Florence: travel details

Where to stay

Locanda dei Poeti is a 10-minute walk from Florence's Maria Novella train station and the Duomo. Rooms include breakfast at your choice of two nearby bars. Double rooms from $33 per person; Dante Alighieri single room with private bath from $46 (www.locandadeipoeti.com).

Hotel Dante, near the Piazza Santa Croce, offers singles, doubles and triples, some with kitchenettes. Rooms from $90, including breakfast buffet (www.hotel-dante.it).

Where to eat

Hostaria il Desco offers gluten-free menus and complimentary prosecco. Fixed-price menus from $20. The Menu il Toscanaccio includes antipasto, porcini mushroom pasta, wild boar and house wine for $40 (www.ristoranteafirenze.com).

I' tozzo … di pane, on the same street as Locanda dei Poeti, has a family atmosphere with a garden out back; serves typical Tuscan fare with live jazz and blues music, with an average meal starting at around $29 (www.osteriatozzodipane.it).

What to do

Baptistry of San Giovanni: 11:15 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays and first Saturday of the month. From July 4-Sept. 28, 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. $13, which also includes access to the Crypt of Santa Reparata under the Duomo, Brunelleschi's Dome, the Museum of the Cathedral and Giotto's Bell Tower (museumflorence.com).

Museo Casa di Dante: October-March, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday; April-September, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. $5.30 (www.museocasadidante.it).

Palazzo Vecchio: Oct. 1-March 31, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday; April 1-Sept. 30, 9 a.m. to midnight Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday $13 (museicivicifiorentini.comune.fi.it).

The Bargello Museum: Where Dante's banishment was declared; now a museum specializing in Renaissance sculpture. Fresco on the second floor includes a red-robed figure thought to be Dante painted by his friend Giotto. 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except the second and fourth Monday of each month. $5.25 (www.polomuseale.firenze.it/musei/bargello).

Palagio dell'Arte della Lana: Former wool guildhall; now the headquarters of the Dante Society, with a library containing 23,000 volumes on Dante's work. 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Closed in August. Free (www.dantesca.it).