Changing Perceptions on Sight Loss in Style
Known for its famous art, incredible food and rich heritage, Florence is undoubtedly a worthy place to visit in Italy.
If, like me, you plan to visit as a visually impaired person I wanted to make it easier for you to know how to plan the perfect trip to this jewel of Tuscany.
I’ve put together a guide of some of the things you need to know before visiting Florence:
If you’re looking for a place to stay one of the hotels I would highly recommend is the Hotel La Gemma, a luxury boutique hotel with emerald green interiors set a short way from the Uffizi Gallery.
Highlights of my stay included a seasonal menu at Luca’s, along with an in-depth mixology class and a spa treatment in the on-site spa with access to a steam room, sauna and hot tub.
The hotel is also dog friendly which certainly is a bonus if you’re planning on visiting with your guide dog and are looking for somewhere that will welcome your dog during a trip to Italy.
Once you arrive at Florence Airport reaching the city centre is pretty simple and inexpensive.
Simply turn left out of the station and walk to the tram where you board the tram to Unita – the last stop which will place you pretty central to many of Florence’s attractions as well as Firenze Santa Maria Novell station which is Florence’s busiest train station with links to Rome and Pisa.
One of the things I really love about Florence is just how walkable everything is and how easy it is to get your bearings if you use the bridge Ponte Vecchio as a reference for where you are.
Pretty much everything is within 10-20 minutes of walking distance meaning that you don’t need to rely on buses or cabs, but if you don’t feel like walking I would recommend downloading AppTaxi in advance as apps like Uber aren’t a thing in Florence.
In general, I found Florence to be one of the most disability-friendly cities I have ever visited with most of the attraction staff helpful towards me and my needs and if you book in advance for some of the attractions like Palazzo Vecchio and the Ufizzi Gallery you can also find plenty of guided tours for people with sight loss.
During my trip, I had some lovely interactions with the staff at gelato shops reading out the ice cream menus to museum staff helping me to navigate around busy queues.
If you’re a culture vulture you’ll be pleased to note that many of Florence’s attractions offer free tickets to disabled people and a companion.
During my trip, I visited all of Florence’s most famous landmarks and galleries for free meaning that I was able to explore so much of Florence’s history.
When I visited places like the Uffizi Gallery and Gallery of the Academy of Florence offer a queue jumping system where once you pick up your tickets you can skip the queue to avoid standing for long periods.
Here are some of my must-do highlights if you fancy checking out some of Florence’s history, heritage and art:
One of my personal recommendations that you must do when visiting Florence is to take a trip to the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica Di Santa Maria Novella – a 13th century perfumery first founded by Dominican friars.
This perfumery, known to be the world’s oldest perfumery, is a unique mix of history and luxurious perfumes where you can find beautiful architecture, and historical objects reflecting the history of the building and explore a range of perfume scents with one being over 490 years old.
This is a true sensory experience and was one of the highlights of my trip.
Florence is such a great city if you enjoy food and drink and some of my personal highlights include:
Wine Windows
Florence is home to plenty of wine windows all over the city, which were first opened in the 16th century and were later used during the plague to serve wine whilst social distancing.
Today you can still visit plenty of them including this one I visited which was Babae found in Via Santo Spirito.
Italian Gelato
I would also recommend trying authentic Italian Gelato at Edoardo il Gelato Biologico where you’ll find plenty of vegan and unusual flavours of Gelato.
The staff here were so incredibly friendly and helped me by reading out the entire menu with over 30 flavours and even letting me try some, let me tell you the flavours were amazing.
Wine tours
If the wine windows weren’t enough for you can also head out of Florence for a day trip into the Tuscan countryside where you get to try a variety of regional wines and foods.
A personal recommendation and the one I went with was the Half Day Chianti Winery Tour with Ciao Florence where you get a coach from Piazzale Montelungo and get to tour two Tuscan vineyards trying a range of white, red and sparkling wines.
Click here to book with Get Your Guide.
Have you visited Florence?
Add your top recommendations in the comments below
