Why Florence?
Dec 5th, 2002, 11:06 AM
#1
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Why Florence?
I have researched this board and your posts for great advice! Narrowing down schedule since we (husband and me) are travelling Late June - Early July 2003. Want to book rooms now. 12 days. Mostly train, car rental for Tuscany (stay between Florence and Siena)<BR>Arr Milan, to Lake Como, 2 full days<BR>to Cinque Terre, 1 1/2 day<BR>To Tuscany 4 days (we'll be in Siena for the July 2nd festival)<BR>3ish days remaining, do we head East and spend a day and half in Venice or spend more time in Tuscany & Florence? I appreciate art but can't handle museums 8 hrs straight, then again-we don't have any other major cities on the agenda? Love the idea of Venice but concerned about crowds and "disneyland on water" comment I read.<BR>Thank you and happy holidays.
Dec 5th, 2002, 11:13 AM
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If you are coming to Siena for the Palio I highly recommend either staying in the city the night before or arriving very early by bus. There is no other way to get into the city after a certain hour and all of the parking lots fill up. Be prepared for a very busy city.
Dec 5th, 2002, 12:06 PM
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Please read the following posted by Capo a few months ago...one of the best arguments for Venice I have seen on this forum...<BR><BR><BR> Capo ([email protected])<BR>Date: 06/10/2002, 04:50 pm<BR>Message: Interesting comparison, Venice as Disneyland. A beautiful and historic city in a lagoon that was once very powerful vs. an amusement park built in former orange groves in Southern California in the 1950s. A city where vaporettos ply the Grand Canal past gorgeous palazzi vs. an amusement park where boats ply a fake jungle river past fake hippos. A city with the stunning Basilica of San Marco vs. an amusement park with a Haunted Mansion ride. A city with Santa Maria della Salute vs. an amusement park with Space Mountain. A city with the expansive and impressive Piazza San Marco vs. an amusement park with the cutesy Main Street U.S.A. A city with gondoliers vs. an amusement park with people walking around in mouse costumes. <BR><BR>Yes, I can understand the comparison. 
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Dec 5th, 2002, 06:55 PM
#7
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"Chapeau" to Belinda and Capo on their their insights. IMHO there is no place like either Florence or Venice, though if I were only able to visit one, it would have to be Florence as it is more versatile. Not only can you be "museumed" out, but "churched" to death and "trattoriaed" into obesity to name just a few sins of excess possible. Ah, but what a way to go...
Dec 6th, 2002, 01:39 AM
#8
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Remember that if you are staying for the Palio, go and spend the evening of the first in the city, that is the most magical moment when all the districts racing will have a banquet in their streets (thousands of people seated in each district singing and drinking until very late), if you want to participate please let me know and I will get you the tickets for one of the dinners...
Dec 6th, 2002, 04:46 AM
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Venice _is_ Disneyland. It is not so much that is started out that way, but mass tourism has turned it into a Disneyland. Not that I have anything against tourism (or Disneyland!), but the once-proud capital city of a commercial and political empire has been turned into a temple of "what Americans, Germans, Japanese and English think Italy is" with gondola boatmen singing neapolitan songs because tourists belive that "O sole mio" is sung all across Italy and do not even know of the existance of traditional songs in Venetian, with restaurants that serve the tourist-standard meals and not polenta, fegato a la veneta, moeche, bacalà a la vicentina and sarde in saor. The population has been driven off Venice by the too high prices of houses and flats (now most of the Italian inhabitants of Venice are either aged people still benefitting of old contracts or very, very, very rich people working in the tourism business). What is left: A city whose many problems are just covered by a thin layer of glamour for the benefit of the tourists that crowd its every corner. Real italy if far from it, and it is no less beautiful, with a beauty that, despite being less glamorous, has the carm of reality. italy is not a sort of open-air art theme park. Italy is a lively country, one of the G8. Go to Treviso, Vicenza, Padova, Rovigo, check out the smaller, less famous cities. Are you afraid there will not be art? Well, there will be. If one of the main touristic attractions of Italy is a city that was bombed flat during WW2 and than rebuilt in an anonimous modern style (Pisa), if so many peple still go there, than you will not miss the thrill of art anywhere you will go.<BR><BR>So, what might all this drive E Roz to? Stay in Tuscany, or drive to Umbria or Drive to Marche, or to Emilia Romagna, forget about the big places that take up so much space in guides, and check out some real Italy. Go to Urbino, visit some national park, enjoy the sea in Capalbio or take a hike on the Alps. Or just go to the Amiata area in Tuscany. There are so many things to do and see in Italy that I would't even soend one day in either Florence and Venice.
Dec 7th, 2002, 02:52 PM
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I'd skip Cinque Terre on this trip. You give it "1 1/2 days," but you've got to factor in the travel time getting there and moving on to your next destination. That could easily add up to two 1/2 days.<BR><BR>Both Florence and Venice will be crowded at that time. Personally, I'd pick Florence and plan on excursions to Pisa/Lucca and Fiesole if you need a break from museums. Venice as Disneyland? Whoever made that comment hasn't been to Venice.
Dec 9th, 2002, 09:01 AM
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Jean:<BR><BR>I have been to Florence several times, actualy (also because it is only a few hours of train from My home). And it IS like Disneyland. Last time I went there for an exposition, the city looked like a piece of hell, had Dante lived in the XXI century he would have placed his Malebolgie in Venice. The smell was quite hellish too!
Dec 9th, 2002, 12:13 PM
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Venice and Florence are what you make of them. I found Venice to be very romantic. I loved it. Go out early in the morning when no one is out, wander the calle, etc. It is magical. There is so much more to Florence than museums and churches. I love it. I've spent a lot of time there and love it more each time I return.
Apr 21st, 2007, 04:47 PM
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I was in Florence off-season, and I had a ticket to the Ufizzi, but i hadn't found the magic of the city so I stubbornly passed on the museum and wandered the piazzas for 2 days. I just didn't like the city. It didn't help that it was November, cold, humid and grey, but also the people were very cold to us. It was one time I should have headed inside to the art. I loved Venice. I had missed major flooding by only 1 day. I didn't take a gondola ride but i took the vaporettos, and also got away from the main square and explored all the hidden bridges by foot. I also went to Burano which produced some of my best photos ever. I must return for Venice in a warmer month, The Doges, and more. So my vote is Venice, but it is of course, completely subjective.
