April of 2010 we will be in Florence for 5 days. Arriving from Rome at approximately 11:00AM. Staying at the Westin Excelsior. This is a sketchy itin. Please tell me if I am doing too much, too little or am I on the mark.
Day 1--Santa Maria Novella
Santa Trinita
Walk through the city center

Day 2-Mercato Centrale
Academia Gallery
San Marco
Medici Chapels
Palazzo Medici Ricciardi???

Day 3-Side trip to ??????

Day 4-Duomo
Baptistry
Opera Del Duomo
Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens
Brancacci Chapel
Piazelle Michalangelo

Day 5-
Uffizi Gallery
Piazza della Signoria
Santa Croce
Museo de Scienza

When and should I try to fit in San Lorenzo? Have I forgotten anything important? Any sights that I should omit?

How does this sound?? Thank you ahead of time

Perhaps you should get out your map and regroup a few things (although nothing is really very far in the historic center). San Lorenzo is near the Duomo and the Accademia so you might want to work it in while you are nearby.

This is personal , I would not give a penny for the Palazzo Pitti, instead I would not miss
Jl Bargello,
this amazing museum has its setting in one of the oldest buildings in Florence that dates back to 1255.Marvelous pieces of sculpture like Donaatellos 's David, and worksfrom Michael Anglo and Cellini and much more. Do not miss it !! Also alocate some time to simple sit in a cafe and savour Florence and its ambiance.

I meant to put the Bargello on my list. I would not miss it. I am getting conflicting reports about Palazzo Pitti. I may not make it a definite. What does anyone think about Palazzo Vecchio?

With 5 days you have time to venture out to San Miniato, a fabulous church set on the 'other' side of the Arno. We walked to it from the Duomo and it was a challenge. However, as we moved further away from the city centre we enjoyed the most amazing views looking back towards Florence. Plus the church itself is really beautiful. It's easy to get a bit 'churched out' in Italy, but we loved this one. The monks perform Gregorian chants at certain time of the day/week. We missed these which was a shame. It's one of my favourite memories of Florence.

hi....agreed with the feedback i.e. you may want to re-group things based on location. one idea would be to visit the duomo/baptisty on the same day. they can be part of your jaunt in to the center of town. also, florence is a city that one sees beauty and history everywhere you go....so one doesn't have to go in to in to every museum to experience what the city has to offer. definitely take time to sit at a coffee shop for the afternoon and people watch....gaze at the beauty around. a few other suggestions: check out the santo spirito area of florence especially in the evening for some local flavor. oh, give yourself some time too for the open market that is around the mercato centrale....great place for some shopping from knick-knacks to serious leather purchases. have a great visit!

The Medici Chapels are part of San Lorenzo, though the chapels have a separate entrance and fee.

Visit San Miniato while you are at Piazzale Michelangelo, since it is quite close.

Are any of your days in Florence a Monday? Some museums are closed Monday so do verify opening times.

Will speak in favor of the Pitti Palace, whose art collection I enjoyed. But definitely think Il Bargello is also a must. There should be room for both on your itinerary if you like art and sculpture. And before the Uffizi naysayers come out of the woodwork here, I say absolutely don't drop this museum from your plans.

I found the Accademia to have little compelling beyond its wonderful Michelangelo sculptures, though they're plenty enough reason to go here just by themselves. But you may find your visit here won't be especially lengthy -- if you're thinking this is an extensive museum, you'll likely be surprised.

You might want to add Fiesole to your list if you find Florence becoming too crowded/hectic.

ttt

thank you for the help. By the way, what does ttt mean? I have seen it on some threads and do not know what it is supposed to reference or how it answers questions from fellow fodorites.

ttt="to the top'. As in moving your topic to the top of the list for more comments. It makes no comment.

We just returned from Florence and have want to share a fabulous highlight for your day trip. Do take a day trip. Here's our review:
Fabulous Guide/Driver in Tuscany! We were fortunate to find Giovanni Sirabella of SunflowerTours through a recommendation from a forum post for private tours. http://www.sunflower-tours.com/index.htm
The tour was definitely the highlight of our visit to Italy and we enjoyed every minute of his carefully planned day. Mr. Sirabella is a marvelous, well-educated, interesting guide and excellent, safe driver. Although all of the tours sounded delightful, we chose the Chianti Classico. Mr. Sirabella even included several special requests we had – lunch at a reasonably priced restaurant with terrace, visit to a butcher/cheese shop, views of grape harvest, and more. He charmingly shared his extensive knowledge of the area and its culture with us, taking us to the most charming and beautiful towns, sites, and vistas. Through the day he courteously included us in the decisions about sites to visit.
Because there were four of us he brought an immaculate and very comfortable van so everyone had plenty of room. It was easy to enter and exit, had great viewing and was equipped with excellent AC.
Email communication was excellent, prompt, accurate, and appropriately detailed. [email protected]
We found his prices to be very favorable. We are so glad that we chose not to drive oursiselves, but rather enjoyed every minute of the full day in total luxury and relaxation.
My husband and I cannot recommend Sunflower Tours and Mr. Sirabella more highly—a charming, very polite gentleman and wonderful guide.
http://www.sunflower-tours.com/index.htm [email protected]

Mr. Sirabella can included San Miniato in our tour. (Itwas mentioned in the above suggestions.

Other suggestions: Be sure to make phone reservations ahead at all of the state museums(see Rick Steve's book for phone numbers.) Free, easy. You'll cruise right in and avoid long lines. I used Primus phone service for very little money.
Agree totaly with Bargello suggestion (Reservations required - easy phone ahead from US. Ask for guided tour when you get there.)

Fiesole(little town) is cheaply/easily reached in 20 minutes bus near duomo. Walk up San Francisco street for great views of Florence Eat at terrace restaurant.

Great walking tour of city centerthrough Art Viva. Save lots of money on auadioguides with audioguides downloaded from Rick Steve's website. Get cheap MP3 player if you don'thave an iPod.

Wish we were headed back.

Whether or not you do the Pitti Palace, don't miss the Boboli Gardens.

April of 2010 we will be in Florence for 5 days. Arriving from Rome at approximately 11:00AM. Staying at the Westin Excelsior. This is a sketchy itin. Please tell me if I am doing too much, too little or am I on the mark.
Day 1--Santa Maria Novella
Santa Trinita
Walk through the city center

Day 2-Mercato Centrale
Academia Gallery
San Marco
Medici Chapels
Palazzo Medici Ricciardi???

Day 3-Side trip to ??????

Day 4-Duomo
Baptistry
Opera Del Duomo
Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens
Brancacci Chapel
Piazelle Michalangelo

Day 5-
Uffizi Gallery
Piazza della Signoria
Santa Croce
Museo de Scienza

When and should I try to fit in San Lorenzo? Have I forgotten anything important? Any sights that I should omit?

How does this sound?? Thank you ahead of time

I think your day 4 is a little over loaded and spread out. Everything is close in Florence, but sometimes you don't want to be traipsing back and forth all over town. As others have said, from the Piazzale Michelangelo don't missing going up to San Miniato. And then on the walk down you can go through the San Niccolo area and perhaps into/around Santa Croce - not a bad grouping for a day.

Also - the Bardini Museum http://www.florence-journal.com/flor...penstion-.html is now open again and only open Sat., Sun., Mondays - so this may be a good Monday "to do" when the Uffizi and other museums are closed. Also the Bardini gardens are open, and you can walk up them and then over to the Boboli Gardens from there...

Very hard to say what to cut out from your plans - although depending how much you are into the art and/or religion, some of the sites may not take that much time to visit. If you have more specific questions for any one site/church please ask!

Its been a while since our visit, but hopefully they have not changed the display set up at the Pitti Palace where the rooms were furnished and the displays set up as the room would appear if you were living in the room at the time. Well worth the visit to get the feel of how the super, super rich tried to out shine the "just" super rich. If I recall the super, super rich went broke as a result and had to sell out to the super rich in the end. I was not as impressed with the Boboli gardens but we visited in Sept when things were becomming worn looking from the hot summer months. However, if you go to the Palace, do not miss the gardens especially since you are going in April when spring is in the air. Have a great trip.