Florence: Piazzale Michelangelo

As I mentioned in a previous post about my holiday essentials, I am a travel guidebook obsessive and always thoroughly research places I am visiting, even if I have been there before.

One thing we missed last time Chris and I went to Florence was Piazzale Michelangelo. The piazzale is a famous square dedicated to Renaissance painter/sculptor Michelangelo. It is located in the Oltrarno district of the city and offers stunning panoramic views of the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and River Arno.

You can catch the number 12/13 bus to the top (from central Florence) and there are two potential walking routes up, one of which is apparently also easily cycled. We chose to walk up through Piazza Poggi and were so glad we did as we found ourselves in a beautiful spot we’d not known about previously, the Giardino delle Rose (Rose Garden) which is only open for 6 weeks of the year.

Wearing: Butterfly print jumpsuit c/o AX Paris, patent leather sandals from Next, Ray Ban wayfarer sunglasses via very.co.uk, ring on left-hand bought last time I was in Florence, flower ring on right hand from River Island, No7 Wild Volume lipstick in Forever Cherry from Boots.com.

Either route to the top is quite a steep climb but our walk only took about 10-15 minutes from top to bottom. We still felt the need to reward ourselves when we reached the summit though!

There are several food and souvenir stalls at the Piazzale along with a rather fancy-looking (read: expensive) restaurant. I opted for Italian ice cream (an almost daily holiday treat) in piña colada. Yes, it was as delicious as it sounds.

Piazzale Michelangelo is highly-rated on tripadvisor, coming in at the #5 thing to do in Florence and 97% of visitors would recommend it: we’d certainly agree with that.