The ultimate city guide to Florence, Italy
The cradle of the Italian Renaissance is Florence, a city not only eminently aesthetic but with profound contents, all waiting to be discovered. Here the inventors of Italian literature and melodrama were born, and Florence represented the true cradle of the Italian Renaissance: world-famous painters, sculptors, and architects worked here, such as Giotto, Donatello, Leonardo, and Brunelleschi, just to name a few; here one of the largest open-air museums in the world opens every day.
Walking through its magical historic center, in fact, one feels the sensation of being among the corridors of a large set-up made up of churches, palaces, gardens, and monuments.
Also, in the shadow of the “Cupolone” and the large convent complexes of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella, around the churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito, and next to the large public buildings, the network of Florentine historic businesses resists the artisan shops of many centuries-old traditions that live on despite shopping malls.
Founded by the Romans more than two thousand years ago at the confluence of the Arno and the Mugnone, Florentina has represented a point of reference in various historical periods.
During the Renaissance, the city became known as the “world capital of art,” and the most famous artists of the time came to live there. In this period the greatest architectural treasures of the center were built, monuments that still today attract millions of visitors from all over the world and make you fall in love from the first glance.
Duomo and Giotto’s Bell Tower
The starting point of almost all Florentine tourist itineraries is the Duomo, the church of Santa Maria del Fiore. The basilica is between Piazza del Duomo, where the famous Scoppio del Carro takes place at Easter, and Piazza San Giovanni, where the baptistery, built with an octagonal plan between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries on remains from the fifth century, and the famous Giotto bell tower, which has dominated the city from almost 85 meters high since 1337, stand.
The Florentine Cathedral is unique in that Arnolfo di Cambio was given the job of building it in 1294. The oldest church, that of S. Reparata, which was already a bishopric in the seventh century, was used as part of the building process.
Looking at the building, the impression is one of great homogeneity, but the work is the result of numerous interventions that took place over nearly two hundred years.
Giotto, Andrea Pisano, and Francesco Talenti added to and modified the project that began at the end of the thirteenth century, delaying the completion of the apsidal area until 1421 and that of the dome until 1431.
If you leave the baptistery and turn left, you can walk along the northern side of the Duomo and see the 15th-century Palazzo Strozzi-Niccolini and the elegant 15th-century Case dei Tebaldi, which were Donatello’s shops.
Further on is the entrance to the Museum of S. Maria del Fiore, commonly known as the Opera del Duomo. When you go back to the bell tower, you can see the well-aligned Palazzi dei Canonici, which have been the most important buildings on the south side of the square since 1830.
The Palazzi dei Canonici is also where the Archconfraternity of Mercy is based, which is an old organization that helps the poor. From here, all you have to do is cross via dei Calzaiuoli to see the Bigallo loggia. The Archbishop’s Palace is behind the baptistery. Between 1573 and 1584, Giovanni Antonio Dosio helped rebuild part of it.
Around the Piazza Della Republic
The area southwest of Santa Maria del Fiore is called Piazza della Repubblica. It is a dense, deep, and mysterious place, with many signs of the Middle Ages still there. Some of these, along with later Renaissance changes, were lost when Piazza Della Repubblica was built in the nineteenth century to replace the old Piazza del Mercato, which was the historical heart of Florence.
Among the things to see before the square stand out Dante’s House, transformed into a museum, and Palazzo Portinari Salviati, now the headquarters of the Banca Toscana, which precedes one of the most fascinating buildings in the center: Palazzo Strozzi. In the area, you can still go to the church of S. Maria Maggiore, which is one of the oldest in the city and was likely built before the 11th century.
Palazzo Vecchio and surroundings
To the southeast of Piazza Della Repubblica extends the asymmetrical Piazza Della Signoria, which was not born from the design of an urban planner but from a historical case linked to the Uberti family and the construction of Palazzo Vecchio.
The eight streets leading to the square offer different and original views. First of all, the gaze tends to fall on the Loggia dei Lanzi (or loggia della Signoria), built between 1376 and 1382 to host assemblies and public ceremonies.
To the left of Palazzo Vecchio, past the famous fountain of Neptune (1565–1575), nicknamed the “Biancone”, and the equally imposing equestrian statue of Cosimo, I pass the statue of David, which stands magnificently in front of Palazzo Vecchio and is a copy of Michelangelo’s original masterpiece, kept in the Accademia Gallery.
The Palazzo Vecchio is a must-see. It is a huge, crenellated building with a solemn ashlar facade. It was built by three different groups between the end of the 13th century and the 16th century. After the first phase of work, orchestrated by Arnolfo di Cambio and completed in 1314, the palace became the seat of the Signoria, that is, of the city council governed by the Priors.
The Tramontana door that leads to the Camera dell’Arme is from this time, and it is the only room in the building that still looks like it did when it was first built. The Salone dei Cinquecento was added to the first floor at the end of the 15th century, but Vasari made the most important changes in the 16th century. The Corridor, known as “Vasari”, belongs to this expansion campaign. It is the elevated path more than a kilometer long that connects Palazzo Vecchio with Palazzo Pitti, passing through the Uffizi Gallery.
The Uffizi
The Uffizi Square opens up between the loggias of the Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio, with two parallel wings connected by a small arm that looks out over the Arno.
The Uffizi Museum complex was started by Vasari in 1560 and completed by Buontalenti under the direction of Francesco I to house the “offices” of the judiciary, while today it houses one of the richest and most evocative museums in the world.
Inside, it can be said that no one is missing: from the two and fourteenth centuries’ Duccio di Boninsegna, Cimabue, and Giotto, to the eighteenth century’s Rubens, Carracci, and Caravaggio, without forgetting the masters of the fifteenth century, such as Botticelli, Leonardo, and Perugino, of the sixteenth century, Michelangelo, Raffaello, and Titian, and the mannerists Parmigianino, Veronese, and Tintoretto, a In addition, the gallery has maintained several rooms not intended for art galleries that still perform the function of wunderkammer (chamber of wonders). These include the room with geographical maps, the mathematics room, and the Tribuna, the oldest room in the Uffizi.
From the Uffizi to the Palazzo Pitti
Behind the Uffizi Gallery, the river Arno flows, and the light profile of the Ponte Vecchio takes up most of the view. The main attraction of Oltrarno is Palazzo Pitti, the largest city building that embraces the square to which it gives its name on three sides. Inside, the Palatine Gallery, the building’s main museum thanks to the rich art collection, and the royal apartments stand out.
Not everyone is aware that the Vasari Corridor, which also touches the Uffizi and the upper portion of the Ponte Vecchio, connects the Palazzo Della Signoria and the Palazzo Pitti.
The beautiful Boboli Gardens are right next to the palace. You can get to them through the Ammannati Courtyard and the Forte Belvedere. The Piazza Pitti is connected to the Arno by the Via Guicciardini, a narrow, busy street that leads to the Piazza di S. Felicita, which is dominated by the same-named church. From here, two streets start, which lead respectively to Piazza S. Spirito, where the Renaissance church designed by Brunelleschi in 1444 stands, and to the river. In the neighborhood remains the simple church of S. Maria del Carmine, a building with an unadorned, austere appearance; inside, however, is a masterpiece such as the Brancacci chapel, frescoed by Masaccio and Masolino da Panicale.
The other districts of Florence
Returning north of the Arno, the districts of S. Giovanni, S. Maria Novella, and S. Croce remain to be seen. The first is famous above all for the presence of the Basilica of St. Lorenzo, whose facade is one of the most evocative of Florence for artistic heterogeneity and decorations. Nearby are the splendid Medici Chapels, the Central Market of San Lorenzo, built between 1870 and 1874 on a project by Giuseppe Mengoni, and above all the Accademia Gallery, which houses some sculptures by Michelangelo, including the original David.
A little further south are the basilica of SS. Annunziata and the Spedale degli Innocenti, the first orphanage in Europe. Don’t miss the Rotonda del Brunelleschi, which is part of a group of buildings that used to be part of the convent of S. Maria degli Angeli, and the Archaeological Museum, which is in the Palazzo della Crocetta, which was built in the eighteenth century.
The district of S. Maria Novella covers a triangular area traced at the intersection of three major routes: the Arno to the south, via Faenza to the east, and Viale Roselli to the north-west.
Within this triangle stands the facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella, designed by Leon Battista Alberti for the church that gives the neighborhood its name: the oldest of the Florentine basilicas, which at the time of its foundation was the “novella”, built by Dominican monks to replace a 9th-century oratory.
This is the first thing that many tourists see in Florence. It is right in front of the same-named train station, which Giovanni Michelucci constructed in 1932.
The nearby Palazzo Rucellai, which was built by Bernardo Rossellino based on a plan by Alberti, is one of Florence’s most well-known buildings. It is a typical example of 15th-century Florentine architecture.
Lastly, to the south-east is the district of S. Croce. The names and layouts of the streets that make up this area, such as via della Vigna Vecchia and via dell’Anguillara, show how the area has changed over time. The heart of the neighborhood is naturally Piazza S. Croce, overlooked by the Franciscan basilica of the same name, made famous by the numerous tombs of illustrious personalities it welcomes.
To the right of the church, you enter the first cloister of the former Franciscan convent, now home to the Museo dell’Opera di S. Croce, which also includes the Brunelleschi Pazzi chapel. The wealthy Salviati family constructed Palazzo Borghese, a sizable palace, in the 15th century, and Michelangelo’s great-grandson constructed Casa Buonarroti in 1612.
Florence at Christmas
For some years now, the city has been celebrating Christmas with a series of Christmas markets, which take place mainly during the Advent weeks—one more reason to visit Florence during a period of less tourist influx. The three most important are: the German market, called Heidelberger Weihnachtsmarkt, imported from the famous German art city; the Scottish Market, which celebrates the twinning between Florence and Edinburgh; and the Florence Noel, held at the Stazione Leopolda.
Always on the theme of markets, every day in Largo Pietro Annigoni, you can visit the Flea Market in Florence. During the period, do not miss the beautiful installations of the Festival of Lights.
How to get to Florence
The best way to reach the center directly is by train, with the Florence Santa Maria Novella station, which has an average of 160,000 daily transits, welcoming about 500 trains. By car, Florence is accessible thanks to four motorway exits (Firenze, Sud, Firenze Certosa, Firenze Signa, and Firenze Nord) on the A1 and A11, but going from the outskirts to the center can take a long time.
The small Amerigo Vespucci Airport is located just 4 kilometers northwest of the center, in the Peretola district, but the Galileo Galilei airport in Pisa is much more important and better served, about 80 kilometers from the capital. As for urban travel, walking around is undoubtedly the best choice, given that, despite the large number of monuments it contains, the historic center is relatively small and it is not always easy to get around by public transport.
