# Florence

> A Renaissance town hall, a river at dusk and the hills a short drive away.

- URL: https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany/florence
- Tuscany: https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany
- Italy: https://lensandvows.com/italy
- Italiano: https://lensandvows.com/it/italy/tuscany/florence.md
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Florence is the one place in Tuscany where the city itself can be the wedding. The comune marries couples in Palazzo Vecchio, its town hall on Piazza della Signoria, where the Sala Rossa is the room set aside for weddings and civil unions — and the river, the bridges and the hills across the Arno are a short walk away for photographs.

The day runs on foot and on the clock: the centre is a limited-traffic zone, and the ceremony rooms work to a calendar of slots. Many couples keep the city for the ceremony and the portraits, then drive out to a villa in the hills for dinner.

## Wedding photographers in Florence

They shoot everywhere in Tuscany — in Florence too. Their whole weddings are on their pages.

https://lensandvows.com/photographers?region=tuscany
https://lensandvows.com/photographers?region=tuscany&sort=rating (highest rated first, by verified reviews)

## Where couples marry in Florence

- **Palazzo Vecchio: the Sala Rossa and the great halls:** The Sala Rossa is Florence’s own wedding room, inside the town hall; the palace also offers the Sala di Lorenzo and the Salone dei Cinquecento, its great hall. Each room has its own fee and slots, and residents of Florence pay less than couples from elsewhere.
- **The comune’s gardens and museums:** The comune also marries couples in the Giardino delle Rose, just below Piazzale Michelangelo; in the Museo Bardini, on Via dei Renai across the Arno; in the Santa Maria Novella complex; and at Villa Vogel — a legal ceremony in a garden without leaving the city.
- **Villas in the hills:** Villas and estates sit among olive groves around the city. A few are wedding places of their own comune — Villa Medicea di Lilliano, at Grassina in Bagno a Ripoli, about 11 km out, says it is licensed for legal civil ceremonies. Elsewhere the villa ceremony is symbolic.
- **A church in the centre:** A Catholic wedding with civil effect is arranged with the parish and through your own diocese, months ahead and after the civil papers. Ask early about photography during the rite — the rules differ from church to church.

## Where to take your portraits

- **Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato al Monte:** The terrace over the whole city — the most visited viewpoint in Florence, so come at sunrise — and above it San Miniato, built between the 11th and 13th centuries on one of the city’s highest points. In the evening the sun sets down the Arno in front of you.
- **Ponte Vecchio and the river:** The medieval bridge with its shops and Vasari’s corridor above, the only bridge in Florence spared in the Second World War. It is empty early in the morning; at dusk the stretch towards Ponte Santa Trinita, the next bridge downstream, takes the last light.
- **The Giardino delle Rose:** Just below Piazzale Michelangelo: roses, a Japanese garden given by Florence’s twin city of Kyoto, sculptures by Folon and the city across the river; open until 20:00 from May to September.
- **The Giardino Bardini in April:** A garden on the Oltrarno hillside with one of the finest views of the city. Its 70-metre wisteria pergola flowers around mid-April for about ten days — worth building an April wedding’s portraits around. The ticket is shared with Boboli.

## When to marry in Florence

Florence’s airport station averages highs of 31.4 °C in July and 31.5 °C in August (Aeronautica Militare normals, 1971–2000), so summer ceremonies in town belong to the late afternoon. May (23.7 °C) and September (26.7 °C) are the comfortable months, with rain on about 8 and 6 days. April is greener and wetter, 86 mm on about 10 days; the autumn rain builds through October (104 mm) to November, the wettest month (114 mm).

Tuscany, month by month:
- **Best:** May, June, September, October
- **Good with planning:** April, July, August

## Good to know before the day

- **Getting there:** Florence’s airport at Peretola, about 6 km north-west of the centre, is linked to the city by the T2 tram: 22 minutes to the Unità stop by Santa Maria Novella station. From there the centre is a walk.
- **The ZTL on the wedding day:** In the central sectors of the limited-traffic zone, the gates read every number plate from 7:30 to 20:00 on weekdays and until 16:00 on Saturdays. The couple’s car needs a temporary permit bought beforehand on the comune’s SAS ‘Servizi alla Strada’ platform; to stop at Palazzo Vecchio, in a pedestrian square, you also ask the municipal police. Guests walk.
- **Drones:** The airport is close, and ENAC’s zones around it are on d-flight; EU rules also require registration there and insurance, and forbid flying over crowds — so not over a full piazza. A villa outside the city is another matter.
- **The legal route:** Each of you needs a nulla osta. Florence wants the documents at least four days before and your declaration at least two days before, with an interpreter you bring yourselves if you don’t speak Italian. Saturdays are kept for residents and Florentines registered abroad (AIRE), so couples from abroad marry on another day.
- [How to marry legally in Italy](https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-italy)

## Questions about marrying in Florence

### Can we get married in Palazzo Vecchio?

Yes. The Sala Rossa is the room the comune sets aside for civil weddings and civil unions; the Sala di Lorenzo and the Salone dei Cinquecento are used too. Couples from abroad can’t book a Saturday.

### Can we have a civil wedding in a garden in Florence?

Yes, in one of the comune’s own: the Giardino delle Rose below Piazzale Michelangelo, the Museo Bardini, the Santa Maria Novella complex or Villa Vogel. A private villa counts only if its comune has made it a wedding place.

### Can a wedding car drive into the centre of Florence?

Only with a temporary ZTL permit, bought on the comune’s SAS platform before the car passes the first gate — it can’t be added afterwards. To stop at Palazzo Vecchio, in a pedestrian square, you also ask the municipal police.

### Is Florence too hot for a summer wedding?

July and August average highs of about 31.5 °C at the airport station (1971–2000 normals). Many couples choose May, June or September; in summer, hold the ceremony late in the afternoon and keep the portraits for the golden hour.

## Other places in Tuscany

- [Tuscany](https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany): The whole region: when to marry, the kinds of places, the light, getting there. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany.md)
- [Val d’Orcia](https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany/val-d-orcia): Bare rolling hills, lone cypresses and small stone towns south of Siena — a landscape that stays in every photograph. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany/val-d-orcia.md)
- [Chianti](https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany/chianti): Vineyards, woods and castle towers on the hills between Florence and Siena. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/italy/tuscany/chianti.md)

## Read before you plan

- [Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece or France? Choosing the country for a destination wedding](https://lensandvows.com/journal/portugal-vs-italy-spain-greece-france-destination-wedding): The legal route for couples who don’t live there, season and crowds, price levels, light, flights, venues and permits for photographs — five countries compared with official figures, as of October 2026. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/portugal-vs-italy-spain-greece-france-destination-wedding.md)
- [A wedding-day timeline built around the light](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-day-timeline): Sunset decides more of your photos than you might think. Approximate sunset times by month, where golden hour fits, and two example timelines — one for June, one for October. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-day-timeline.md)
- [How to choose a wedding photographer: the steps, and the questions to ask](https://lensandvows.com/journal/how-to-choose-a-wedding-photographer): The decision in order — whole weddings, style, availability, the package, the contract and deposit, cancellation, delivery and a conversation — then a checklist of questions, with why each one matters. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/how-to-choose-a-wedding-photographer.md)
- [How deposits and payment protection work on Lens & Vows](https://lensandvows.com/journal/deposits-and-payment-protection): A 30% deposit holds your date; the balance goes straight to the photographer, or through us with payment protection. Every step, what each choice costs, and what happens if plans change. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/deposits-and-payment-protection.md)
- [Wedding venues in Italy: villas, castles and masserie in Tuscany, Lake Como, the Amalfi Coast and Puglia](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-venues-italy): Twenty-seven places that host weddings today — Medici villas and Chianti castles, lakeside villas and gardens, cliff-top hotels above the sea, fortified farmhouses among the olives — with where they are, what they look like, rough capacity from their own sites, whether a legal civil ceremony can happen there, and what each means for your photos. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-venues-italy.md)
- [Where to elope in Italy: 15 places, from Dolomite lakes to a Greek theatre in Sicily](https://lensandvows.com/journal/where-to-elope-in-italy): Fifteen named spots in the Dolomites, on Lake Como and the Amalfi Coast, in Tuscany, Venice, Rome, Sicily and Puglia — what each looks like, how you reach it in 2026, when it is quiet, and the fees, permits and drone rules that apply before you say your vows there. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/where-to-elope-in-italy.md)