Very good service. Will use again.
Everything was just as Nicole planned for us. The car hire was especially convenient. Avis, was located right at the airport. My husband and I have been customers of DialAFlight for many years, and we have travelled to many places. Nicole has always booked our flights and made the travel arrangements for us. We can guarantee that she will respond to any issue you may have, any here in the world, with prompt efficiency!
Thank you Lucy! We had an amazing trip
Great job Ian, always helpful
Zac did an amazing job rebooking flights at very last minute!
Dexter was very good. This is my first time using you and I shall most certainly use your service again.
Please don’t book ancillary services linked to BA. I would rather pay full fare. Their car hire relationship with Avis is a disaster; after waiting an hour for service and the promise of another hour's wait we switched to Europcar and we were on our way in 20 mins. Thanks to your team for getting a refund from Avis.
Adam Sui is simply wonderful!
London City can still be a problem with going through security, even though had nothing suspect in rucksack. Took ages to get it checked, ended up running for my flight. Had flown down from Edinburgh so I had already gone through security.
Once again Sebastian helped me with my holiday plans very successfully
The hotel was really excellent - great rooms and very friendly staff, very well situated to visit the major towns and little villages nearby. A car is essential. Worth noting that flying into Florence is not necessarily a good idea and Pisa may be a better choice depending on where people are staying
Brilliant idea and good advice to book the hotel at T5 Heathrow. A perfect hotel for us.
Excellent as always. Thank you Helen and team.
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
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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