This was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. Florence’s museum and cultural events are beyond compare, but Cristina and Gianni made the experience feel like I had returned to my childhood home for a week-long visit. The apartment was centrally located, sparkling clean, and filled with wonderful amenities that aren’t available in hotels: a kitchen where every morning we made European coffee in a moka pot and every evening we ate a late night snack of olives, cheese, and bread that we had purchased at a nearby market; a washing machine; wireless internet connection (ok, so that’s available in hotels, but I still felt like I was at home); and those wonderful European-style windows that swing inward like doors. Through them we would regularly see foreign visitors and native Florentines alike as they stopped at the gelateria across the street for a scoop of Italy's most famous confection and which surely belongs to its own food group, gelato, just gelato.
Even more amazingly, Cristina was so very generous with her time and knowledge of the city. When we arrived, she had a notebook prepared with information about Florence and numerous tips about things to see and places to eat. Then she gave us several more printed pages filled with suggestions that matched the things I had expressed interest in seeing and doing but which were a less touristy, such as the Dante museum and the Mercato Centrale, Florence’s local market and upscale food court.
Grazie mille, Cristina and Gianni. Thanks so much for such a wonderful visit!