Norwegian Cruise Line has officially kicked off its European cruise season.
06.04.2024 - 10:27 / cntraveler.com
This is part of Off Season Italy, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Italy's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. Read more here.
Marina Cacciapuoti
Marina Serena Cacciapuoti is the co-founder and creative director of Italy Segreta, an online magazine that explores the hidden corners of the country and provides an insider’s perspective on Italian culture, travel, food, and lifestyle. Marina grew up between Rome and Florence before moving to New York in 2014, where she worked as a photo editor and designer at Vice, Condé Nast Traveler, and Hearst magazines. In 2020, she returned to Italy and launched Italia Segreta with her twin brother, Cesare. Here, she tells us the best things to do in Florence once the crowds have disappeared.
Is there a time to visit Florence when there are fewer travelers around?
Yes! November—just in time for olio nuovo (the new olive oil harvest)—through March. Avoid the week of Pitti Uomo (men’s fashion week); it’s usually held during the first week of January when Florence is overbooked and filled with peacocking fashionistas. On weekends, the streets are still crowded, but it’s mostly Italians who are visiting or coming into town. However, more and more tourists are starting to visit during the off season.
Sunset strolls and pink skies on the Ponte della Trinita
Alla Vecchia Bettola offers a rustic Florentine menu and cozy setting.
What do you love about it?
The scent of burning firewood wafting in from the surrounding countryside. There’s no humidity, no mosquitoes, and no crowds—however, we’re beginning to see a tourist influx even during this "off season."
Florentine cuisine is best enjoyed in the colder months. Think hearty soups like ribollita (stale bread and veggies that are double-boiled, double-cooked, and double-flavored); acquacotta maremmana (vegetable soup); and la farinata di cavolo nero (kale and polenta soup). Dishes such as trippa (tripe), fegatini (liver paté) and fagioli (vegetable pasta soup) are hearty and rich. Winter is also wild game season—hunting is technically permitted from the end of September until the end of January, making it the perfect time to enjoy pappardelle al cinghiale (wild boar), and attend the food fair Sagra del Cinghiale e del Tortello, which typically occurs around the end of February or early March. Regional food festivals are where you can get a feel for the comradery of small Tuscan towns and savor some exceptional food.
I also love the weekend walks outside the city center when the air is cold, and you feel the literal and metaphorical warmth of a countryside restaurant upon entering it. The winter light is clearer, starker, and crisper. Maybe we appreciate it
Norwegian Cruise Line has officially kicked off its European cruise season.
Sitting comfortably along the banks of the Arno River, Florence has been welcoming tourists since the early days of international tourism, building a global reputation that is hard to match.
With its compact size and abundance of architectural landmarks, navigating Florence is hardly a challenge.
Lonely Planet associate editor Ann Douglas Lott recently traveled through Italy aboard a vintage train, regional trains and bus. Here, she shares some tips and insights for anyone planning a similar trip.
Traveling to Europe in the summer months is a rite of passage—steamy nights spent in the south of Spain, snoozy days on the most beautiful Greek islands, breezy afternoons sipping rosé on a terrace in the South of France. But as tourism levels continue to rise after a few quiet years, and peak-season temperatures climb from Italy to Croatia, is the appeal of a big European summer holiday dwindling?
Florence has been a key destination on Italian itineraries since the Grand Tour days, when British and German aristocrats traveled through the peninsula to enrich their cultural baggage and gain status. While much has changed since the 17th and 18th centuries, the Tuscan capital remains a major draw, as proven by the thousands of people who reach the city every day.
This is part of Off Season Italy, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Italy's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. Read more here.
This is part of Off Season Italy, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Italy's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. Read more here.
This is part of Off Season Italy, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Italy's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. Read more here.
This is part of Off Season Italy, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Italy's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. Read more here.
This is part of Off Season Italy, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Italy's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. Read more here.
The delights of Italy are universal: clinking Negronis in Rome, spinning a Riva through Venice’s Grand Canal, island-hopping off the shores of Sicily, all interlaced with hefty doses of wine, mozzarella, and art. It’s this limitless allure that has travelers from all over the world descend on the boot with near insatiable fervency, and often all at the same time—at least that’s how it can feel when trying to claim an inch of the Amalfi’s rocky beachfront in July. But in arriving en masse, travelers risk muting the very thing they come to enjoy: the essence of the place, as conjured by the lifestyle that Italians pull off with aplomb.