Fiesole in on the north-eastern hill of Florence; you can get there on bus no 7 (from Piazza San Marco) and the ride takes about 15 minutes (regular city bus tickets). The town is all villas and hotels facing Florence since it’s all about that VIEW.

Fiesole started as an Etruscan city, the Romans conquered it and moved the main city downhill to what is now Florence. So in Fiesole you have ancient ruins, a Roman theatre, Roman baths, as well as Renaissance villas of the Medici’s, a hotel (Villa San Michelle) that prides itself in a façade designed by Michelangelo (so they claim) etc. It’s a charming little place in its own that makes the most of its landscape. Everything is designed so that you can enjoy both Fiesole and Florence at once – dreamy I tell you.

We had coffee on a little restaurant (forgot its name) but you can find it easily: wait until the last bus station, get down of the bus and there it is… the coffee OK-ish, the cake not so much. But it was a good place to enjoy the sunset view and listen to just a bit of jazz.

There is also a little park (it’s has a monument dedicated to the Carabineri) on a terrace that it’s obviously made take in the best of all views: is great for a little picnic, but as we discovered it also has a couple of restaurants tucked behind the trees.