If you’re about to relax and take a holiday in Tuscany this year, then here are a few options available to you. The greatest travel getaway by far and away is Florence, with it’s wonderfully domed cathedral and recognition by UNESCO as a world heritage site, and being nationally recognized by Italian’s, as the birth place of the Renaissance.

But in the high summer season Florence can become utterly over-run with tourists, which can make the experience slightly less than comfortable!

Best time of year to visit Florence, Italy

Probably the best time for you to pay a visit to Tuscany is last May through to middle/end of June.

1. The shops are all open!  – Because Italy is essentially still a nation made up of small family run businesses, called PMI, in Italian, in the month of August the businesses tend to close up for their annual holiday vacations. And so, even while you’ll find Wendy’s or Zara amenable, you won’t discover the old-school specialist shops you had probably counted on. All is not lost though, since the market of San Lorenzo provides a more than ample availability of hand-crafted leather-based merchandise and handcrafts.
2. Not super hot! – It doesn’t feel like you’re jogging in African Savannah, with a swamp degree of humidity! Florence sits in a lengthy valley that flows down to Pistoia. The truth is, during the cold months months it is possible to ski in Abetone and on the road up the mountain you can look all the way down the valley. This geographical topography results in some absolutely killer heats. Whatever heat the rest of Italy has Florence is where the combination of humidity and sun create the meltdown!
3. Superior nightlife – as everyone is still in the city you get a good mixture of folks out and about at night, from the trendy Florentine’s, to the Germans with sandals and socks, to Britons in rugby shirts tops, and American college students on their travel/study experience abroad. It’s the most multicultural time of the year for the city, and a favourite time. What’s more the bistros spill out onto the roads, pavements and piazza’s and it just fits in so well with the idea of modern Mediterranean living, that tourists have in mind.
4. Museums and Exhibitions -The museums and galleries are in full swing – because it’s not August when the retail outlets are closed and people exhaust the monument exploring opportunities much faster, the queues are much shorter in the June/July time periods. That’s not to say you are going to have the ability to just walk to the front, but the truth is you won’t be wavering in and out of consciousness in comparison to the very same experience done in August. Without exception these are the months where you will find the biggest quantity of galleries and museums available for checking out.

I hope that these 4 points of reference give some practical guidance if you’re thinking about taking a Tuscany villas holiday.

Visiting Florence in July/August

While I’ve suggested that good times to visit Florence are in earlier in the Summer months, holidays are holiday and sometimes they cannot be moved. So what’s are a few of the things you need to know if you you intend to visit the Florence during the blistering months of July and August? First of all, if you are coming from a country that has a climate for most of the year is fresh rather hot, you need to come prepared. We highly recommend that you find an apartment with air conditioning as this really will make the difference to your stay in the city, and your eventual sleeping. In the summer months you can expect that the temperature will not go down below 30C even at midnight. It’s crazy! If you are visiting Florence and are a senior do be careful going from heavily air-conditioned environments (for example restaurants at lunch) to the outside heat.

There are a couple of open-air swimming pools in Florence which can relieve the heat from and also can keep your children entertained. One thing to mention is that you must take an ID card with you to the Swimming pool. That will mean from some people taking their passport, while for others a national identity card.

• Le Costole : Piazza Berlinguer, 2, 50137 Firenze.
• Rari Nantes Florencia: Lungarno Aldo Moro, 6. Firenze

Visiting Florence during the Winter months (October, November, December/ Christmas & New Year)

Of course visiting Florence during the summer months is always going to be spectacular, but don’t exclude the end of the year also. While the days may be shorter, and much cooler, sometimes we have really great weather right up until November. There are far fewer tourists and everything is open. When moving into November and December there are a number of Florentine Markets that start up and combined with the Christmas lights it is truly a romantic city to take a short-break.