Earlier this week, I blogged part 1 of our honeymoon in the Amalfi Coast. Today, I’m sharing the FINAL blog post from the wedding series…the second half of our honeymoon in Florence, Italy!

I will forever remember Florence as my favorite place I have ever traveled. To be honest, Hayden chose our locations for our honeymoon…and I knew very little about Florence before we arrived. I knew it was a larger city, but that was about it. Hayden had been to Florence once before, and raved about how much I was going to love it…but I had no clue what to expect! When we got off the train, we walked a few blocks to our Airbnb and I was INSTANTLY in love. The hustle and bustle, beautiful architecture, local artists scattered around and the variety of market stands…I could instantly feel how much I was going to love our time here.

We hit the ground running with exploring from the second we arrived! Hayden scored the most INCREDBILE Airbnb that was just steps away from the Duomo, and we got to take the coolest old elevator up to our floor. We got checked in, changed clothes and walked right back out the front door to walk around! I mentioned it in my post earlier this week, but Hayden has celiac disease…meaning he can’t eat gluten. You would think that would be tough in a place that is ALL about their pizza and pasta…but I am STILL blown away by how many gluten free options were available in Florence! They had TONS of restaurants dedicated to being gluten free that we were so excited to try. The very first place we went was a spot called Sgrano that is known for it’s gluten free focaccia bread and sandwiches. I can still taste mine!!! It was unreal!

My favorite part of Florence is that it was somehow so full of life but also slow-paced at the same time. We would wake up each day, slowly get ready, walk around to find a local coffee shop, then walk around to shop, grab gelato, hop around for cocktails, explore some more and end each day with a dinner reservation. We went into most days with ZERO plans…but I still believe we could have spent months there and NEVER gotten bored. We had one day dedicated to an art tour and another dedicated to a pasta-making class…but otherwise, we just woke up each day and did whatever we wanted!

We actually only planned to be in Florence for 3 days, then end our honeymoon in Venice. But, the night before we were scheduled to get on the train to Venice…we looked at each other over dinner and agreed we didn’t want to leave. We were just having SO MUCH FUN in Florence. So, we cancelled our train tickets and found a last-second opening at a local hotel. But, the coolest part? My great grandmother, Peach, traveled to Florence almost every single year of her adult life and stayed at the same hotel each time. She always told me stories about how she knew the owners by name and she wanted to take me to see it someday. We lost her in 2020…but we discovered that the EXACT hotel she used to stay in for DECADES was recently bought by Hyatt and had JUST re-opened. And we were able to STAY THERE!!! I’m tearing up just typing this. It was so surreal and so special to me! We ended up spending the last 3 nights of our honeymoon here and sipped cocktails on the rooftop in memory of Peach (or Pooch, as I called her as a kid!) I couldn’t think of a more special way to end our time in Italy!

This blog post may have the MOST photos of ANY post so far…including the wedding ones! Hahaha!! But, we made so many memories on this portion of the trip that I never want to forget. SO, here we go: iPhone photos first!!! Our Airbnb was truly unreal. The location and vibes were 15/10!!!

Hahaha I was SO EXCITED to start exploring!

Another rainy day, but we were clearly not worried about it!!

We both looked at these sandwiches like “there’s absolutely no way this is gluten free and THIS GOOD”…but IT WAS

This is the hotel we ended up staying in for the last leg of our trip – where my great grandma used to stay! We popped in on the first day in Florence to see it not knowing that we’d end up staying here 🙂

Dinner night 1!!!

Day 2: time to explore again!!! This was one of my favorite days of the entire honeymoon!

It was the day we discovered MisterPizza: The BEST gluten free pizza we’ve EVER had. We ended up coming back here to eat at least 4 more times hahaha

Dinner night 2!! We fell in love with this restaurant, too!

Gorgonzola gnocchi with fresh pears and pecans….ommmggg

We ended up bar-hopping for red wine and limoncello shots until we were starving again…

AND MISTERPIZZA IS OPEN UNTIL 3AM.

Living her best life.

Day 3 was our art tour!! It was SO neat to see so many iconic pieces in person!

A quick dinner before bed – we were exhausted after the 6-hour walking tour!

Day 4 – the day we were *supposed* to go to Venice! Checking out of our Airbnb and into our hotel for the rest of our Florence stay!

A totally gluten free cafe/pastry shop!

Exploring the market was another one of my favorite days in Florence. The first floor of the market was all local restaurants/food vendors…and the upstairs was like a massive open-air grocery with local vendors. It was UNREAL!

Some of the prettiest (and most delicious) cocktails I’ve ever had!

I got this dress while shopping this day, and we dressed up for a dinner out together!

Our second to last day! SO SAD!

Onnneeee more pizza.

Our grand finale day in Florence – learning to make homemade pasta!

Then we went for a quick hike to see one of the most AMAZING views!

Dressed up for our last dinner!

Limoncello shots as our last goodbye!

Our final selfie before our (very) early flight home the next morning. I’ll never forget you, Florence!!!

Now for the photos taken on my “real” camera!

Goodness I love this guy.

CHEERS!!!!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also love:

Our Italy Honeymoon | Part 1: Amalfi Coast

Our Wedding Weekend | The Rehearsal Dinner & Welcome Party

Our Wedding Day | The After Party