Florence is small, walkable and art-saturated - the planning is all about timing, tickets and knowing the hills.
April to June and September to October are golden: warm days, clear light and the terraces full but bearable. July and August bring heat and the heaviest crowds, though the museums are air-conditioned and the evenings by the Arno are lovely. Winter is quiet and inexpensive, with the Uffizi nearly empty in January - and the low winter sun on the Duomo is a photographer's secret.
The city's own airport, Peretola (FLR), sits 5 km from the center - tram line T2 reaches the Santa Maria Novella station in about 20 minutes. Budget travelers often land at Pisa (PSA), about an hour away by direct train, or Bologna (BLQ), 35 minutes by high-speed rail. The center itself is a pedestrian stage: almost everything you came for is within a 20-minute walk, and the buses (about €1.70 a ride or a €5 day pass) handle the rest. Skip the rental car - the historic center is closed to private traffic anyway.