Very helpful personalised service.
An excellent holiday, with good liaison with Philippa. Lovely hotel in Florence in a super location. If hiring a car, please ask if we want automatic or manual. I was expecting an automatic!
DialAFlight and Tristan were as usual the epitome of excellence
Always more than helpful and ready to sort out problems and questions at any time
Our last minute changes due to covid were handled smoothly and professionally by Manny. Using DialAFlight made a stressful situation far less so.
Excellent service
I will not book a flight any other way from now. It was a really good experience.
Wayne was absolutely amazing in understanding exactly what our requirements were. He delivered a first class service.
As always Raj did a fantastic job especially when BA decided to delay our flight by a day! He always comes up trumps and sorts things out without any fuss.
Always a fantastic service
Really efficient service from Nathan, thank you. Florence was a dream escape. Private car pick up was extremely comfortable and timely with lots of local info from our drivers. Loved the retained 15th century features in the bedroom and elsewhere. A fabulous memorable escape to a different world - and one which Covid-wise, felt safer than England!
Excellent, efficient support from Tristan.
It is bad that Vueling cancelled our flight out with three hours notice for a reason they had known for 24 hours. But that was not your fault.
We always use DialAFlight and recommend our friends to do the same
Would highly recommend to my friends and family. Jasper was very helpful throughout booking and in the run up to my holiday. Will use again.
A very good service and team so helpful and friendly. However Vueling they left all the passengers luggage in Florence third flight that day and ruined all the passengers holiday, mine and my friend's included..
Brilliant thanks
Great service.
Many thanks - we had a great time.
Vueling flights delayed both ways.
Have been using DialAFlight for over 15 years. I always receive an excellent service, very attentive and personalised. I often get a phone call before a flight to make sure everything is OK. Will be a customer for a long time to come!
Excellent service from Amy as ever
We were impressed with the excellent organisation and information provided by your company.
Well done again!
Florence Airport is HELL! And our suitcases were left off the return Vueling flight. Our stay at the Pitti Palace Hotel was excellent.
Chris was exceptional and provided brilliant service throughout
Car hire was not good - very slow and inefficient. But nothing to do with DialAFlight
Lovely people. Did what they said they would do. Can't ask for more.
I really appreciated the support I got when I recently missed my flight. They were excellent booking new flights and providing support and advice.
I have recommended your services to friends and one of them just recently used you for her holiday to Thailand....she too was very happy! I will certainly continue to call for help and advice as very much appreciated.
Florence is a feast for the eyes, with art and wonders at every turn. And when your brain is full of amazing images, you can find dozens of brilliant places to fill your stomach...
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Opening a new gallery in Florence is a bit like adding an extra dish to a banquet. But the Museum of the Opera del Duomo (it opened in October) contains a real wonder. It's the actual-size reconstruction of the original facade of Florence Cathedral. They put back its original statues, in storage for centuries, following details on a 16th Century drawing. The facade was part of architect Arnolfo di Cambio's first, 1294, vision for the cathedral. Never properly finished, it was removed in 1587.
SUPER HUMAN
Michelangelo sculpted the 14ft-high statue of biblical hero David between 1501 and 1504, while in his 20s. It is a supreme creation of the human mind, and hand. The plan had been to set the white marble statue high on the roofline of the cathedral, alongside other figures. Too massive to be lifted there, the colossus stood in Piazza della Signoria for 300 years, before being moved into the Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873 (a copy replaced it). It was restored in 2004.
MARKET LEADER
Mercato Centrale, on the first floor of the iron and glass market built in 1874, is the city's liveliest place to eat. Walk there through the stalls of leather goods traders (Via dell'Ariento), and head to the first floor. Mercato Centrale opened in 2014 to revive this ancient quarter, as one big dining space. There are 12 sections, each serving a speciality Tuscan dish made with ingredients sourced from the market stalls below.
ART BEAT
It's almost worth walking around the Uffizi at random, for that extra shiver of thrill when you unexpectedly come across Botticelli's Birth Of Venus and Leonardo's Annunciation. The other, equally majestic collection is in the vast Pitti Palace, on the south side of the Arno. There are many sublime paintings by Raphael, Titian, Lippi, Caravaggio and Rubens. You could spend a day in each.
PHEW VIEW
We crossed the Arno over the Ponte Vecchio, for the quietest walk in the city. Heading up the Via di San Leonardo, we saw no other pedestrians. After a coffee at the top of the hill, we circled back, down Viale Galileo, to a famous viewpoint of the city that we had all to ourselves. We curled around the Abbazia di San Miniato and the Chiesa di San Salvatore. Only then did we meet other people, puffing up the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo, with its bronze replica of David.
WHEN TO GO
Florence can be crowded, although new pedestrianisation schemes make walking the central squares much easier. (To avoid the crowds, October to March is a great time to visit.) Fancy a coffee to start the day in Piazza di Santa Maria Novella? Order at a cafe's counter for the lowest prices - pay when you leave.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - April 2016
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