San Lorenzo & San Marco
At the heart of Florence's university area sits Chiesa di San Marco and an adjoining 15th-century Dominican monastery where both gifted painter Fra'…
Must-see attractions in Florence
San Lorenzo & San Marco
A queue marks the door to this gallery, built to house one of the Renaissance's most iconic masterpieces, Michelangelo's David. But the world's most…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Nowhere is Medici conceit expressed so explicitly as in the Medici Chapels. Adorned with granite, marble, semiprecious stones and some of Michelangelo's…
Santa Croce
The austere interior of this Franciscan basilica is a shock after the magnificent neo-Gothic facade enlivened by varying shades of coloured marble. Most…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Commissioned by banker Luca Pitti in 1458, this Renaissance palace was later bought by the Medici family. Over the centuries, it was a residence of the…
Santa Croce
It was behind the stark walls of Palazzo del Bargello, Florence's earliest public building, that the podestà (governing magistrate) meted out justice from…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Shortly after its founding in 1421, Brunelleschi designed the loggia for Florence's Ospedale degli Innocenti, a foundling hospital and Europe's first…
Oltrarno
Fire in the 18th century practically destroyed 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, but it spared its magnificent chapel frescoes – a…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Behind Palazzo Pitti, the fountain- and sculpture-adorned Boboli Gardens – slowly but surely being restored to their former pristine glory thanks to a €2…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Considered one of Florence's most harmonious examples of Renaissance architecture, this unfinished basilica was the Medici parish church and mausoleum. It…
Oltrarno
The facade of this Brunelleschi church, smart on Florence's most shabby-chic piazza, makes a striking backdrop to open-air concerts in summer. Inside, the…
Oltrarno
Astonishing. Behind the unassuming facades of Via de' Serragli lies a vast, secret garden – Europe’s largest privately owned green space...
Oltrarno
Dating from 1345, iconic Ponte Vecchio was the only Florentine bridge to survive destruction at the hands of retreating German forces in 1944. Above…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Turn your back on the bevy of ticky-tacky souvenir stalls flogging David statues and boxer shorts and take in the spectacular city panorama from this vast…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
This 17th-century villa and garden was named after 19th-century antiquarian art collector Stefano Bardini (1836–1922), who bought it in 1913 and restored…
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Beyond the Basilica di San Lorenzo ticket office lie peaceful cloisters framing a garden with orange trees. Stairs lead up the loggia to the Biblioteca…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Should you notice something gone awry with street signs in Oltrarno – on a No Entry sign, a tiny black figure stealthily sneaking away with the white bar…
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San Lorenzo & San Marco
Once part of a sprawling Benedictine monastery, this cenacolo (refectory) harbours arguably the city’s most remarkable Last Supper scene. Painted by…
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Oltrarno
For a change of pace from the Renaissance, head to this Gothic-style former refectory safeguarding an imposing wall fresco by Andrea Orcagna depicting the…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Cosimo the Elder entrusted Michelozzo with the design of the family's town house in 1444. The result was this palace, a blueprint that influenced the…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Forte di Belvedere is a rambling fort designed by Bernardo Buontalenti for Grand Duke Ferdinando I at the end of the 16th century. From the massive…
Santa Croce
Opera buffs will adore this museum celebrating more than seven decades of work by the late, internationally renowned, Florence-born film director Franco…
Florence
Anglo-Italian, Florence-born Frederick Stibbert (1838–1906) was one of the grand 19th-century wheeler-dealers on the European antiquities market and…
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Basilica di San Miniato al Monte
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Five minutes' walk uphill from Piazzale Michelangelo is this wonderful Romanesque church, dedicated to St Minius, an early-Christian martyr in Florence…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Raphaels and Rubens vie for centre stage in the enviable collection of 16th- to 18th-century art amassed by the Medici and Lorraine dukes in Palazzo Pitti…
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Piazza della Santissima Annunziata
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Giambologna's equestrian statue of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici commands the scene from the centre of this majestic square, dominated by the facades…
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Santa Croce
This square was cleared in the Middle Ages to allow the faithful to gather when the church itself was full. In Savonarola's day, heretics were executed…
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Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Established in 1250 by the founders of the Servite order and rebuilt by Michelozzo and others in the mid-15th century, this Renaissance church is most…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Built in 1324, the best preserved of the city’s medieval gates stands sentinel on the banks of the Arno. In summer, with a guide you can scale the steep…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Possibly founded by Syrian merchants as early as the 2nd century, the current church is largely a Renaissance construction. Its most extraordinary feature…
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San Lorenzo & San Marco
Founded in 1545 to furnish medicine to the Medici, Florence's botanical gardens – managed today by the university – are a wonderfully peaceful retreat in…
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Santa Croce
Though Michelangelo never lived in Casa Buonarroti, his heirs devoted some of the artist’s hard-earned wealth to the construction of this 17th-century…
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Santa Croce
One of the many eccentric Brits who made Florence home in the early 20th century, Herbert Percy Horne bought and renovated this Renaissance palazzo, then…
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Oltrarno
This eye-catching stone medieval tower is the tallest, and probably best preserved, in Florence. It was built for the wealthy Belfredelli family in the…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Forget about Marini, Mertz or Clemente – the collection of Palazzo Pitti's Galleria d’Arte Moderna is dominated by late-19th-century works by artists of…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Palazzo Pitti's Appartamenti Reali are presented as they were c 1880–91, when they were occupied by members of the House of Savoy. The style and division…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
This fantastical shell- and gem-encrusted grotto was built by Bernardo Buontalenti between 1583 and 1593 for Francesco I de' Medici; find it in the lower…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Walking east from Ponte Vecchio, the first stretch of Via de' Bardi shows clear signs of its recent history. This entire area was flattened by German…
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San Lorenzo & San Marco
A mooch around this frescoed Renaissance palazzo is tantamount to a fascinating peek behind of the scenes of a noble family of 18th-century bankers,…
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Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Exquisite amber carvings, ivory miniatures, glittering tiaras and headpieces, silver pillboxes and various other gems and jewels are displayed in this…
