What You Will Find on the Streets of Florence, Italy! 🇮🇹 Walking Tour & Hidden Gems

The streets of Florence are home to world-renowned architectural masterpieces, including the iconic Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, and the impressive Palazzo Vecchio. And while the big ticket items of what you'll find on the streets of Florence are pretty well known, today I thought it would be fun to walk you guys around the city and show you all the random things you can find on the streets of Florence. That is a bunch of horse poo. Don't step on this guy's thing. Just a disclaimer, I filmed this video over a few different days while I was out walking around, so please excuse the random outfit changes. If you ever wondered how they got furniture up these buildings because the staircases don't allow, they literally used this like lift ladder situation to get big stuff up there. It's wild. So the window that this is at is the room of the 500 in Palazzo Vecchio, Salone dei Cinquecento. Another thing you'll find in Florence is these fountains all over the city. They are safe to drink from, and this one right on the side of Palazzo Vecchio is super cool because it has two, but one of them is a sparkling water fountain, so you have the option of still water or sparkling. Pretty bougie. It is on the side of the Palazzo, so it's pretty fitting I guess. So you could bring your water bottles or you could just drink from the tap. That's sparkling water. While you're walking around the city admiring all there is to see, don't forget to look up because there are some cool historical gems above you, such as the flood line markings from the massive floods in 1557 and 1966 that indicate how deep the buildings were submerged in water. You can find them all throughout the city and it's insane because if I pointed to you there right now, that little white line at the top, that is how high the water was when the flood happened. All these buildings were underwater. It destroyed a lot of the city and a lot of artwork and a lot of important things that were in the city. There are also shrines to Jesus and Mary, various Dante quotes from his divine comedy, and you will also notice the Medici crest pretty much everywhere. They were the family that essentially ushered in the renaissance and were patrons of infamous artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo, and they are a major reason Florence flourished the way that it did. So you will see their crest in almost every corner of the city and on various buildings and towers. They are also responsible for the Vasari corridor that runs about a kilometer across the city and over the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and they would use it to get across the city without having to walk amongst the people. But as cool as the things above you are to look at, looking down is just as important because while there are lots of cute dogs walking around the city, there are also lots of dog droppings as well, so if you're not paying attention, you just might step in a pile of it. Other things you might step on are these art pieces that are set up all over the city. They are widely considered to be a scam, and while some of the photos are lovely, if you get caught stepping on one, unintentionally or not, the seller will make you buy it. So just be careful where you step, especially around places such as the Duomo, because those places are the trickiest since you're usually busy looking up and admiring the stunning cathedral. Don't step on this guy's thing. And while we're on the topic of the Duomo, another thing that's cool is that if they're busy restoring the outside of the cathedral, which pretty much happens 24-7 on at least one part of it, to hide the scaffolding, they print the visual of that specific part of the church on what looks like a giant piece of canvas to make it look like the actual cathedral, which is a super creative idea because then the construction doesn't mess up the visual aesthetic of the church. Also, you can pretty much see the top of the Duomo pop out from anywhere in the city, down lots of little streets and alleyways, which is super convenient if you ever get lost because then you can use it as your north star to guide you back to the center. There's so many reasons Florence is awesome, but I must say the sidewalks, not one of them. There's barely any space for your two feet, let alone another person passing you by, so just be careful when you're walking and we're back where the cars are at. And as you walk on certain streets, you will also find ancient wine windows from the 17th century, and while the majority of them are boarded up and no longer in use, there are a few spread out in the city that are still operational. Let me take you in this window with me. And you can enjoy ordering a glass of wine or a variety of other drinks through them and partake in this Florentine tradition. You are not supposed to take this as a shot, Mateo. If you want a more up-close look at which ones are open and what they serve, you can check out my wine window video where we went on an ancient bar crawl to a few different ones around the city. You will also find a lot of cool artwork randomly throughout the city, be that on shop storefront gates, the street walls, or temporary art installations that come and go. A cool thing you'll notice is that some typical street signs don't look so typical. These are designed by an artist named Klett, who decided to take these signs that he thinks are too ugly to be in a city as beautiful as Florence and give them an artistic touch. He actually has a shop and studio in the Sanse Spirito neighborhood if you wanted to take some of these home as a souvenir. Some other signs you'll see are green plus signs that are lit up, and those are pharmacies. Another sign you'll see on the street is bar. And no, it's not a typical bar. They're actually cafes. Although you can order alcohol at a number of them too. They just aren't a pub. Oh yeah, and dogs are usually allowed inside. Oh, she's so cute. Hello. You want a coffee? So funny. Today's cardboard trash day, so everyone left their cardboard out here. Just gets picked up by the truck later. If you're in Florence during August, you'll see a lot of signs like this in the shop windows saying they are closed for the Furagusto holiday, which is when Italians take time to go on holiday with their friends and family. Some shops only close for a few days, while others can be closed for the whole month. And if you're walking past a church and you want to go in, you might see a sign like this saying you have to be covered up if you want to enter. Growing up, my father owned a hardware store, like a big Home Depot, but in South Africa. It's super cool to actually be in such an old city when there are actual problems under the ground, because when you see spots open like this, they're busy changing the pipes or something, maybe the sewer line, water line, something electrical. But it's crazy to think that these lines that they're changing are probably centuries old and that they actually have to dig them up and replace them with modern equipment. So throughout the whole of Florence when you're walking around, you'll see that there's open gaps in the streets and the pipes that they're repairing you'll see are just like so ancient and they're not even rusted because I think it's before the time of even using like metal pipes. They're like, down there you see brick and like clay and it looks almost like a gully, like on the side of a building when you have your drain pipe. It's almost like that, but underground. Just a crazy cool thing that you don't really get in new cities. In front of Dante's house, which is now a museum, you will find his face imprinted on the ground outside and it's easier to see it by pouring a little water on it. There are also holocaust plaques on the ground, or stumbling stones, which are located throughout the city in front of the homes of the departed victims and they are meant to pay tribute to those lost in the horrific genocide. The bronze surfaces are engraved with the person's name, what concentration camp they were sent to, as well as the dates of their birth, capture, and death. Some cute things you'll see are older people with their wheelie shopping bags that they use to carry their groceries home. You will find leather shop after leather shop because Florence is known for leather. Also, as you're walking on the sidewalks, it's a little too easy to smack your head or shoulder into these protruding window ledges and metal guards. Thankfully, I'm tall enough that I can scoot under some of these, but if you're taller than 5'8", you're gonna smack your pimp. Another thing you're gonna find on the streets are tabacchinis, and basically here you can buy bus tickets, smokes, postcards, I mean you can do a lot of things. A lot of Italians can pay bills here, so this is kind of like the Italian convenience store. So you will find these all over the city. There are also a lot of horse-drawn carriages that offer people rides throughout the city, which also means you might see some big piles of horse droppings. There's a bunch of horse poo from the carriages. One of the coolest things walking around just these last few months of Florence is meeting people that are subscribed to the Global Expats channel, coming up and saying hello to us. It always makes our day. We just met this really sweet old couple from the Bay Area, Jerry and Glenn, and it's just so nice to meet you guys. So if you see us, please say hello. We love meeting you. Seriously, it always makes our day.