Tips From Ornella: How to Spend Your Free Time in Florence

PHOTO: Michelangelo's David can be seen at Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. (Photo by David Cogswell)

There are millions of ways to experience Florence. Along with Rome and Venice, Florence is one of the Big Three cities that are the standard inclusions on most standard introductory tours of Italy. You can experience Florence through any of the various lenses of different tour operators, each packaging Florence in its own style of touring. Or you can just book a flight and go there independently and see what you run into.

Or maybe you can find an alternative that falls between.

The Globus family of brands, one of the largest operators of escorted tours in the world, offers a midpoint between highly structured escorted tours and totally independent travel in its Monograms packaged travel product.

The Monograms product essentially includes meet-and-greet at the airport, transfers to hotel, some basic tour inclusions and, importantly, local hosting and on-call assistance.

The concept of Monograms is a hosted independent travel package designed for those who want to travel on their own, as opposed to traveling with a group, but still want some professional guidance and support at the destination. The product offers not only support at the destination, but also guidance in itinerary design and purchasing decisions such as selecting hotels and other components of the trip.

Through Monograms, Globus is able to harness the tour infrastructure it has developed over several decades of tour operation, and put it at the service of independent travelers. The really golden component of the package is what is called local hosting.

It’s great to travel independently with no one bugging you go anywhere at any certain time, but it is also worth an incalculable amount to have a trusted ally and friend at the destination. That’s what Monograms provides with its local hosting.

For 2015, Monograms is offering nine packages that include Florence, such as a four-day Florence Getaway, a 10-day Rome, Florence and Venice travel package, a 13-day Venice, Florence, Rome and Taormina Riviera vacation and a 16-day London, Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome itinerary.

Any of these will take you to Florence and provide you with a local host to answer your questions and direct you to the best ways of finding what you are looking for, even if you’re not sure what you are looking for.

If you arrive at the airport in Florence on a Monograms program, you will be met at the airport, escorted to your hotel and introduced to your local host, your very own Florentine friend for a weekend, or however long the program lasts.

Ornella Colella is one of Monograms’ local hosts in Florence. Here are some of the kinds of tips she will provide if she hosts you in Florence.

Best views of the city:  From the Piazzale Michelangelo, where you can take in transcendent views of not only the city, but the surrounding hills of Settignano and Fiesole.

For a night out on the town: Check out the Santa Croce neighborhood just east of the Piazza Santa Croce. The streets around the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio and Piazza de’ Ciompi are dotted with great restaurants and bars and the nightlife hums after the sun goes down.

For a nice walk: Try the Boboli Gardens, an outdoor museum of garden sculpture from the 16th through 18th centuries.

When to go: June is the time to see Florence at its best, when the weather is heavenly and the summer crowds have not yet built up.

How to take in the surrounding country: Take a day trip into the Tuscan countryside with a two-hour train ride to Val d’Orcia, past the villages, castles and farmhouses of Tuscany. A good destination for your day trip is Pienza (the “Ideal City”) in the Chianti region, home of the wine of the same name.

Food and drink suggestions: Try a Bellini, what Ornella calls the city’s signature drink, and a plate of Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the essential Florentine dish.

Three essential places to experience Florence: the Piazza del Duomo, Galleria degli Uffizi (one of the best collections of Renaissance paintings) and the Galleria dell’Accademia – where you can see Michelangelo’s David.

When you get there, Ornella will tell you more.

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