# 27 Florence in the Off-Season: A Good Idea or Not?
On overtourism in Italy and admiring art + travel advice
Italy has been in the news for being overtouristed. Daniel and I certainly ran into unpleasant masses in Rome when we visited in September and October. We avoided certain streets and skipped entering places such as the Pantheon due to long lines. The post-pandemic travel boom shows no signs of decreasing.
In his recent post Travel is Completely Different Now author
writes about the crowds his friends encountered in Italy this fall and how he and his husband Michael had similar experiences. “It can be bonkers — nothing like how these destinations are portrayed in romantic travel movies or, frankly, on Instagram.”But how bad is it in the off-season? Daniel and I recently spent 10 days in Florence and I’m here to report.
Florence in the Off-Season
Last year, Florence hosted nearly 9 million overnight visitors and 1.5 million day trippers. That is a lot for a city with less than 400,000 residents. To make the burden of tourism more bearable for residents, Florence has taken action. The city has banned golf carts and rickshaws, forbidden tour guides from using amplifiers and loudspeakers, and demanded that AirBnB hosts meet their guests in person by making lockboxes within the city’s historic center illegal. Will these good measures accomplish enough?
I was wary before I traveled to Florence. I worried that the warm memories I had of this city would be ruined by newer, less pleasant experiences. That’s always a risk when we return to places we love: The disappointment can be so great that it erases the cherished impressions from before.
What is the off-season? The city of Florence distinguishes only two seasons: high and low. The low season, or off-season, runs from November 10 to December 20 and from January 10 to February 20. The rest of the year is considered high season and comes with higher rates for museums, tours, and accommodations.
We arrived in Florence on Nov 29 and explored the city in the late afternoon. The center with its many shops was busy, but not busier than what you’d expect on Black Friday. (Yes, Black Friday sales are a thing in Europe nowadays even though nobody here celebrates Thanksgiving Day.) Daniel and I shuffled to Palazzo Vecchio, where, in 2008, we’d gone to apply for our marriage license and had to swear under oath that we were not currently under investigation for murdering the other person’s previous spouse.
The grand Piazza della Signoria in front of the palace was far from empty. There were plenty of tourists like us, wanting to absorb all the Renaissance art this city has to offer. But there was room for us all, because, like I said, the piazza was grand. We could fully enjoy Loggia dei Lanzi, the free open-air sculpture gallery, and we admired the art without feeling cramped.
The next day, we shopped for fresh produce at Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio, where we browsed the inner and outer stalls with just a few locals. Later, around noon, it took us about twenty minutes of waiting in line to get inside the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, aka the Duomo. Because they limited the amount of people inside, we had plenty of space to study Vasari’s “Last Judgement,” which was painted as a fresco on the vault of Brunelleschi’s dome.
After we left the Duomo and stood admiring the bapistry with its gilded bronze doors, two horses trotted our way. They announced some type of parade with banners, music, flags, and lots of people in costume. It was La Festa della Toscana, commemorating the anniversary of the penal reform introduced on 30 November 1786 by the Grand-duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo of Lorraine. He abolished the death penalty and burned all the torture instruments in the courtyard of the Bargello (which was still a prison at the time.)
In the following week, we walked everywhere. It wasn’t always possible to quickly cross the Ponte Vecchio or make our way from A to B at our usual pace. We often had to wait for cars to pass us in the narrow streets or could only move with the pace of the crowd. But the experience was never overwhelming and the beauty, once we arrived at our desired destination, was always worth the trouble.
One of the main reasons I travel is to spend time with beauty. Beauty sparks the idea of eternity and simultaneously asks us to reflect on our love for things that won’t last. Looking at beauty, we can experience loss and feel consoled.
Pros and Cons
The off-season pros are plenty:
Free museum entries on the 1st Sunday of the month, which is discontinued in high season. We managed to get into three museums without long waiting lines.
Reduced prices for entry tickets on all other days. For example: A combined ticket for Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, and the Boboli Gardens costs €38 in high season and €18 in low season.
Special deals. For example: On Wednesdays after 3pm you can enter the Palazzo Pitti for €5.
No need to make museum reservations in advance and pay extra for the skip-the-line tickets.
Fewer crowds wherever you go.
More choices and better deals for lodging.
Many restaurants can accommodate walk-ins.
The off-season cons are few:
Maybe it rains a day or two.
Maybe the wind after sunset is colder than totally comfortable.
Maybe you’d like the sun to set later than 5pm.
Then again, maybe not?
Travel Advice
I had the pleasure of eating lunch at Dalla Lola, a traditional trattoria in the Santo Spirito neighborhood. Go there immediately (with a reservation) if you get the chance, because an episode of National Geographic’s Tucci: The Heart of Italy was filmed here, and after it airs, you might find it harder to get a table.
Mercato Centrale is still an excellent albeit very popular place for a snack or full lunch. But if you want to shop for fresh fruit and veggies or visit a “real” market, head to Sant’Ambrogio instead, where locals chat with one another, share news, and catch up on gossip.
Don’t trust Google to take you from and to the airport. The easiest way to travel between the Amerigo Vespucci airport and the city is on the direct T2 tram. The line runs between Peretola Airport, which is the same as Amerigo Vespucci, and the stop Unità, which is in front of Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the main train station.
Fiesole, the village up the hills some 8km from Florence isn’t really worth the trip.
If you want to get away from the crowds, head to Oltrarno—the opposite side of the Arno—and walk its artisan streets. Life here appears largely as it was centuries ago.
Climb up to Piazzale Michelangelo (also on the opposite site of the Arno) for a nice city view, and climb even higher to San Miniato al Monte for some stunning views of the surrounding countryside and perhaps hear the monks chant.
Florence is a gluten-free paradise! Try the focaccia-style sandwiches at Sgrano, the croissant with roasted vegetables at Cortese, the brownie at S.Forno, the cecina (chickpea bread) at any local bakery, or anything you like at Grom. There are so many options.
Go to the Giunti Odeon bookstore and cinema and spend some time there. You won’t be sorry.
2025 is the Vatican’s Jubilee year and Rome will draw a LOT more travelers than usual. I assume some of these travelers will also want to see Florence, so keep that in mind. 2026 may be the better year for Italy. (See this NYT article on Rome’s Jubilee year.)
When traveling in Italy, it’s always a good idea to check the strikes.
Author News
My editor and I have been working on my flash fiction collection “Woman of the Hour: Fifty Tales of Longing and Rebellion.” It’s forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press in July 2025. I’m looking forward to sharing a few stories from the collection with you in the months to come.
Related Posts
If you enjoyed this post, you might also be interested in reading my other posts on Italy:
Time to Say Goodbye
I’m writing this from the sunny home of two friends in Silverlake, Los Angeles, where hummingbirds flitter between the branches of a tree I cannot name and squirrels fight over the plumpest tangerines, leaving the more sour kumquats for us humans.
I’m wishing those who celebrate Christmas a wonderful week and those for whom this period is difficult all the light they need to get through. Next week, on what’s known in the Netherlands as Second Christmas Day, I’ll be back with a more personal story on family and conflict.
All my best,
Claire
P.S. I’m filling my publication schedule for 2025 and your thoughts on this newsletter are particularly welcome at this time. Any travel subjects or destinations I should cover? Any specific writing questions? What would you like to see more or less of? You can leave a comment or send me a personal message. I’ll try to respond to all.
We're going back to Firenze the second weekend of gennaio, and I can't wait! We went last year and it was a great experience. Plus our (nice) hotel was much less expensive!
Wow. The Loggia dei Lanzi looks amazeballs.