True story. I walked into work one day and my coworker told me about a deal on TravelZoo for a trip to Italy for $500 including hotel and flight and I booked my trip that night. It's the first time I ever heard about this website and I was so impressed. My boyfriend and I went and we flew Emirates there from NYC (this deal was flying from NY, the plus is is that my BF's family lives there so we didn't have to get a hotel for the night before.) We flew into Milan and stayed in Montecatini for the majority of the trip (that's where our hotel was with the deal) which was about a 45 minute train ride to Florence. This was my first time back in Florence after living there for 4 months in 2012, so exciting. The deal was to go anytime from January to March and we picked January because it worked with our schedules. (in hindsight I wish we did March because January is low season and my favorite gelaterias in Florence were closed and many other restaurants.) We ended up going during our 2 year anniversary so we did a winery on that day which I linked below. I would definitely go back in the summer to Montecatini because it was such a cute town and would be more busy in the warmer months, obviously. Below are some of the places we went. I'll eventually do a fashion post of what I wore there but wanted to show how awesome of a deal... it's possible to travel for cheap!
Places to go:
Piazza Michaelangelo Peak for a view (Florence)
Acqua al Due restaurant (Florence)
Pino's paninis cafe (Florence)
Rinoscente roof for coffee and apps (Florence)
Trattoria Anita for dinner (Florence)
La carraia for gelato (Florence) (which was closed in January :( )
Where we stayed:
Montecatini hotel: Hotel Minerva Palace (was included in deal)
Bed and Breakfast in Florence for 1 night: Pontevecchio Relais  (we decided to spend one night in Florence instead of taking the train home at 10 PM- I had to visit my old favorite night clubs like 21, Twice (which has since changed their name), Red Garter and Kakuya for a dragoon.
Duomo in Florence  ^
 At the Wine tour in Tuscany ^
 Piazza Michaelangelo ^
Rinoscente roof for coffee and apps (Florence)
 Montecatini ^
COST EFFECTIVE FAUX FUR COATS