Our family met at the Florence airport on Dec. 20.My husband and I flew from JFK, one daughter flew in from CA and the other from VA. It's such a sm. airport that we had no trouble finding each other. 4 of us were able to fit into 1 cab w/ our luggage(we all travel light). Cab was 20 E.

We rented an apt. through rentvillas.com/ windowsontuscany and were delighted w/ the location(1 1/2 blocks from the Duomo). It had 2 bedrooms and 2 baths (one bedrm. and bath on the second floor), a large well-equipped(but could have used a large colander and some sharp knives) eat-in kitchen and a huge lr/dr . The dr table had 6 chairs and there were 2 sofas, an armchair and fireplace in the lr.When we arrived the apt. was immaculate. It's on the 4th flr. but there was a lift that always worked!It cost $2000 for the week.

It was cold but we bundled up and did lots of walking. A definite advantage of traveling in winter is that there were no lines at any of the musuems.Walked right into the Uffizi and Accademia. Had no reservations.Would highly recommend the museum at the Duomo. Has original models of the competition for the dome design and some of the tools (1400's) used to build it.

Don't know which one of you recommended Maxi-rentals , but thank you. We rented a car on Tues. and Wed. - a Renault Elf which was plenty big for the 4 of us. Standard shift for 40E a day w/ 200Km inc.


On TUes. drove to Cortona and Montepulciano. Cortona was really lovely-not yet touristy(at least not in Dec.) It was very windy and cold when we arrived and everything was closed from 1-4 so we just walked around and had coffee.
In Montepulciano bought some vin santo - a sweet after dinnner type wine and strolled into some of the small shops. One wine shop had a small underground musuem complete w/ Etruscan tomb.

ON Wed. we drove to LUcca where there was an outdoor market (not great) . Had lunch at a pizzeria and then drove to Pisa- again very few tourists around. I was surprised at how beautiful the tower is . Photos don't do it justice and the cathedral nearby is gorgeous-especially w/ the afternoon light shining on it.

At midnight on Christmas Eve the bells rang for about 15 min. We opened the windows in our apt. and listened to those beautiful sounds.

We had our Christmas meal at 1pm at a small osteria recommended by a friend of my daughter who lived in Florence for 3 yrs.w/ her brother who is a chef. L'Osteria dei Centopoveri on Via Palazzuolo 31r. Between the river and Piazza S. Maria Novella.(055-218-846) It's lovely, family-owned. We were the only tourists there. It was filled w/ Italian families celebrating . My husband had duck w/ a fabulous cherry sauce, I had salmon to die for, my daughters had gnocchi. It was modestly priced , beautifully presented food.

On Dec. 26, a saint's day all stores were closed- even Standa! (the supermarket that's always open). Accademia was open and so were some restaurants . In late afternoon some of the small leather shops opened.

Some other thoughts:

I must say that I find the custom of shops closing for 3 or 4 hrs. in the afternoon frustrating esp. when you are traveling to small towns and get there mid afternoon.

Florence and the other small towns we visited had very few Christmas decorations. White lights strung across the streets, a few trees in shops. We couldn't even find interesting ornaments to take home.Definitely less hype than in the US.

Renting an apt. for the week was one of the best trip decisions we made. When things were closed and we needed to warm up from our walks we went back to the apt. to read, do a puzzle, play Scrabble, catch up on the news (CNN was the only English-language channel we could get ).

We cooked several meals at the apt. I always enjoy shopping at local food markets when I travel and I enjoy cooking so it was perfect for me.

Thanks so much for the interesting trip report. You mention how much you enjoyed the location and apartment--but how about the trip in general? Did the weather and short daysmake a big difference to you? Did you do any museum going? We find we do lots of museum going in the winter--and have fewer crowds--but we miss the sunshine and particularly the longer days. How do you feel about that?

Many thanks again for the report--Buon Anno.

Robyn France

I have been in Rome for the past two Christmas seasons, and there were few decorated trees or tree ornaments for sale. The streets were beautiful with white lights strung across. The most important decorations which were found in almost all churches and many stores and homes were Nativity scenes. These were often very elaborate with the traditional figures, the Holy Family, shepherds, Wise Men, and also a complete Medieval Italian village with all the tradesmen, a waterfall,a shooting star.

We went to an exhibit of 100 Nativity scenes- very moving. Of course, we also went to Piazza Navona where we purchased figures for our own Nativity scene, now on display by our fireplace!

Hi Janice,

Lovely family GTG. Happy New Year.

Thanks for the report, Janice. Sounds like you had a lovely time.

I can agree on apartment rentals. I'll never go any other route again.

Hi Robyn,

We did do some museums- Uffizzi, Accademia, the Duomo Musuem. There were no lines at any of them. It was a real pleasure having those wonderful places almost to ourselves.

THe downside of traveling to cold places in winter was the shorter days and chilly temperatures. It was as cold in Florence as at home in NY but we bundled up and did lots of walking.THe shorter days weren't too bad b/c walking around Florence at night was beautiful w/ all of the holiday lights.