Wow, I figured I'd be in the minority for sure, but I too feel that you can skip Florence. Patrick expresses my view exactly. There's much to see there, but I think your instincts about spending less time in cities is good.

In case you are interested in a wonderful place to stay near Pienza, I can't imagine anyplace better for a honeymoon than La Saracina. It's not in town, so you would want to be driving, but what a beautiful spot.

Take a look at this beautiful villa. It might make your decision easier. The perfect place for a honeymoon, an excellent location for seeing much of Tuscany AND getting into Florence for a day.

www.villailpoggiale.it/eng/main.htm

We stayed in their property in Florence and it was wonderful. Excellent staff.

Congratulations.

If skipping busy cities, would you consider skipping Rome? (Every time I consider going to Rome again, I manage to decide to skip it, though maybe I shouldn't.)

CMT has a good point. If skipping large, busy cities for the sake of relaxation, I'd skip Rome over Florence. There are enough pedestrian streets and quiet places to reflect in Florence without the hustle and bustle (and smog, traffic and oppression) of Rome.

I'm not suggesting that you skip anything, but I'd like to suggest you (and everyone else) read this article on Florence for comic relief:

http://travel2.nytimes.com/mem/trave...5BC0A96E958260

Here's what one family managed in four hours.

I came across it because I was researching for my trip next week.

I'll have about eight hours, and I'm thinking it's (nearly) enough. I had more time in Florence in 1999, but I didn't like it either, and for some reason, I managed to miss most of the art attractions. I'm hoping that this trip will correct some of my oversight.

Enjoy your honeymoon!

By the way, if you do go to Florence, note that Bargello is only open in the mornings (there's no way that the Times family would have managed to see it).

If you do go, look into opening hours of museums and reserve a spot in advance for the Uffizi gallery (I also made reservations for Accademia and Brancacci Chapel).

I didn't really care much for Florence myself, and I actually found the opposite of what some are saying; I found Rome to be much less hectic than Florence. Sure, they both have gobs of tourists, but Florence is much smaller and more condenced than Rome so to me it felt almost claustrophobic (and we were there in March). Sure, the city is beautiful, but once we saw the highlights we were ready to leave. I thought I would love Florence and and think only so-so about Rome, but its definitely the opposite.

I'm not saying to not go to Florence. Its all about your (and your fiance's) personal tastes. I just wanted to add that I was less than thrilled with it, although its a favorite for many. Perhaps you could stay in Chianti or Tuscany and daytrip to Florence instead of vice versa?

Tracy

Hi ep,

I would skip Rome before I skipped Florence.

However, you could do Florence as a daytrip from a small town in Tuscany and add one night to Venice.

The extra night in Venice vitiates the mortal sin of skipping Florence. :)

((I))