Florence

Florence bears the weight (and the benefit) of being synonymous with the Renaissance. This attracts millions of visitors a year, almost always concentrated in the same four or five places: Uffizi, Accademia, Duomo, Ponte Vecchio. It is a small fraction of a city that remains alive outside of this itinerary.

The city that supported art.

Before being open-air museumFlorence was a banking and textile center of medieval Europe. The Medici fortune did not come from art, but from the wool trade and the banking houses that financed kings and popes. Understanding this origin changes the way we look at the city's palazzi: they were not built as monuments, but as seats of economic power.

Oltrarno and the workshops that resist

On the other side of the Arno River, the Oltrarno neighborhood preserves something that the historic center has lost to tourism: artisan workshops still in operation, many run by the same family for generations. Furniture restorers, goldsmiths, bookbinders. It's the side of Florence that continues to produce, not just exhibit.

Connection with Lucca

Florence is located at Less than an hour and a half by train from Lucca....which makes it a natural full-day destination for those staying in the province. For those considering investing or living in Tuscany, the comparison is also straightforward: Florence has a significantly more heated and internationalized real estate market than Lucca, with prices per square meter that reflect its global symbolic weight.

Planning a day trip to Florence from Lucca? Check out our... post with suggestions for a one-day itinerary.