Florence

South of the Arno, some of the old palazzi have a hatch in the wall at about waist height, too small for a person and about right for a flask of wine. That was the idea. From the sixteenth century the families inside sold their own wine through these wine windows, with no shop and no tax, and a handful have opened again for anyone who knocks. They are one of several reasons to cross the river.

The north bank has the sights, the Duomo first among them, and the climb inside Brunelleschi's dome has to be booked ahead. We did them. Then we crossed into the Oltrarno and found restaurants, wine bars and streets of palazzi every bit as good as the north bank's, with a fraction of the crowd that swarms the Duomo. From there Costa San Giorgio climbs to Villa Bardini, and the garden at the top repays the climb with a wisteria pergola and terraces down the slope. From the highest of them the whole city is red tile, with the dome rising out of the middle, the one thing to break the skyline. There is a bar in the loggia, which seems only fair. The Botanic Garden did nothing for us; give the afternoon to this one instead.

The best of the trip, though, was the eating: Tuscan cooking, in restaurants with some character to them. All'Antico Vinaio has spread across several doorways on Via dei Neri, and the queue is outside the main one, which makes the schiacciata it is famous for. The sandwich justifies the wait. Back over the river, a few steps from Piazza Santo Spirito, Trattoria La Casalinga did the steak, and did it very, very well. The pasta was at Cibrèo Caffè in Sant'Ambrogio, and it was the other highlight.

We stayed in San Marco and the north, away from the crowds, and the ten-minute walk back was one of the better parts of the day. The historic centre puts the Duomo outside the door, along with everyone who came to see it. We went at the start of May and walked a great deal, which is the way to see a city this compact, and the reason to keep clear of high summer. July and August bring days of 38 to 40 degrees, held in by the valley, and in mid-August many of the Florentine-run trattorias shut for ferragosto. The tourist restaurants in the centre stay open, which is no consolation to anyone who came for the cooking.