Twenty tourists for every local. That was the rough estimate I received in May from Francesca, my guide, for the numbers you’d expect to encounter on an average day in Florence’s historic centre during high season. This Tuscan city certainly gets crowded.
This is Florence, after all – a museum director’s fever dream of astounding Renaissance art and architecture, and one of the world’s easiest cities on the eye. That can be hard to appreciate, however, if you’re of average height and mired in a lumbering herd of art-dazed sightseers.
Francesca’s recommendation was October for the best chance of good weather and fewer tourists. Fortunately, I was able to return to visit the Tuscan capital again in November and there were still a few tour groups, but I could stroll freely through the streets. The weather was a mix, as you’d expect: mostly sunny, occasionally overcast, off and on showers – cool but not cold, with distant snowy peaks drawing my attention to the Apennines for the first time.
This isn’t
