
When to come
March–April and October–November. Summer is stifling and saturated; the city sits in a basin and the heat stagnates.
January–February are the quietest months of the year.
What nobody tells you
The David in the Accademia is the original; the one in Piazza della Signoria is a copy installed in 1910. Many visitors photograph the copy believing they are seeing the work.
Brunelleschi's dome and Giotto's campanile are climbed separately, by narrow staircases of more than four hundred steps, with no lift. The campanile gives the view of the dome, which the dome cannot offer.
The Piazzale Michelangelo, on the southern hill, gives the overall view for nothing; it is a twenty-minute walk up from the Arno.
Stendhal syndrome — distress in the face of an accumulation of art — was described from cases observed in Florence, and also carries the name Florence syndrome.