Florence
Be it hosting some of Italy's finest craft-beer brewers during January's annual beer-craft fair Birraio dell'Anno (www.birraiodellanno.it) or top Italian musicians and performers, the season at Tuscany Hall (still known by its old name, ObiHall, by some) – Florence's premier concert venue – never fails to entertain.
Take bus No 14 from train station Stazione Santa Maria Novella and get off at the 'Varlungo 01' stop – a 15-minute journey.
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Home to the world's greatest collection of Italian Renaissance art, Florence's premier gallery occupies the vast U-shaped Palazzo degli Uffizi (1560–80),…
Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
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The striking green-and-white marble facade of 13th- to 15th-century Basilica di Santa Maria Novella fronts an entire monastical complex, comprising…
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This fortress palace, with its crenellations and 94m-high tower, was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio between 1298 and 1314 for the signoria (city government…
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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'…
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Florence's duomo is the city's most iconic landmark. Capped by Filippo Brunelleschi's red-tiled cupola, it's a staggering construction whose breathtaking…
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This awe-inspiring story of how the duomo and its cupola came to life is told in this well-executed museum. Among its sacred and liturgical treasures are…
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Parts of San Gimignano's Romanesque cathedral were built in the second half of the 11th century, but its remarkably vivid frescoes, depicting episodes…
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A Renaissance masterpiece, the duomo's cupola – 91m high and 45.5m wide – was built between 1420 and 1436. Filippo Brunelleschi, taking inspiration from…
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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…
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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…
3. Synagogue & Jewish Museum of Florence
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Built between 1874 and 1882, just after the Jewish community in Italy had gained full emancipation after centuries of persecution, this vast Moorish…
4. Basilica di San Miniato al Monte
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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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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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The austere interior of this Franciscan basilica is a shock after the magnificent neo-Gothic facade enlivened by varying shades of coloured marble. Most…
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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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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…