I will be looking to surprise my husband with his dream trip to Florence, Italy. I know nothing about Italy. Are there any suggestions for where to stay, best time of the year to go, what's the weather like, etc. TIA.

May, June and September are wonderful months to go!

Sorry I have no advice but that is soo sweet of you!!

Hotel Pendini. Right in the middle of Florence. Super historic hotel, and reasonable.

Depending on how long you're going for you could consider renting an apartment through airbnb. I lived in Florence for a month through July. Make sure you have an air conditioner if you go in the summer! Hot and humid but gorgeous. I bet June and September would be wonderful.

I went in early October. I used a Rick Steve's guide for advice. I stayed at a Monastery Stay, monaterystays.com. Very inexpensive, many different types, look at the map on the website to make sure of the location, some are out of town. I stayed about 20 minutes walk from the old historical centre, very quiet area.

I hope your husband isn't in Facebook or you just ruined the surprise

Florence is wonderful, my favorite city in Italy. Make sure you stay in the center. Almost everything is within walking distance.
If you want to sample great food and greater tuscan wine (seriously even if you're not wine people -- we weren't -- its great). Go to Enotecca pitti gola e cantina in the square of palazzo pitti.
There's a sandwhich place that makes the BEST porchetta, also great for sampling local meats and cheeses: La Prosciutteria
Make sure you climb the duomo, it's worth climbing and also worth actually visiting.
A good day trip (can get the bus there and back easily) is Siena, also worth a visit.
DO NOT try to rent a car in florence. Nor when leaving florence for day trips. The traffic is gridlock and you literally could spend 3 hours in the most hellish traffic you've ever seen just to get out of the city, then get stuck with $50 in tolls each way. Use trains or buses!!!!

Gotta rent these cars and go for a tour

This is a 2 hr train ride from Florence, and ended up being our best stop in all of Italy.https://www.incinqueterre.com/en/
INCINQUETERRE.COM
Cinque Terre, Italy

I'm leaving Florence today for Rome. Highlights include walking to piazzale Michelangelo at night and getting a view of Florence from across the river. Very, very popular with locals. We went to Siena yesterday and that was a nice change of pace. The square there is beautiful. If you're into museums and churches you could get the Florence pass but make sure you go to at least 8-9 sights to get your moneys worth. I don't think you need to spend more then 3-4 days here so if you could combine Florence with Cinque Terre, it would be a great week. We spent two nights in Monterosso and loved swimming in the sea and hiking between the villages. Stay in central Florence. It's walking distance to everything to see. We ordered the Rick Steves Italy 2015 guide from Amazon and I could lend it to you when we get back in a couple of weeks.

my friend lives in Italy and organizes holidays for ppl, maybe she could advise you something good, try her on fb "Italian Gallery - Loving Lazio"

We just got back and used airbnb

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