Birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence is the capital of Tuscany and a very popular tourist destination. The beautiful buildings, piazzas, historic bridges across the Arno river, gardens, and hillside setting make Florence a treat to visit. This all makes running in Florence very tempting. The big issue is crowds — if running in the historic center, we recommend going before 8am. One special note for runners: Florence is recognized as a world fashion capital, so bring your nicest running clothes (or buy some there!). If you’d like to have an in-person guided running experience in Florence, we highly recommend our friends at Go! Running Tours.
We’ve put together several great places to run in Florence, including a couple of historic ‘runseeing’ tours. Another highlight is the run up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. The tree-lined streets and paths of the Arno River, which flows east-west and divides Florence into the historic center to the north and the hillier, less crowded Oltrarno to the south, are a treat when not too crowded, and 3.5 km long Cascine Park is the largest green area in Florence. For a quick escape from crowded Florence, the hilly run to the Etruscan town of Fiesole is a treat. We’ve also put together a guide to some other running highlights in Tuscany — see below.
Getting around Florence is quite easy. There are buses and an expanding tram/light rail system.
Florence has hot summers and cool to mild, damp winters. Average high temperatures in summer are near 32C (90F), although nights dip to 16C (low 60s). In winter, high temperatures average 10C (50F), and lows are just above freezing. Summers are fairly dry and most of the rainfall occurs in winter. It can snow occasionally.