Florence it is known throughout the world for being one of the Italian cities where art and culture reign supreme. Walking through the streets of this wonderful town you will be enchanted by observing the large amount of works that will appear before your eyes. Florence it is a real open-air museum and we recommend you visit it as carefully as possible. This guide will help you understand what to see in Florence, what to do.
What to visit in Florence, what to see
To be able to visit all the places of interest in Florence, it would take several days, but don't let that scare you. If you have little time available, you can visit Florence in one day, giving priority to visiting some monuments over others.
We thought we'd create a guide for you, in order to be able to make you understand what to do in Florence based on the time you have available. Obviously there are many things to do in Florence but above all if you have little time you shouldn't miss it. here are the most important places of interest in Florence.
What to see in Florence
1 Piazza Duomo
Piazza Duomo in Florence it must absolutely be the first thing to visit in Florence. It is a real open-air museum in the heart of the city. With one go you can access several monuments that can be visited with a single ticket: the dome, il Opera del Duomo museum, la Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiorehave Brunelleschi's dome, il Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistery of San Giovanni.
La Brunelleschi's Dome of the cathedral of Florence it is a monument open to the public who can see Brunelleschi's architectural structures up close, the sixteenth-century frescoes of the interior and enjoy a view from above spectacular panorama of the city.
Il Giotto's Bell Towerand Florence Cathedral, it is a monument that can be visited by the public who can see the fourteenth-century architectural structures up close and enjoy a beautiful panorama of the city from the panoramic terrace located at the top of the building.
2 Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
La Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, whose construction was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the third and last Florentine cathedral, was dedicated in 1412 BC Santa Maria del Fiore with a clear allusion to the lily, symbol of the city. He rose above the second cathedral, which early Christian Florence had dedicated to Santa Reparata. The Museum of the work of Santa Maria del Fiore it was formed to preserve and exhibit the works of the cathedral complex. It was expanded and renovated in 1999.
3 Old Bridge
Il Ponte Vecchio in Florence it is certainly one of the most famous bridges in the world, wonderful, romantic; a souvenir photo from this point of Florence is a must. In ancient times it brought together Palazzo Vecchio, also called Palace of the Signoria, the political heart of the city, a Palazzo Pitti, , and then to Boboli's Garden.
4 Palazzo Pitti
Anciently the Palace was the home of the Grand Dukes of Toscana. Currently it is a monumental area used as the seat of several museums and as a place used for the main ones exhibitions in Florence.
Palatine gallery and royal apartments. In the eighteenth century some reception rooms of the palace of the grand dukes of Toscana they began to be used as a picture gallery until the collection was opened to the public at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Gallery illustrates the taste of Medici and Lorraine collecting both in the layout, inspired by the decorative and representative principles of a princely gallery, and in the predilection for the art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries represented by artists such as: Raffaello, Andrea Del Sarto, Pontormo, Tiziano , Tintoretto, Veronese, Caravaggio, , Rubens, Van Dyck, Velazquez. The monumental apartments are attached to the Gallery and preserve the furnishings of the period in which they were the residence of the royal family of Italy.
Costume gallery. The museum is dedicated to the history of fashion. It houses collections of costumes and accessories from the eighteenth century to today and theatrical costumes, as well as the restored funeral clothes of Cosimo I de' Medici, Elenora of Toledo e Don Garzia. Exhibitions for biennial selections and temporary exhibitions.
5 Boboli Gardens
Il Boboli Gardens, inside Palazzo Pitti, it's wonderful and makes this place one of the must-sees on the list."Florence what to visit”. Begun in 1549, based on the design of Tribolo, for the Duchess Eleonora of Toledo, was expanded and modified in the following centuries. Used for the entertainment of the grand ducal court, it was opened to the public in 1766 at the time of Peter Leopold of Lorraine. It was put into a museum in 1992. It represents one of the greatest examples of an Italian garden, which gives rational order to nature and enriches the geometries of the avenues and plants with caves, statues and fountains. Of particular artistic importance are the ancient Roman statues and those of important sculptors of the Renaissance including Baccio Bandinelli e Giambologna. The caves, the fountains, the amphitheater, where the court shows took place.
6 The Uffizi and the Drawings and Prints Cabinet
The Uffizi: this is another unmissable place to Florence. It is the most visited Italian museum in the world, attracting more than one million visitors every year. The queue for the entrance will be quite long, but don't let yourself be discouraged, the wait will be repaid by the wonders you will find inside. The Uffizi Drawings and Prints Cabinet it is located on the first floor of Vasari's Uffizi complex and houses one of the most important graphic collections in the world. The collection, which began around the middle of the seventeenth century from Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, has been expanded over the centuries and is still continually growing. The works (almost 150.000, including drawings and prints) date from the end of the fourteenth century to the present day. Renaissance artists prevail, particularly Florentine and Tuscan, foreign schools are significantly represented and the presence of contemporary artists is constantly increasing. Furthermore, the heritage of architectural drawings is important. The Institute organizes periodic exhibitions, accompanied by scientific catalogues, which are presented to the public in the Exhibition Hall.
To skip the queue at the Uffizi, choose to purchase tickets in advance. That's how.
7 Santa Maria Novella
The Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, adjacent to the railway station of the same name, is a wonderful structure both externally and internally. It is part of the history of Florence and inside you can observe, among other things, the crucifix painted by Giotto. It requires a visit which we recommend you do. The church of Santa Maria Novella, while maintaining free access to a chapel reserved for prayer and masses which take place on weekdays at 7.30am and 18pm and on holidays at 8.30am, 10.30am, 12pm and 18pm, has been museumised, with the establishment of an entrance ticket and pre-established visiting times, in order to guarantee an orderly visit to the church with wider and more convenient opening times, ensure the protection of the works of art and respect for the religious function of the monument. The Museum of Santa Maria Novella it consists of a part of the monumental complex of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella with its pictorial decorations. Since 1983, a selection of sacred furnishings belonging to the Basilica has been displayed in the refectory.
8 Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria is located at center of Florence, in front of Palazzo Vecchio and you will certainly recognize it by the David (NB: the original can be found at Galleria dell'Accademia) by Michelangelo placed on the right side.
9 Monumental complex of Santa Croce
After the flood of 1966, the rooms and works were restored and the museum rearranged in 1977. The Santa Croce museum is connected to the permanent exhibition of around 300 pieces including paper and wood engravings of xylographic works by Pietro Paris (1892-1988). Since 2002 also the Church of the Holy Cross it has been turned into a museum and the visit to the basilica with its works of art is part of the museum itinerary.
10 Baptistery of San Giovanni
Il Baptistery of San Giovanni, a masterpiece of Florentine Romanesque art. With an octagonal plan, entirely covered with slabs of white and green Prato marble, the Baptistery is covered by a dome with eight segments resting on the perimeter walls, masked from the outside by the elevation of the walls above the arch of the second level and by a flattened pyramid roof.
Florence, places of interest
11 Palazzo Medici Riccardi
The first museum established in Palazzo Medici Riccardi was the Medici Museum, in the rooms on the ground floor, dedicated to the history of the family doctors. Today's museum tour includes the Chapel with the frescoes of Benozzo Gozzoli, the Michelozzian courtyard, the garden and the Gallery frescoed in the seventeenth century by Luca Giordano. The rooms of the former Medici Museum are today used for temporary exhibitions.
12 Cenacle of Sant'Apollonia
The museum occupies a part of the ancient monastery of Benedictines of Sant'Apollonia, founded in 1339 and enlarged in the fifteenth century. Around 1447 Andrea del Castagno he frescoed the back wall of the refectory withLast Supper, the Crucifixion, the Deposition e the resurrection. Other detached frescoes by are also exhibited in the museum Andrea del Castagno with the related sinopies and paintings of Paolo Schiavo and Blacks by Biccifrom the monastery.
13 Casa Giorgio Vasari in Florence
After a restoration that lasted several years, the Florentine residence in which is open to the public Giorgio Vasari he lived the last years of his life and died there in 1574. The house is located inside a sixteenth-century palace of Borgo Santa Croce, not far from the square of the same name. The house has undergone numerous interventions over time, which however have spared the house Sala Grande, the only one remaining today among those frescoed by the master and his collaborators.
14 Church of St. Benedict
The first news of the church dates back to 1002, when it is defined as Ecclesia Sancti Benedicti extra muros civitatis Florentiae. In fact, at that time the church was located outside the Carolingian city walls. It was one of the 36 ancient Florentine parishes, it was endowed with economic assets outside Florence and some of its Rectors are found cited in various documents since 1127. San Benedetto is the only Church in Florence dedicated to the Saint founder of Western Monasticism, today also the patron saint of 'Europe: Benedict of Nursia (480-547).
15 Brancacci Chapel
Following the restoration of the frescoes of masaccio, Masolino e Filippino Lippihave Brancacci Chapel has been put into a museum, isolating it from the Carmelite church and allowing visitor access through the Cloister and chapter house of the convent.
16 Cloister of the Scalzo
17 Basilica of San Lorenzo
The basilica of San Lorenzo, while retaining its function of worship and parish, has been turned into a museum allowing visits at set times and with the payment of a ticket, in order to allow better conservation and use of the works of art preserved in compliance with the religious function of the monument.
18 Crypt of Santa Reparata
With access from inside the Cathedral, the archaeological excavations that have brought to light the ancient cathedral of Santa Reparata, destroyed following the construction of the new Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, can be visited.
Museums of Florence
19 Carriage Museum
It houses a series of carriages from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, belonging mainly to the Lorraine and Savoy courts. The collection is currently housed in a warehouse that can be visited on request, waiting for the museum to open.
20 Palazzo Vecchio Museum
The museum is made up of the public rooms (Salone dei Cinquecento, Sala dei Duecento, Sala dei Gigli and Sala dell'Udienza) and the so-called Medici neighborhoods of the Elements and Eleonora, which are located in the Palazzo della Signoria. The visit route also includes the mezzanine where the Loeser collection is displayed.
21 Dante's House Museum
The Museum, set up according to the criteria of modern museology, reconstructs the political-economic and cultural environment of the illustrious Florentine's time. The exhibition itinerary retraces the life of the Supreme Poet through his works, the events of his family, his exile, his Florence weather.
22 Modern Art Gallery of Florence
La Modern Art Gallery of Florence it preserves works of art (paintings and sculptures) mainly referable to Tuscan figurative culture included within analogical apexes ranging from the end of the XNUMXth century to the period between the two world wars. Illustrates the evolution of Tuscan art from the neoclassical, romantic and purist period, centered on historical celebratory themes up to the anti-academic reform carried out after the middle of the century by the Macchiaioli group and based on a painting made of spots of colors and contrasts of light with prevalent attention to the subjects of nature and daily life.
The nineteenth-century itinerary ends with expressions of decadentism, symbolism, post-impressionism, divisionism. Among the various artists present are F. Hayez, s. AlloyT. Signorini, G. Factors, C Pissarro, M. Red, G. Boldini, HAS. Magnelli.
23 Pietro Annigoni Museum
Il Pietro Annigoni Museum was born from the acquisition by theCassa di Risparmio di Firenze in agreement with the Bardini and Peyron Monumental Parks Foundation of a conspicuous part of the rich collection of works of art created by the master which were owned by his children. There are approximately 6000 pieces including paintings, drawings, lithographs, engravings and sculptures which constitute the highest concentration of materials pertinent to the extensive artistic production of the painter of Milanese origin.
24 Museum of the perfume workshop of Santa Maria Novella
The museum was strongly desired to give light and life back to the machines and ancient tools used in the past, of which the Workshop has been a jealous and attentive guardian in the troubled events of the centuries. This is not only aimed at making known the preparations of Santa Maria Novella products but it is also meant to be created for those who are simply interested in visiting a museum of tradition.
25 Porcelain Museum
Il porcelain museum, functionally related to Argentine Museum and Boboli Gardens, brings together the collections of porcelain from the tables of the ruling houses that followed one another Palazzo Pittiand at our doctors ai Lorraine to the Savoy. The first room features porcelain from Real Factory Napolihave Shower Manufactory founded by the family Ginori. French porcelain is represented by specimens from the factory of Vincennes and Sevres. The second room presents the porcelains of Vienna came with the Lorraine people. In the third room the porcelains of meissen and other German manufacturers.
26 Gucci Museum
Designed by Gucci's Creative Director Frida giannini, Gucci Museum it is a living space that embodies the brand's “Forever Now” philosophy. The permanent exhibition of the Gucci archive, preserved and expanded over the years in its richness and cultural relevance, will be flanked by a series of contemporary art installations, selected with the support of the Pinault Foundation. The museum itinerary will also be completed by shops selling iconic Gucci products and gift items, a bookstone and a café.
Florence: see also
Florence: places to visit
27 Medici Villa of Careggi
The fifteenth-century villa, where he died Lorenzo the Magnificentor, built to the architect's design Michelozzo is used as the headquarters of the offices ofCareggi Hospital, but it is a monument open to visitors who are offered a brochure containing historical notes in Italian and English. It retains much of the original architectural lines and seventeenth-century pictorial decorations.
28 Collections of the Ximenian Observatory
At its birth the observatory, founded by the Jesuit father Leonardo Ximenes in 1756, he was mainly concerned with astronomy e hydraulics but soon, with the transition to Piarist fathers (1773) oriented himself towards studies of meteorology and seismology. At the end of the 1700s and in the early 1800s, mathematical and cartographic studies of great importance were conducted, which led among other things to the creation of the Geometric Map of Tuscany. The studies continue actively today and the laboratory carries out meteorological surveys and is part of the Seismic Network ofNational Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
29 State art institute plaster cast gallery
La Plaster cast gallery of the Art Institute of Florence It has the most interesting collection of plaster models in Italy, especially models of Tuscan Renaissance art. The largest nucleus comes from the purchase in 1922 by the then director Mario Salvini, from the collection of Oronzio Lelli.
30 Enzo Pazzagli Art Park
The Enzo Pazzagli Art Park, located in the southern area of Florence, along the Arno and surrounded by a splendid landscape, is a large space dedicated to contemporary art. Thanks to its notable exhibition capacity (the total surface area exceeds 23.000 square metres) it presents itself as an active center for the valorisation of both local and international artists. In addition to temporary exhibitions, it hosts a permanent "en plein air" collection of sculptures by Maestro Pazzagli and 10 other artists, surrounded by 300 cypress trees.
Other museums in Florence not to be missed
31 Museum of the Medici Chapels
Il museum tour of the Medici Chapels includes the Chapel of the Princes , New Sacristy by Michelangelo. The first preserves the tombs of the members of the Medici dynasty in the crypt, the cenotaphs of the grand dukes in the sumptuous room on the upper floor and in two rooms on the sides of the altar the treasure of San Lorenzo, made up of reliquaries and other furnishings, masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque goldsmithery. There New Sacristy it is due to Michelangelo and was begun in 1521 and finished later by Vasari. Contains the tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano with the statue of the Madonna and Child and tombs of Lorenzo Duke of Urbino and Julian, Duke of Nemours with the statues of the two dukes and those of Living Areaand Night,Aurora and Dusk.
32 Instruments Museum of the Military Geographic Institute
Il Museum of the Military Geographic Institute it houses a rich collection of geodesy, astronomy, topography and physics instruments. The number of finds amounts to over 400 units. The core of the collection was born from the bringing together of the instrumentation existing before 1861 at the topocartographic bodies of the various pre-unification states. Subsequently, with the establishment of the Military Geographic Institute, the collection expanded, often with instruments designed by internal staff and built in the mechanical workshop of the institute itself. Even today the Museum is enriched with all the instruments of the sectors of interest, as they become technologically outdated.
These are the main places of interest to see in Florence if you only have one day available, but if you have more time, keep in mind this additional list on “Florence museums"and "Florence, monuments"
- Palazzo Strozzi, one of the most beautiful Renaissance palaces in Italy.
- Church of the Holy Spirit, one of the most beautiful basilicas in Florence.
- San Miniato al Monte, church located at the highest point of the city.
- San Lorenzo and Santa Croce, historic basilicas of Florence, wonderful.
- Brancacci Chapel, a masterpiece of the Renaissance. Unmissable.
- otrarno, a characteristic neighborhood linked to art and craftsmanship.
- Barghello, a very interesting museum dedicated to sculpture.
- Museum of the History of Science, located next to the Uffizi, an obligatory stop for science lovers.
Information in a nutshell: how move, where to sleep in Florence, where to eat. Don't miss to visit Florence at Christmas and Easter, with “the explosion of the wagon”.
33 Florence Card
To visit a greater number of museums we recommend purchasing the Florence Card, which will allow you free entry to the museums that are part of the circuit and, with a minimum additional expense, the use of public transport completely free of charge.
34 How to get around Florence
Florence can be reached by plane, arriving at Florence Amerigo Vespucci airport which is 4 km from the city or by train, arriving directly in the center at the station Florence Santa Maria Novella. There are also 2 large bus stations: Florence Piazzale Montelungo e Florence Rifredi. Once you reach the center, the best way to get around is certainly on foot. We do not recommend using the car as i parking in Florence they are not that easy to find.
35 Where to eat in Florence
Where to eat in Florence: for your lunches and dinners we advise you to choose a good restaurant, perhaps in the centre, where you can taste a good Florentine steak, a fettunta or a ribollita.
36 Where to sleep in Florence
If you want to go there night in Florence we advise you to look for accommodation in the centre, so you can visit places of interest without having to make long journeys. Search for a hotels in Florence it will be simple, given the large number of structures, which will satisfy your every need. The same goes for i B&B in Florence: very numerous and of great quality.
All you have to do is pack your bags, your camera and reach a wonderful place, which we assure you, you will never forget.
Search for last minute offers
We compare airlines and travel agencies in search of the best priceMap of Florence
Useful Information
Could it be interesting for you
If you want to stay updated on the destination FLORENCE Sign up to our newsletter
Comment first