My time is coming to an end in Florence and I am thinking ahead to my travels around Europe. I am hard pressed to pick my ten favorite spots around Firenze, oh beautiful Firenze.

Gusto Pizza has the best slice in town, Guy Fieri was there a few weeks back. In addition to making some truly AMAZING pizza, the owner is so wonderful and friendly!

Santa Croce is amazing at night and is where they set up festivals and fairs, like the international food festival and the christmas markets! At night it is also fun to sit there and people watch while Dante stares down at you disapprovingly.

The Duomo, so amazing, full of stairs and really keeps your butt in shape as you hike to the top. It is also a great help when you get lost and can look to find the dome as a marker.

Il Procopio Gelateria is amazing, the owner tells the most amazing tale of the ingredients and farms where he gets those ingredients.

San Ambrosio Market is a mixture of some of the oldest produce stalls in Firenze, fantastically friendly bakers, butchers and other food sellers along with clothing sellers.

Mercato Centrale is another fun market, a little more touristy but you can go upstairs to get a good espresso or hot chocolate and watch all of the people going through the market. The stalls around the market building are also a fun place to glance at with everything from clothes, jewelry, handbags and tourist trinkets.

Vivaldi’s gelato shoppe… Two things, French press coffee and peanut butter gelato. Just sayin’.

Piazza Della Repubblica has a beautiful carousel and a lot of good major shops. If you take the side streets you can shop at cute little boutiques.

Ganzo aperitivo is a great deal for a night out on a student budget and is a fun social affair with the students and some amazing new artists are featured.

All of the “giardini”. They are all amazing and full of plants, one thing that, sadly, the city proper is missing. I love plants and honestly the giardini were the things that kept me sane when I was missing my green space.

I still feel as though I have only explored a small fraction of what Florence has to offer but it is a beautiful city and I will miss it dearly.

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Lisa is a current student at the Vancouver Island University studying at Florence University of the Arts in Italy during the Fall 2014 term.