Between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria
On and near Piazza della Signoria
Santa Maria Novella Sights near the Train Station
Map: Oltrarno, South of the Arno River
In this chapter, Florence’s most important museums have the shortest listings and are marked with a 
. These sights are covered in much more detail in one of the self-guided tours included in this book. The Renaissance Walk chapter connects a number of Florence’s major sights, from the Duomo to Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River.
Remember to check www.ricksteves.com/update for any significant changes that have occurred since this book was printed.
Opening Hours: Check opening hours carefully and plan your time well. Many museums have erratic hours (for example, closing on alternating Sundays and Mondays), and Florence—more than most cities—has a tendency to change these hours from season to season. Get the most up-to-date info at the TIs or online. The city TI has a convenient printout listing current hours for each sight. You can download the same thing at www.firenzeturismo.it (click “Art & Museums,” then select “Major museums and monuments of Florence” to find a link to opening times).
Price Hike Alert: Many museums host special exhibits (especially April-Sept) that boost the base admission price. Even if you only want to see the permanent collection, you’re required to pay for the special exhibit. Consider yourself lucky if you happen to visit when admission is the normal price.
Florence offers several options to help you bypass the lengthy ticket-buying lines that can plague its most popular sights in peak season. You can spend less time in line and more time seeing the sights if you buy Florence’s official sightseeing pass (the Firenze Card) or make advance reservations.
The Firenze Card (€72) is pricey but convenient. This three-day sightseeing pass gives you admission to many of Florence’s sights, including the Uffizi Gallery and Accademia. Just as important, it lets you skip the ticket-buying lines without making reservations. For busy sightseers, the card can save some money. And for anyone, it can certainly save time.
With the card, you simply go to the entrance at a covered sight (if there’s a “with reservations” door, use it), show the card, and they let you in (though there still may be delays at popular sights with bottleneck entryways or capacity limits). At some sights, you must first present your card at the ticket booth or information desk to get a physical ticket before proceeding to the entrance. For people seeing five or six major sights in a short time, the card is well worth it. (But if you only want to see the Uffizi and Accademia, you’ll save by making individual reservations instead; see “Advance Reservations,” later.)
The Firenze Card is valid for 72 hours from when you validate it at your first museum (e.g., Tue at 15:00 until Fri at 15:00). It covers the regular admission price as well as any special-exhibit surcharges (which are commonly tacked on at major sights such as the Uffizi). The card is good for one visit per sight. It also gives you free use of Florence city buses. The card is not shareable, and there are no family or senior discounts for Americans or Canadians.
Getting the card makes the most sense in peak season, from April through October, when crowds are worst. Off-season travelers could do without it. To figure out if the card is a good deal for you, tally up the entry fees for what you want to see. Here’s a sampling of popular sights and their ticket prices:
• Uffizi Gallery (€6.50, €11 with special exhibits, plus €4 fee if reserved ahead)
• Accademia (same as Uffizi, above)
• Palazzo Vecchio (€6.50, €10 with the tower)
• Bargello (€4, €7 with exhibits)
• Medici Chapels (€6, €9 with exhibits)
• Museum of San Marco (€4)
• Medici-Riccardi Palace (€7)
• Duomo sights: Baptistery, Campanile, dome climb, Duomo Museum (€10)
• Pitti Palace sights: Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments (€8.50), Boboli and Bardini Gardens (€7)
Other covered sights featured in this book include the Brancacci Chapel, Church of Santa Maria Novella (including its museum), Santa Croce Church, Casa Buonarroti, Casa di Dante, Museum of Precious Stones, Palazzo Davanzati, Galileo Science Museum, and the Fiesole Archaeological Area. The card is great for popping into lesser sights you otherwise wouldn’t pay for. For a complete list of included sights, see www.firenzecard.it.
Many outlets around town sell the card, including the TIs at the train station and at Via Cavour 1 red (a couple of blocks north of the Duomo) and at some sights: the Uffizi Gallery’s door #2 (enter to the left of the ticket-buying line), back entrance of Santa Maria Novella (near the train station), Bargello, Palazzo Vecchio, and Brancacci Chapel. Lines are shortest at the Via Cavour TI and the Church of Santa Maria Novella (around back at Piazza della Stazione 4); if you’re doing the Uffizi first, door #2 is relatively quick. You can also pay for the card online (www.firenzecard.it), obtain a voucher, and pick up the card at any of the above locations.
Validate your card only when you’re ready to tackle the covered sights on three consecutive days. Make sure the sights you want to visit will be open (many sights are closed Sun or Mon). For details, see the “Daily Reminder” on here.
If you don’t get a Firenze Card, it’s smart to make reservations at the often-crowded Accademia and Uffizi Gallery. Some other Florence sights—including the Bargello, Medici Chapels, and Pitti Palace—have reservation systems, but it’s not essential to book ahead for these.
The Brancacci Chapel officially “requires” a reservation, but it’s usually possible to walk right in and get an entry time on weekdays or any day off-season, especially before 15:30 (for details, see the Brancacci Chapel Tour chapter).
Get reservations for these two top sights as soon as you know when you’ll be in town. You can generally get an entry time for the Accademia a few days before your visit, but reserve for the Uffizi well in advance. Without a reservation at the Accademia and Uffizi, you can usually enter without significant lines from November through March after 16:00. But from April through October and on weekends, it can be crowded even late in the day. Any time of year, I’d consider reserving a spot.
There are several ways to make a reservation:
• By Phone: For either sight, reserve by phone before you leave the States (from the US, dial 011-39-055-294-883, or within Italy call 055-294-883; €4/ticket reservation fee; booking office open Mon-Fri 8:30-18:30, Sat 8:30-12:30, closed Sun). The reservation line is often busy. Be persistent. When you get through, an English-speaking operator walks you through the process—a few minutes later you say grazie, having secured an entry time and a confirmation number. You’ll present your confirmation number at the museum and pay cash for your ticket. Note that you pay nothing up front when you phone.
• Online: Using a credit card, you can reserve your Accademia or Uffizi visit online via the city’s official site (€4/ticket reservation fee, www.firenzemusei.it). To start, click on the gray “B-ticket” strip, and make sure you “Add” your ticket to the cart before you “Buy” it. You’ll receive an immediate confirmation email, which is followed within three days by a voucher. Bring your voucher to the ticket desk to swap for an actual ticket.
Pricey middleman sites—such as www.uffizi.com and www.tickitaly.com—are reliable and more user-friendly than the official site, but their booking fees run about €10 per ticket (Tip: When ordering from these broker sites, don’t confuse Florence’s Accademia with Venice’s gallery of the same name).
• Through Your Hotel: When you make your hotel reservation, ask if they can book your museum reservations for you (some hoteliers will do this for free; others charge a €3-5 fee in addition to the reservation fee; they’ll probably give you a confirmation number that you’ll take to the museum, where you’ll pay cash for your ticket).
• Private Tour: Take a tour that includes your museum admission. For example, ArtViva Walking Tours offers tours of the Uffizi (€39/person, 2 hours), Accademia (€35/person, 1 hour), and both museums (€94/person, 6 hours including 3-hour town walk; see listing on here).
• Last-Minute Strategies: If you arrive without a reservation, call the reservation number (see “By Phone” previous page); ask your hotelier for help; or head to a booking window, either at Orsanmichele Church (€4 reservation fee, daily 10:00-17:00, along Via de’ Calzaiuoli—see location on map on here) or at the My Accademia Libreria bookstore across from the Accademia’s exit (€4 reservation fee, Tue-Sun 8:15-17:30, closed Mon, Via Ricasoli 105 red—see map on here). It’s also possible to go to the Uffizi’s official ticket office (use door #2 and skirt to the left of the long ticket-buying line), ask if they have any short-notice reservations available, and pay cash (€4 fee, Tue-Sun 8:15-18:35).
This museum houses Michelangelo’s David, the consummate Renaissance statue of the buff, biblical shepherd boy ready to take on the giant. Nearby are some of the master’s other works, including his powerful (unfinished) Prisoners and St. Matthew, as well as a Pietà (possibly by one of his disciples). Florentine Michelangelo Buonarroti, who would work tirelessly through the night, believed that the sculptor was a tool of God, responsible only for chipping away at the stone to let the intended sculpture emerge. Beyond the magic marble are some mildly interesting pre-Renaissance and Renaissance paintings, including a couple of lighter-than-air Botticellis, the plaster model of Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine Women, and a musical instrument collection with an early piano.
Cost and Hours: €6.50, €11 with mandatory special exhibits, additional €4 for recommended reservation, covered by Firenze Card; Tue-Sun 8:15-18:50, closed Mon, last entry 30 minutes before closing; audioguide-€6, Rick Steves audio tour available—see here, Via Ricasoli 60, reservation tel. 055-294-883, www.polomuseale.firenze.it. To avoid long lines in peak season, get the Firenze Card or make reservations (see here).
See the Accademia Tour chapter.
Nearby: Piazza S.S. Annunziata, behind the Accademia, displays lovely Renaissance harmony. Facing the square are two fine buildings: the 15th-century Santissima Annunziata church (worth a peek) and Filippo Brunelleschi’s Hospital of the Innocents (Spedale degli Innocenti, not worth going inside), with terra-cotta medallions by Luca della Robbia. Built in the 1420s, the hospital is considered the first Renaissance building. I love sleeping on this square (at the recommended Hotel Loggiato dei Serviti) and picnicking here during the day (with the riffraff, who remind me of the persistent gap—today as in Medici times—between those who appreciate fine art and those just looking for some cheap wine).
Located one block north of the Accademia, this 15th-century monastery houses the greatest collection anywhere of frescoes and paintings by the early Renaissance master Fra Angelico. The ground floor features the monk’s paintings, along with some works by Fra Bartolomeo. Upstairs are 43 cells decorated by Fra Angelico and his assistants. While the monk/painter was trained in the medieval religious style, he also learned and adopted Renaissance techniques and sensibilities, producing works that blended Christian symbols and Renaissance realism. Don’t miss the cell of Savonarola, the charismatic monk who rode in from the Christian right, threw out the Medici, turned Florence into a theocracy, sponsored “bonfires of the vanities” (burning books, paintings, and so on), and was finally burned himself when Florence decided to change channels.
Cost and Hours: €4, covered by Firenze Card, Tue-Fri 8:15-13:50, Sat 8:15-16:50; also open 8:15-13:50 on first, third, and fifth Mon and 8:15-16:50 on second and fourth Sun of each month; last entry 30 minutes before closing, reservations possible but unnecessary, on Piazza San Marco, tel. 055-238-8608, www.polomuseale.firenze.it.
See the Museum of San Marco Tour chapter.
This unusual gem of a museum features room after room of exquisite mosaics of inlaid marble and other stones. The Medici loved colorful stone tabletops and floors; you’ll even find landscapes and portraits (find Cosimo I in Room I). Upstairs, you’ll see wooden work benches from the Medici workshop (1588), complete with foot-powered power tools. Rockhounds can browse 500 different stones (lapis lazuli, quartz, agate, marble, and so on) and the tools used to cut and inlay them. Borrow the English descriptions in each room.
Cost and Hours: €4, covered by Firenze Card, Mon-Sat 8:15-14:00, closed Sun, last entry 30 minutes before closing, around corner from Accademia at Via degli Alfani 78, tel. 055-265-1357, www.opificiodellepietredure.it.
This red-brick dome—which looks like the Duomo’s little sister—was the parish church of the Medici and is the burial place of the family’s founder, Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici (1360-1429). Brunelleschi designed the building, and Donatello worked on the bronze pulpits inside. The Medici Chapels, with Michelangelo’s famous tomb sculptures, are part of the church complex (see listing, later).
Cost and Hours: €3.50, buy ticket just inside cloister to the left of the facade, €6 combo-ticket covers Laurentian Medici Library; Mon-Sat 10:00-17:30, Sun 13:30-17:30 March-Oct, closed Sun Nov-Feb; last entry 30 minutes before closing, on Piazza di San Lorenzo, tel. 055-214-042, www.operamedicealaurenziana.it.
Visiting the Church: The exterior is big, ugly, and unfinished because Pope Leo X (also a Medici) pulled the plug on the project due to dwindling funds—after Michelangelo had labored on a facade plan for four years (1516-1520). Inside, though, is the spirit of Florence in the 1420s, with gray-and-white columns and arches in perfect Renaissance symmetry and simplicity. Brunelleschi designed the church interior to receive an even, diffused light. The Medici coat of arms (a gold shield with six round balls) decorates the ceiling, and everywhere are images of St. Lawrence, the Medici patron saint who was martyred on a grill.
Highlights of the church include two finely sculpted Donatello pulpits (in the nave). In the Martelli Chapel (left wall of the left transept), Filippo Lippi’s Annunciation features a smiling angel greeting Mary in a sharply 3-D courtyard. Light shines through the vase in the foreground, like the Holy Spirit entering Mary’s womb. The Old Sacristy (far left corner), designed by Brunelleschi, was the burial chapel for the Medici. Bronze doors by Donatello flank the sacristy’s small altar. Overhead, the dome above the altar shows the exact arrangement of the heavens on July 4, 1442, leaving scholars to hypothesize about why that particular date was used. Back in the nave, the round inlaid marble in the floor before the main altar marks where Cosimo the Elder—Lorenzo the Magnificent’s grandfather—is buried. Assistants in the church provide information on request, and the information brochure is free and in English.
Other Church Sights: Outside the church, just to the left of the main door, is a cloister with peek-a-boo Duomo views and the San Lorenzo Museum. This collection of fancy reliquaries is included in your church admission, but is hardly worth the walk, except to see Donatello’s grave. Also in the cloister is the Laurentian Medici Library (€3, €6 combo-ticket with church, generally open Mon-Sat 9:30-13:00, closed Sun, tel. 055-210-760, www.bmlonline.it). The library, largely designed by Michelangelo, stars his impressive staircase, which widens imperceptibly as it descends. Michelangelo also did the walls in the vestibule (entrance) that feature empty niches, scrolls, and oddly tapering pilasters. Climb the stairs and enter the Reading Room—a long, rectangular hall with a coffered-wood ceiling—designed by Michelangelo to host scholars enjoying the Medicis’ collection of manuscripts.
Nearby: A street market bustles outside the church (see listing, later). Around the back end of the church is the entrance to the Medici Chapels and the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo for a later generation of dead Medici.
The burial site of the ruling Medici family in the Church of San Lorenzo includes the dusky Crypt; the big, domed Chapel of Princes; and the magnificent New Sacristy, featuring architecture, tombs, and statues almost entirely by Michelangelo. The Medici made their money in textiles and banking, and patronized a dream team of Renaissance artists that put Florence on the cultural map. Michelangelo, who spent his teen years living with the Medici, was commissioned to create the family’s final tribute.
Cost and Hours: €6, €9 with mandatory exhibits, covered by Firenze Card; April-Oct Tue-Sat 8:15-16:50, Nov-March Tue-Sat 8:15-13:50; also open second and fourth Mon and first, third, and fifth Sun of each month; last entry 30 minutes before closing; reservations possible but unnecessary, audioguide-€6, modest dress required, tel. 055-238-8602, www.polomuseale.firenze.it.
See the Medici Chapels Tour chapter.
Florence’s vast open-air market sprawls around the Church of San Lorenzo. Most of the leather stalls are run by Iranians selling South American leather that was tailored in Italy. Prices are soft (daily 9:00-19:00, closed Mon in winter, between the Duomo and train station).
Florence’s giant iron-and-glass-covered central market, a wonderland of picturesque produce, is fun to explore. While the nearby San Lorenzo Market—with its garment stalls in the streets—feels like a step up from a haphazard flea market, the Mercato Centrale retains a Florentine elegance. Wander around. You’ll see parts of the cow you’d never dream of eating (no, that’s not a turkey neck), enjoy generous free samples, watch pasta being made, and have your pick of plenty of fun eateries sloshing out cheap and tasty pasta to locals (Mon-Fri 7:00-14:00, Sat 7:00-17:00, closed Sun). For eating ideas in and around the market, see here.
Lorenzo the Magnificent’s home is worth a look for its art. The tiny Chapel of the Magi contains colorful Renaissance gems such as the Procession of the Magi frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli. The former library has a Baroque ceiling fresco by Luca Giordano, a prolific artist from Naples known as “Fast Luke” (Luca fa presto) for his speedy workmanship. While the Medici originally occupied this 1444 house, in the 1700s it became home to the Riccardi family, who added the Baroque flourishes.
Cost and Hours: €7, covered by Firenze Card, Thu-Tue 9:00-18:00, closed Wed, last entry 30 minutes before closing, ticket entrance is north of the main gated entrance, video-guide-€4, Via Cavour 3, tel. 055-276-0340, www.palazzo-medici.it.
See the Medici-Riccardi Palace Tour chapter.
Two different-but-similar entrepreneurial establishments—Le Macchine di Leonardo da Vinci and Museo Leonardo da Vinci—are several blocks apart and show off reproductions of Leonardo’s ingenious inventions. Either one is fun for anyone who wants to crank the shaft and spin the ball bearings of Leonardo’s fertile imagination. While there are no actual historic artifacts, each museum shows several dozen of Leonardo’s inventions and experiments made into working models. You might see a full-size armored tank, walk into a chamber of mirrors, operate a rotating crane, or watch experiments in flying. The exhibits are described in English, and you’re encouraged to touch and play with many of the models—it’s great for kids. The Museo has larger scale models; Le Macchine has better visitor information.
Cost and Hours: Le Macchine di Leonardo da Vinci—€7, €2 discount with this book, April-Oct daily 9:30-19:30; Nov-March Mon-Fri 11:00-17:00, Sat-Sun 9:30-19:30; for €1 extra they’ll throw in a slice of pizza and a Coke, in Galleria Michelangelo at Via Cavour 21; tel. 055-295-264, www.macchinedileonardo.com. Museo Leonardo da Vinci—€7, €0.50 discount with this book, daily April-Oct 10:00-19:00, Nov-March 10:00-18:00, Via dei Servi 66 red, tel. 055-282-966, www.mostredileonardo.com.
The following Duomo-related sights are all covered by a single combo-ticket (€10, sold at all the sights and also online, www.operaduomo.firenze.it). This ticket admits you to the Baptistery, dome, Campanile, Duomo Museum, and church crypt (the Duomo itself is free). The rarely crowded Duomo Museum and the Centro Arte e Cultura (a few steps north of the Baptistery at Piazza di San Giovanni 7) can be good places to buy your ticket.
The Firenze Card (see here) also covers all of these sights (except the uninteresting crypt).
Florence’s Gothic cathedral has the third-longest nave in Christendom. The church’s noisy neo-Gothic facade from the 1870s is covered with pink, green, and white Tuscan marble. The cathedral’s claim to artistic fame is Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome—the first Renaissance dome and the model for domes to follow. Massive crowds line up to see the huge church: Although it’s a major sight (and free), it’s not worth a long wait. To avoid the lines, go late, as crowds tend to subside by late afternoon.
Cost and Hours: Cathedral interior—free; Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00, Thu until 16:00 May and Oct, until 16:30 Nov-April; Sat 10:00-16:45, Sun 13:30-16:45, audioguide-€5, free English tours offered but fill up fast, modest dress code enforced, tel. 055-230-2885, www.operaduomo.firenze.it.
(See “Duomo Self-Guided Tour” map, here.)
Self-Guided Tour: Enter the Duomo (from Latin domus, as it’s the “house” of God). 
Survey the huge nave—it’s 500 feet long and 300 feet wide. The structural elements are unabashedly highlighted by the gray stone and cream-colored filling. In medieval times, engineers weren’t accustomed to spanning such distances, so they used iron support bars between the columns to ensure stability. A church has been on this spot since the fall of Rome in c. A.D. 500. In the crypt, you can see the floor of the earlier church, along with Brunelleschi’s tomb—but as there’s little to see and it’s sparsely explained, it’s not worth a visit (€3, down the staircase in the nave near the exit, Brunelleschi’s tomb is visible for free from the crypt’s bookstore).
In 1296, the present church was begun under the architect 
Arnolfo di Cambio (see his bust on the left wall, inside a round medallion, second medallion from the entrance). Arnolfo, shown here holding the Duomo’s blueprint, also built the Palazzo Vecchio and Santa Croce Church. Construction continued under 
Giotto (his bust is on the right wall, opposite Arnolfo), who started the church’s Campanile (and also helped to invent modern painting).
By 1420, the nave was done, except for a 140-foot-wide hole in the roof over the altar. 
Filippo Brunelleschi (first medallion on the right wall) covered that with the famous dome that helped define the Renaissance. Finally, in the 19th century, the church was completed with a multicolored facade by 
Emilio de Fabris (mustachioed bust in the first medallion on the left wall).
Above the main entrance is a 
huge clock, painted by Paolo Uccello (1443). It still works. It’s a 24-hour clock, starting with sunset as the first hour, and turning counterclockwise.
As you stroll down the nave, notice the equestrian portraits on your left. The church, originally financed by the city of Florence, honors great (secular) men, such as 
General John Hawkwood (on horseback; 1436, it’s the second horse picture, colored green). Paolo Uccello wowed Florence by creating this 3-D illusion of an equestrian statue on the flat wall. Farther up the left (north) wall is a painting of Florence’s great poet 
Dante. He holds his Divine Comedy, points toward Hell (Inferno), puts his back to Mount Purgatory, and turns toward Paradise—its skyline none other than that of Florence itself.
The 
altar area is octagonal, echoing the shape of the Baptistery. At the base of the crucifix is a high-backed wooden chair—the cathedra of Florence’s bishop, which makes the Duomo a “cathedral.” Standing beneath the dome, notice how it stretches halfway into the transepts—that was one big hole Brunelleschi had to cover. Look up 300 feet, into the dome, to see the expansive (if artistically uninteresting) 
Last Judgment by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari. From their graves, the dead rise into a multilevel heaven to be judged by a radiant Christ. Beneath Christ, Mary intercedes. Below them is the pagan god Kronos with the hourglass and a skeleton—symbolizing that mankind’s time is up, and they (we) are entering eternity.
Just below that, on the base that supports the dome, is a 
round stained-glass window by Donatello, showing The Coronation of the Virgin—demonstrating that human beings can eventually be exalted through the Christian faith.
For a grand view into the cathedral from the base of the dome, a peek at some of the tools used in the dome’s construction, a chance to see Brunelleschi’s “dome-within-a-dome” construction, a glorious Florence view from the top, and the equivalent of 463 plunges on a Renaissance StairMaster, climb the dome. For more on the dome, see here of the Renaissance Walk chapter.
Cost and Hours: €10 ticket covers all Duomo sights, covered by Firenze Card, Mon-Fri 8:30-19:00, Sat 8:30-17:40, closed Sun, last entry 40 minutes before closing, arrive by 8:30 or drop by very late for the fewest crowds, enter from outside church on north side, tel. 055-230-2885.
The 270-foot bell tower has 50-some fewer steps than the Duomo’s dome (but that’s still 414 steps—no elevator); offers a faster, relatively less-crowded climb; and has a view of that magnificent dome to boot. On the way up, there are several intermediate levels where you can catch your breath and enjoy ever-higher views. The stairs narrow as you go up, creating a mosh-pit bottleneck near the very top—but the views are worth the hassle. While the various viewpoints are enclosed by cage-like bars, the gaps are big enough to let you snap great photos.
Cost and Hours: €10 ticket covers all Duomo sights, covered by Firenze Card, daily 8:30-19:30, last entry 40 minutes before closing.
See here of the Renaissance Walk chapter.
Michelangelo said the bronze doors of this octagonal building were fit to be the gates of paradise. Check out the gleaming copies of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s bronze doors facing the Duomo (the original panels are in the Duomo Museum). Making a breakthrough in perspective, Ghiberti used mathematical laws to create the illusion of receding distance on a basically flat surface.
The doors on the north side of the building were designed by Ghiberti when he was young; he’d won the honor and opportunity by beating Brunelleschi in a competition (the rivals’ original entries are in the Bargello).
Inside, sit and savor the medieval mosaic ceiling, where it’s always Judgment Day and Jesus is giving the ultimate thumbs-up and thumbs-down.
Cost and Hours: €10 ticket covers all Duomo sights, covered by Firenze Card (get free paper ticket from ticket office), interior open Mon-Sat 11:15-19:00 except first Sat of month 8:30-14:00, Sun 8:30-14:00, last entry 30 minutes before closing, audioguide-€2, photos allowed inside, tel. 055-230-2885. Buy your tickets at the office just across the piazza. The (facsimile) bronze doors are on the exterior, so they are always “open” and viewable.
See here of the Renaissance Walk. For more on the famous doors, see here of the Bargello Tour chapter and here of the Duomo Museum Tour chapter.
The underrated cathedral museum, behind the church, is great if you like sculpture (parts may be closed for renovation during your visit). On the ground floor, look for a late Michelangelo Pietà and statues from the original Baptistery facade. Upstairs, you’ll find Brunelleschi’s models for his dome, as well as Donatello’s anorexic Mary Magdalene and playful choir loft. The museum features Ghiberti’s original bronze “Gates of Paradise” panels (the ones on the Baptistery’s doors today are copies).
Cost and Hours: €10 ticket covers all Duomo sights, covered by Firenze Card, Mon-Sat 9:00-19:30, Sun 9:00-13:45, last entry 45 minutes before closing, one of the few museums in Florence always open on Mon, audioguide-€5, guided tours available in summer (see here), Via del Proconsolo 9, tel. 055-282-226 or 055-230-7885, www.operaduomo.firenze.it.
See the Duomo Museum Tour chapter.
This underappreciated sculpture museum is in a former police station-turned-prison that looks like a mini-Palazzo Vecchio. It has Donatello’s very influential, painfully beautiful David (the first male nude to be sculpted in a thousand years), works by Michelangelo, and rooms of Medici treasures. Moody Donatello, who embraced realism with his lifelike statues, set the personal and artistic style for many Renaissance artists to follow. The best pieces are in the ground-floor room at the foot of the outdoor staircase (with fine works by Michelangelo, Cellini, and Giambologna) and in the “Donatello room” directly above (with plenty by Donatello, including two different Davids, plus Ghiberti and Brunelleschi’s revolutionary dueling door panels and yet another David by Verrocchio).
Cost and Hours: €4, €7 with mandatory exhibits, covered by Firenze Card, Tue-Sat 8:15-13:50, until 16:50 during special exhibits (generally April-Oct); also open first, third, and fifth Mon and the second and fourth Sun of each month; last entry 30 minutes before closing, reservations possible but unnecessary, audio-guide-€6, Via del Proconsolo 4, reservation tel. 055-238-8606, www.polomuseale.firenze.it.
See the Bargello Tour chapter.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the poet who gave us The Divine Comedy, is the Shakespeare of Italy, the father of the modern Italian language, and the face on the country’s €2 coin. However, most Americans know little of him, and this museum is not the ideal place to start. Even though it has English information, this small museum (in a building near where he likely lived) assumes visitors have prior knowledge of the poet. It’s not a medieval-flavored house with period furniture—it’s just a small, low-tech museum about Dante. Still, Dante lovers can trace his interesting life and works through pictures, models, and artifacts. And because the exhibits are as much about medieval Florence as they are about the man, novices can learn a little about the city Dante lived in.
Cost and Hours: €4, covered by Firenze Card, April-Sept daily 10:00-18:00; Oct-March Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed Mon; last entry 30 minutes before closing, near the Bargello at Via Santa Margherita 1, tel. 055-219-416, www.museocasadidante.it.
Self-Guided Tour: As you traverse the three floors of this museum, you’ll walk through Dante’s life—from starry-eyed youth to bitter exile, to the beatific legacy of his poetic genius. Some call Dante the father of the Renaissance. If you’re new to the poet, this tour may help the museum seem less Dante-ing.
First Floor: Begin in Room I. Dante was born into the noble Alighieri family (see his family tree) and baptized in the Baptistery (see old sketch of it). His plan in life was to be a doctor (glass cases of herbs).
Dante’s life changed dramatically when he set eyes on Beatrice (look for a starry-sky picture of the event in Room II), and fell in love with her. They ended up marrying other people, but Beatrice remained Dante’s muse, inspiring him to write lofty poetry.
A model of Dante’s Florence shows it as a walled city of many towers, housing feuding clans (Room III). Dante served in Florence’s army at the decisive Battle of Campaldino, which established the city’s dominance (Room IV).
Second Floor: Dante entered civic life, serving as the ambassador to Pope Boniface VIII. Exhibits in Room V explain the confusing politics that divided Florence between the victorious Black Guelphs and the defeated Whites, which included Dante. Politically incorrect Dante was exiled (in glass case, see the Book of the Nail—“Libro del Chiodo”—that condemns him), and never again returned to his beloved Florence. Dante probably would have liked the flattering modern portrait of him (hanging high above the book). Opposite the book is a reconstruction of a medieval bedroom—peer through the glass to see a more realistic painting of him, in red, forlorn, having received the news of his exile, with his distinctive ear-flap cap, hooked nose, and jutting chin.
Dante roamed Italy and was received by nobles (Room VI). In exile, he worked on his magnum opus, The Divine Comedy. Copies of paintings by famous artists and a video of scenes from The Divine Comedy in the far room demonstrate just how much Dante inspired the imagination of later artists. He died and was buried in Ravenna in 1321. You’ll see photos of the tomb and of his memorial in Florence’s Santa Croce Church (see here).
Top Floor: Dante’s most enduring legacy is The Divine Comedy. The entire poem is displayed on the wall alongside pictures of Dante’s cosmos: Hell (a spiral-shaped hole through the earth), Purgatory (a spiral-shaped mountain), and Paradise (the concentric orbits of satellites that surround earth).
In the ninth century, this loggia (covered courtyard) was a market used for selling grain (stored upstairs). Later, it was enclosed to make a church.
Outside are dynamic, statue-filled niches, some with accompanying symbols from the guilds that sponsored the art. Donatello’s St. Mark and St. George (on the northeast and northwest corners) step out boldly in the new Renaissance style.
The interior has a glorious Gothic tabernacle (1359), which houses the painted wooden panel that depicts Madonna delle Grazie (1346). The iron bars spanning the vaults were the Italian Gothic answer to the French Gothic external buttresses. Look for the rectangular holes in the piers—these were once wheat chutes that connected to the upper floors. The museum upstairs (limited hours) displays most of the originals from the niches outside the building, by Ghiberti, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and others.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 10:00-17:00 (except closed Mon in Aug), free upstairs museum open only Mon, niche sculptures always viewable from the outside. You can give the Madonna della Grazie a special thanks if you’re in town when an evening concert is held inside the Orsanmichele (tickets sold on day of concert from door facing Via de’ Calzaiuoli; also books Uffizi and Accademia tickets, ticket window open daily 10:00-17:00).
See here of the Renaissance Walk chapter.
This market loggia is how Orsanmichele looked before it became a church. Originally a silk and straw market, Mercato Nuovo still functions as a rustic yet touristy market (at the intersection of Via Calimala and Via Porta Rossa). Prices are soft, but the San Lorenzo Market (listed earlier) is much better for haggling. Notice the circled X in the center, marking the spot where people landed after being hoisted up to the top and dropped as punishment for bankruptcy. You’ll also find Il Porcellino (a statue of a wild boar nicknamed “The Piglet”), which people rub and give coins to ensure their return to Florence. This new copy, while only a few years old, already has a polished snout. At the back corner, a wagon sells tripe (cow innards) sandwiches—a local favorite (daily 9:00-20:00).
This five-story, late-medieval tower house offers a rare look at a noble dwelling built in the 14th century. Only the ground-floor loggia and first floor are open to visitors, though the remaining floors (more living quarters and the kitchen) can be visited with an escort (usually at 10:00, 11:00, and 12:00; call ahead to be sure there’s space or ask when you arrive). Like other buildings of the age, the exterior is festooned with 14th-century horse-tethering rings made from iron, torch holders, and poles upon which to hang laundry and fly flags. Inside, though the furnishings are pretty sparse, you’ll see richly painted walls, a long chute that functioned as a well, plenty of fireplaces, a lace display, and even an indoor “outhouse.” While there’s little posted information, you can borrow English descriptions in each room.
Cost and Hours: €2, covered by Firenze Card, Tue-Sat 8:15-13:50; also open first, third, and fifth Sun and second and fourth Mon of each month; Via Porta Rossa 13, tel. 055-238-8610.
This large square sits on the site of the original Roman Forum. Florence was a riverside garrison town set below the older town of Fiesole—essentially a rectangular fort with the square marking the intersection of the two main roads (Via Corso and Via Roma). The square’s lone column—nicknamed the “belly button of Florence”—once marked the intersection (the Roman streets were about nine feet below the present street level). Above ground, all that survives of Roman Florence is this column and the city’s street plan. But beneath the stones lie the remains of the ancient city. Look at any map of Florence today, and you’ll see the ghost of Rome in its streets: a grid-plan city center surrounded by what was the Roman wall. The Braille model of the city (in front of the Paszkowski café) makes the design clear.
The square was the site of the Jewish quarter in the 1500s; in 1571, Cosimo I had it walled in and made into a ghetto.
Today’s piazza, framed by a triumphal arch, is a nationalistic statement celebrating the unification of Italy. (Because it’s so new, the square is not a favorite of locals.) Florence, the capital of the newly united nation of Italy (1865-1870) until Rome was “liberated” (from the Vatican), lacked a square worthy of this grand new country. So in the 1860s, the city was spiffed up for its stint as the capital—the Jewish ghetto was razed, and the city walls were taken down to make grand European-style boulevards and open up an imposing, modern forum surrounded by stately circa-1890 buildings. Notice the proud statement atop the triumphal arch, which proclaims “The squalor of the ancient city is given a new life.” Atop the lone column stands a copy of a Donatello statue of a pagan goddess of abundance, overseeing the market with her cornucopia full of produce.
Between here and the river, you’ll find characteristic parts of the medieval city that give a sense of what this neighborhood felt like before it was bulldozed. Back in the Middle Ages, writers described Florence as so densely built up that when it rained, pedestrians didn’t get wet. Torches were used to light the lanes in midday. The city was prickly with noble families’ towers (like San Gimignano) and had Romeo and Juliet-type family feuds. But with the rise of city power (c. 1300), no noble family was allowed to have an architectural ego trip taller than the Palazzo Vecchio, and nearly all other towers were taken down.
Venerable cafés and stores line the square. During the 19th century, intellectuals met in cafés here. Gilli, on the northeast corner, is a favorite for its grand atmosphere and tasty sweets (cheap if you stand at the bar, expensive to sit down) while the recommended Paszkowski has good lunch options (see here). The department store La Rinascente, facing Piazza della Repubblica, is one of the city’s mainstays (WC on fourth floor, continue up the stairs from there to the bar with a rooftop terrace for great Duomo and city views).
The former home of the wealthy Strozzi family, great rivals of the Medici, offers a textbook example of a Renaissance palace (built between 1489 and 1538). Peek into its grand courtyard and imagine how well-to-do families competed to commission grandiose structures (and artistic masterpieces) to promote their status and wealth. Today it hosts top-notch special exhibitions, usually uncrowded and well described in English.
Cost and Hours: Free entry to courtyard and café, both open daily 8:30-20:00; gallery—€12.50, price and hours can change with exhibits, but often daily 9:00-20:00, Thu until 23:00, last entry one hour before closing, discounts with train or bus tickets; just west of Piazza della Repubblica at Piazza Strozzi, tel. 055-264-5155, www.palazzostrozzi.org.
This greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere features works by Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, and Michelangelo, and a roomful of Botticellis, including the Birth of Venus. Northern Renaissance masters (Dürer, Rembrandt, and Rubens) are also well represented. Start with Giotto’s early stabs at Renaissance-style realism, then move on through the 3-D experimentation of the early 1400s to the real thing rendered by the likes of Botticelli and Leonardo. Finish off with the High Renaissance—Michelangelo, Rubens, and Titian. Because only 600 visitors are allowed inside the building at any one time, there’s generally a very long wait. The good news: no Louvre-style mob scenes inside. The museum is nowhere near as big as it is great. Few tourists spend more than two hours inside. Nearly everything is displayed on one comfortable, U-shaped floor in chronological order from the 13th through 17th century. The left (east) wing, starring the Florentine Middle Ages to the Renaissance, is the best. The connecting corridor contains sculpture, and the right (west) wing focuses on the High Renaissance and Baroque.
Cost and Hours: €6.50, €11 with mandatory special exhibits, extra €4 for recommended reservation, cash required to pick up tickets reserved by phone, covered by Firenze Card, Tue-Sun 8:15-18:35, closed Mon, last entry 30 minutes before closing, audio-guide-€6, Rick Steves audio tour available—see here, museum info tel. 055-238-8651, reservation tel. 055-294-883, www.uffizi.firenze.it. To avoid the long ticket lines, get a Firenze Card (see here) or make reservations (see here).
See the Uffizi Gallery Tour chapter.
In the Uffizi’s Courtyard: Enjoy the courtyard (free), full of artists and souvenir stalls. (Swing by after dinner when it’s completely empty.) The surrounding statues honor earthshaking Florentines: artists (Michelangelo), philosophers (Niccolò Machiavelli), scientists (Galileo), writers (Dante), cartographers (Amerigo Vespucci), and the great patron of so much Renaissance thinking, Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici.
See here of the Renaissance Walk chapter.
Nearby: The Loggia dei Lanzi, across from the Palazzo Vecchio and facing the square, is where Renaissance Florentines once debated the issues of the day; a collection of Medici-approved sculptures now stand (or writhe) under its canopy, including Cellini’s bronze Perseus.
See here of the Renaissance Walk chapter.
This castle-like fortress with the 300-foot spire dominates Florence’s main square. In Renaissance times, it was the Town Hall, where citizens pioneered the once-radical notion of self-rule. Its official name—the Palazzo della Signoria—refers to the elected members of the city council. In 1540, the tyrant Cosimo I de’ Medici made the building his personal palace, redecorating the interior in lavish style. Today the building functions once again as the Town Hall.
Entry to the ground-floor courtyard is free, so even if you don’t go upstairs to the museum, you can step inside and feel the essence of the Medici. Paying customers can see Cosimo’s (fairly) lavish royal apartments, decorated with (fairly) top-notch paintings and statues by Michelangelo and Donatello. The highlight is the Grand Hall (Salone dei Cinquecento), a 13,000-square-foot hall lined with huge frescoes and interesting statues.
Cost and Hours: Courtyard—free to enter, museum—€6.50, tower climb-€6.50 (418 steps), museum plus tower-€10, museum and tower covered by Firenze Card (first pick up ticket at ground-floor information desk before entering museum); Fri-Wed 9:00-19:00, until 24:00 April-Sept, Thu 9:00-14:00 year-round; tower keeps similar but shorter hours, ticket office closes one hour earlier, videoguide-€5, English tours available (see here), Piazza della Signoria, tel. 055-276-8224, www.museicivicifiorentini.it.
See the Palazzo Vecchio Tour chapter.
Florence’s most famous bridge has long been lined with shops. Originally these were butcher shops that used the river as a handy disposal system. Then, when the powerful and princely Medici built the Vasari Corridor (described next) over the bridge, the stinky meat market was replaced by the more elegant gold and silver shops that remain there to this day. A statue of Benvenuto Cellini, the master goldsmith of the Renaissance, stands in the center, ignored by the flood of tacky tourism.
For more about the bridge, see here of the Renaissance Walk chapter and here of the Oltrarno Walk chapter.
This elevated and enclosed passageway, constructed in 1565, gave the Medici a safe, private commute over Ponte Vecchio from their Pitti Palace home to their Palazzo Vecchio offices. It’s open only by special appointment, and while enticing to lovers of Florence, the actual tour experience isn’t much. Entering from inside the Uffizi Gallery, you walk along a modern-feeling hall (wide enough to carry a Medici on a sedan chair) across Ponte Vecchio, and end in the Pitti Palace. Half the corridor is lined with Europe’s best collection of self-portraits, along with other paintings (mostly 17th- and 18th-century) that seem like they didn’t make the cut to be hung on the walls of the Uffizi. The best way to get inside the corridor is to go with a tour company such as Florencetown (€85, Tue-Sun at 15:30, tel. 055-012-3994, www.florencetown.com) or ArtViva (€84, Tue and Sat at 13:30, tel. 055-264-5033, www.artviva.com). The three-hour tours include a tour of the Uffizi.
When we think of the Florentine Renaissance, we think of visual arts: painting, mosaics, architecture, and sculpture. But when the visual arts declined in the 1600s (abused and co-opted by political powers), music and science flourished in Florence. The first opera was written here. And Florence hosted many scientific breakthroughs, as you’ll see in this fascinating collection of Renaissance and later clocks, telescopes, maps, and ingenious gadgets. Trace the technical innovations as modern science emerges from 1000 to 1900. Some of the most talked-about bottles in Florence are the ones here that contain Galileo’s fingers. Exhibits include various tools for gauging the world, from a compass and thermometer to Galileo’s telescopes. Other displays delve into clocks, pumps, medicine, and chemistry. It’s friendly, comfortably cool, never crowded, and just a block east of the Uffizi on the Arno River.
Cost and Hours: €9, €22 family ticket, cash only, covered by Firenze Card, Wed-Mon 9:30-18:00, Tue 9:30-13:00, last entry 30 minutes before closing, audioguide-€5, guided tours available—see here, Piazza dei Giudici 1, tel. 055-265-311, www.museogalileo.it.
See the Galileo Science Museum Tour chapter.
This 14th-century Franciscan church, decorated with centuries of precious art, holds the tombs of great Florentines. The loud 19th-century Victorian Gothic facade faces a huge square ringed with tempting shops and littered with tired tourists. Escape into the church and admire its sheer height and spaciousness. Your ticket includes the Pazzi Chapel and a small museum; the complex also houses a leather school.
Cost and Hours: €6, €8.50 combo-ticket with Casa Buonarroti, covered by Firenze Card, Mon-Sat 9:30-17:30, Sun 14:00-17:30, last entry 30 minutes before closing, audioguide-€5, modest dress required, 10-minute walk east of Palazzo Vecchio along Borgo de’ Greci, tel. 055-246-6105, www.santacroceopera.it. The leather school is free and sells church tickets—handy when the church has a long line (daily 10:00-18:00, closed Sun in fall/winter, has own entry behind church plus an entry within the church, www.scuoladelcuoio.com).
See the Santa Croce Tour chapter.
Fans enjoy a house standing on property once owned by Michelangelo. The house was built after Michelangelo’s death by the artist’s grand-nephew, who turned it into a little museum honoring his famous relative. You’ll see some of Michelangelo’s early, less-than-monumental statues and a few sketches. Be warned: Michelangelo’s descendants sold off many of the drawings by their famous relative; only a few sketches and sculptures here are actually by Michelangelo.
Cost and Hours: €6.50, €8.50 combo-ticket with Santa Croce Church, covered by Firenze Card, Wed-Mon 10:00-17:00, closed Tue, English descriptions, Via Ghibellina 70, tel. 055-241-752, www.casabuonarroti.it.
Visiting the Museum: Climb the stairs to the first-floor landing, where you come face-to-face with portraits (by his contemporaries) of 60-year-old Michelangelo, the Buonarroti family walking sticks, and some leather shoes thought to be Michelangelo’s.
The room to the left of the landing displays two relief panels, Michelangelo’s earliest known sculptures. Teenage Michelangelo carved every inch of the Battle of the Centaurs (1490-1492). This squirming tangle of battling nudes shows his fascination with anatomy. He kept this in his personal collection all his life. The Madonna of the Stairs (c. 1490) is as contemplative as Centaurs is dramatic. Throughout his long career, bipolar Michelangelo veered between these two styles—moving or still, emotional or thoughtful, pagan or Christian.
In an adjoining room is the big wooden model of a project Michelangelo took on but never completed: the facade of the Church of San Lorenzo (which remains bare brick to this day). The reclining river god was a model for one of the statues in the Medici Chapels.
The small room adjoining the landing is for the museum’s vast collection of Michelangelo’s sketches. To preserve the sensitive artworks, only a handful are displayed at a time. Vasari claimed that Michelangelo wanted to burn his preliminary sketches, lest anyone think him less than perfect.
The room to the right of the landing displays small clay and wax models—some by Michelangelo, some by pupils—that the artist used to sketch out ideas for his statues. On your way to the exit (via a side staircase), you’ll pass by a scale model of the wooden cart used to transport the 12,000-pound David from the Duomo to the Palazzo Vecchio.
And finally, true Michelangelomaniacs can complete their visit by exiting outside to gaze at Via Ghibellina 67 (next door to a farmacia). This humble doorway, lined with gray-green stone, was once the entrance to Michelangelo’s actual residence, circa 1520.
This 13th-century Dominican church is rich in art. Along with crucifixes by Giotto and Brunelleschi, it contains every textbook’s example of the early Renaissance mastery of perspective: The Trinity by Masaccio. The exquisite chapels trace art in Florence from medieval times to early Baroque. The outside of the church features a dash of Romanesque (horizontal stripes), Gothic (pointed arches), Renaissance (geometric shapes), and Baroque (scrolls). Step in and look down the 330-foot nave for a 14th-century optical illusion.
Next to the church are the cloisters and the museum, located in the old Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella. The museum’s highlight is the breathtaking Spanish Chapel, with walls covered by a series of frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto.
Cost and Hours: Church and museum—€5, covered by Firenze Card, Mon-Thu 9:00-17:30, Fri 11:00-17:30, Sat 9:00-17:00, Sun 12:00-17:00 July-Sept (from 13:00 Oct-June), last entry 45 minutes before closing, audioguide-€5, modest dress required, main entrance on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, Firenze Card holders must enter behind the church at Piazza della Stazione 4, tel. 055-219-257, www.museicivicifiorentini.it or www.chiesasantamarianovella.it.
See the Santa Maria Novella Tour chapter.
This palatial perfumery has long been run by the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella. Thick with the lingering aroma of centuries of spritzes, it started as the herb garden of the Santa Maria Novella monks. Well-known even today for its top-quality products, it is extremely Florentine. Pick up the history sheet from the rack, and wander deep into the shop. The main sales room, where you can sample various cosmetics and perfumes, was originally a chapel, the middle (green) room offers items for the home, and the historic third room, which sells herbal products, is where the pharmacy was originally established in 1612. From here, you can peek at one of Santa Maria Novella’s cloisters with its dreamy frescoes and imagine a time before Vespas and tourists.
Cost and Hours: Free but shopping encouraged, inconsistent hours but daily likely from 9:30 or 10:30 until 19:30, a block from Piazza Santa Maria Novella, 100 yards down Via della Scala at #16—see map on here, tel. 055-216-276, www.smnovella.com.
The Oltrarno Walk chapter connects several of these sights, including the Pitti Palace, Brancacci Chapel, and Santo Spirito Church.
The imposing Pitti Palace, several blocks southwest of Ponte Vecchio, has many separate museums and two gardens. The main reason to visit is to see the Palatine Gallery, but you can’t buy a ticket for the gallery alone; to see it you’ll need to buy ticket #1, which includes the Palatine Gallery, Royal Apartments, and Gallery of Modern Art. Ticket #2 covers the Boboli and Bardini Gardens, Costume Gallery, Argenti/Silverworks Museum (the Medici treasures), and Porcelain Museum. Behind door #3 is a combo-ticket covering the whole shebang.
Cost and Hours: Ticket #1—€8.50 (€13 with special exhibitions), Tue-Sun 8:15-18:50, closed Mon, last entry one hour before closing. Ticket #2—€7 (€10 with special exhibitions), daily June-Aug 8:15-19:30, April-May and Sept 8:15-18:30, March and Oct 8:15-17:30, Nov-Feb 8:15-16:30, closed first and last Mon of each month, last entry one hour before closing. Ticket #3—€11.50, valid 3 days, usually not available during special exhibitions. Reservations are possible but unnecessary, and everything is covered by the Firenze Card. The €6 audioguide explains the sprawling palace. Tel. 055-238-8614, www.polomuseale.firenze.it.
See the Pitti Palace Tour chapter.
For the best look at works by Masaccio (one of the early Renaissance pioneers of perspective in painting), see his restored frescoes here. Instead of medieval religious symbols, Masaccio’s paintings feature simple, strong human figures with facial expressions that reflect their emotions. The accompanying works of Masolino and Filippino Lippi provide illuminating contrasts.
Cost and Hours: €6, cash only, covered by Firenze Card; free and easy reservations required, though it’s usually possible to just show up and get an entry time on weekdays and any day off-season, especially if you arrive before 15:30; Mon and Wed-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 13:00-17:00, closed Tue, last entry 30 minutes before closing; free 20-minute film, videoguide-€1, knees and shoulders must be covered; in Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, on Piazza del Carmine in the Oltrarno neighborhood; reservations tel. 055-276-8224 or 055-276-8558, ticket desk tel. 055-284-361, www.museicivicifiorentini.it.
See the Brancacci Chapel Tour chapter.
Nearby: The neighborhoods around the church are considered the last surviving bits of old Florence.
This church has a classic Brunelleschi interior—enjoy its pure Renaissance lines (and ignore the later Baroque altar that replaced the original). Notice Brunelleschi’s “dice”—the stone cubes added above the column capitals that contribute to the nave’s playful lightness. The church’s art treasure is a painted, carved wooden crucifix attributed to 17-year-old Michelangelo. The sculptor donated this early work to the monastery in appreciation for allowing him to dissect and learn about bodies. The Michelangelo Crocifisso is displayed in the sacristy, through a door midway down the left side of the nave (if it’s closed, ask someone to let you in). Copies of Michelangelo’s Pietà and Risen Christ flank the nave (near the main door). Beer-drinking, guitar-playing rowdies decorate the church steps.
Cost and Hours: Free, Mon-Tue and Thu-Sat 9:30-12:30 & 16:00-17:30, Sun 16:00-17:30 only, closed Wed, Piazza di Santo Spirito, tel. 055-210-030, www.basilicasantospirito.it.
Overlooking the city from across the river (look for the huge bronze statue of David), this square has a superb view of Florence and the stunning dome of the Duomo (see photo, left).
It’s worth the 30-minute hike, drive (free parking), or bus ride (either #12 or #13 from the southeast corner of the train station, between the pine trees and the bikes—takes 20-30 minutes, longer in bad traffic). It makes sense to take a taxi or ride the bus up and then enjoy the easy downhill walk back into town. An inviting café (open seasonally) with great views is just below the overlook. The best photos are taken from the street immediately below the overlook (go around to the right and down a few steps). Off the west side of the piazza is a somewhat hidden terrace, an excellent place to retreat from the mobs. After dark, the square is packed with school kids licking ice cream and each other. About 200 yards beyond all the tour groups and teenagers is the stark, beautiful, crowd-free, Romanesque San Miniato Church (next listing). A WC is located just off the road, halfway between the two sights.
The hike down is quick and enjoyable. Take the steps between the two bars on the San Miniato Church side of the parking lot (Via San Salvatore al Monte). At the first landing (marked #3), peek into the rose garden (Giardino delle Rose). After a few minutes, you’ll walk through the old wall (Porta San Miniato) and emerge in the delightful little Oltrarno neighborhood of San Niccolò.
According to legend, the martyred St. Minias—this church’s namesake—was beheaded on the banks of the Arno in A.D. 250. He picked up his head and walked here (this was before the #12 bus), where he died and was buried in what became the first Christian cemetery in Florence. In the 11th century, this church was built to house Minias’ remains. Imagine this fine church all alone—without any nearby buildings or fancy stairs—a peaceful refuge where white-robed Benedictine monks could pray and work (their motto: ora et labora). The evening vesper service with the monks chanting in Latin offers a meditative worship experience—a peaceful way to end your visit.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily Easter-mid-Oct 8:00-20:00, in winter 8:30-13:00 & 15:30-19:00, closed sporadically for special occasions, tel. 055-234-2731, www.sanminiatoalmonte.it.
Getting There: It’s about 200 yards above Piazzale Michelangelo. From the station, bus #12 takes you right to the San Miniato al Monte stop (hop off and hike up the grand staircase); bus #13 from the station takes you to Piazzale Michelangelo, from which you’ll hike up the rest of the way.
Gregorian Chants: To experience this mystical medieval space at its full potential, time your visit to coincide with a prayer service of Gregorian chants. In general, these are held each evening at 18:30 and last 30 minutes—but as the schedule is subject to change, double-check with any TI, the church’s website, or call ahead.
Self-Guided Tour: For a thousand years, San Miniato Church—still part of a functioning monastery—has blessed the city that lies at the foot of its hill. Carved into the marble of its threshold of the left door is the Genesis verse “Haec est Porta Coeli” (“This is the Gate of Heaven”).
Facade: The church’s green-and-white marble facade (12th century) is classic Florentine Romanesque, one of the oldest in town. The perfect symmetry is a reminder of the perfection of God. The central mosaic shows Christ flanked by Mary and St. Minias. Minias, who was King of Armenia before his conversion, offers his secular crown to the heavenly king. The eagle on top, with bags of wool in his talons, reminds all who approach the church who paid for it—the wool guild.
Nave: Stepping inside, you enter the closest thing to a holy space that medieval Florentines could create. The “carpet of marble” dates from 1207. The wood ceiling is painted as it was originally. The glittering 13th-century golden mosaic that dominates the dome at the front of the nave repeats the scene on the church’s facade: St. Minias offering his paltry secular crown to the king in heaven.
The Renaissance tabernacle front and center was commissioned by the Medici. It’s a résumé of early Renaissance humanism, with experiments in 3-D paintings (including St. Minias, in red) and a plush canopy of glazed terra-cotta panels by Luca della Robbia.
On the left side of the nave is an exquisite chapel dedicated to Cardinal Jacopo of Portugal. When 26-year-old Jacopo died in Florence (1459), his wealthy family mourned him by adding a chapel to the church (by cutting a hole in the church wall) and hiring the best artists of the day to decorate it. The family could enter their private chapel, take a seat on the throne (on the left), and meditate on the tomb of Jacopo (on the right).
Crypt: The church is designed like a split-level rambler, with staircases on either side of the altar, leading upstairs and down. Downstairs in the crypt, an alabaster window helps create a quiet and mysterious atmosphere. The forest of columns and capitals are all recycled...each from ancient Roman buildings and each different. The floor is paved with the tombstones of long-forgotten big shots. Look through the window in the marble altar to see St. Minias’ name, carved on the box that holds his mortal remains.
Upstairs to the Sacristy: At the staircase to the right of the main altar, notice the sinopia on the wall. A sinopia is a pattern that guides the fresco artist and also allows the patron to have a peek at what the artist intends to create before it’s set in plaster. There’s a sinopia behind every surviving fresco in Florence.
Step upstairs and enter the sacristy (the room on the right), which is beautifully frescoed with scenes from the life of St. Benedict (circa 1350, by a follower of Giotto). Drop €2 into the electronic panel in the corner to light the room for five minutes. The elegantly bearded patron saint of Europe was the founder of the vast network of monasteries that gave the Continent some cohesiveness in the cultural darkness that followed the collapse of Rome. Benedict is shown as an active force for good, with his arm always outstretched: busy blessing, being kissed, preaching, helping, chasing the devil, bringing a man (crushed by a fallen tower) back to life, reaching out even on his death bed. Notice Benedict on the ramp, scooting up to heaven to be welcomed by an angel. And, overseeing everything, in the starry skies of the ceiling, are the four evangelists—each with his book, pen, and symbolic sidekicks.
Outside the Church: Before leaving, stroll through the cemetery behind the church (go right as you exit the church, head through the passage, and turn right again) to marvel at the showy crypts and headstones of Florentine hotshots from the last two centuries. Pinocchio fans take note: Author Carlo Lorenzini (pen name Collodi) was born in Florence and is buried here (from the bell tower, climb the steps to the wall and head right to the relatively nondescript Lorenzini family crypt at #37).
To get to Piazzale Michelangelo, head out and back down the grand staircase, savoring views of Florence along the way.
Perched on a hill overlooking the Arno valley, Fiesole (fee-AY-zoh-lay) gives weary travelers a break in the action and—during the heat of summer—a breezy location from which to admire the city below. It’s a small town with a main square, a few restaurants and shops, a few minor sights, and a great view. The ancient Etruscans knew a good spot when they saw one, and chose to settle here, establishing Fiesole about 400 years before the Romans founded Florence. Wealthy Renaissance families in pre-air-conditioning days also chose Fiesole as a preferred vacation spot, building villas in the surrounding hillsides. Later, 19th-century Romantics spent part of the Grand Tour admiring the vistas, much like the hordes of tourists do today. Most come here for the view—the actual sights pale in comparison to those in Florence. Shutterbugs visit in the morning for the best light, while some prefer the evening for sunset.
Getting to Fiesole: It’s only a half hour away by bus or taxi. From Florence’s Piazza San Marco, take bus #7—enjoying a peek at gardens, vineyards, orchards, and villas—to the last stop, Piazza Mino (3-4/hour, fewer after 21:00 and on Sun, 30 minutes, €1.20, €2 if bought on bus, validate on board; departs Florence from Piazza San Marco to the right of the church; wear your money belt—thieves frequent this bus). Taxis from Florence cost about €25-35 (ride to highest point you want to visit—Ristorante La Reggia for nearby view terrace or Church of San Francesco—then explore downhill).
From the bus stop on Piazza Mino, face the long side of the church (Duomo). The best view terrace, the Church of San Francesco, and Ristorante La Reggia are to the left, up the steep, stone Via San Francesco. The TI and Archaeological Area are behind the Duomo, just to the right of the bell tower. Up the main drag to the right (Via Gramsci), you’ll find the Alcedo pasticceria, the Coop supermarket, and a gelateria. The small street to the far right leads up to a few more panoramic views in a residential neighborhood (Via Giuseppe Verdi). Across the piazza is the restaurant Fiesolano and behind you is Ristorante Aurora.
Tourist Information: The TI, immediately to the right of the Roman Archaeological Area, is a two-minute walk from the bus stop—head behind the church (flexible hours but generally April-Sept daily 10:00-19:00, March and Oct daily 10:00-18:00; Nov-Feb Wed-Mon 10:00-14:00, closed Tue; Via Portigiani 3, tel. 055-596-1311, www.fiesoleforyou.it).
Market Day: A modest selection of food and household items fills Via Portigiani, just off Piazza Mino, on Saturday mornings until 13:00.
Fiesole’s main sights are either free or covered by one €10 combo-ticket, available at the Archaeological Area.
Catch the sunset (and your breath) from the sweeping view terrace just below Ristorante La Reggia, a steep seven-minute hike from the Fiesole bus stop. For overachievers in search of similar views—and a peek at residential Fiesole—climb up the opposite side of the square, along the equally steep road hugging the ridgeline.
For even more hill-climbing, continue up from the view terrace to this charming little church. Its small scale and several colorful altar paintings make this church more enjoyable than Fiesole’s Duomo.
Cost and Hours: Free, Mon-Sat 7:00-19:00, Sun 7:00-11:00 & 12:00-19:00, Via San Francesco 13, tel. 055-59-175.
This eclectic little collection, hidden beneath the Church of San Francesco, includes an Egyptian mummy, ancient coins, Chinese Buddhas, and the in-situ ruins of a third-century Etruscan wall.
Cost and Hours: Free but donation suggested, Tue-Sat 9:30-12:00 & 15:00-18:00, Sun 15:00-18:00, closed Mon, unmarked door inside church leads to cloisters and museum, tel. 055-59-175.
While this church has a drab, 19th-century exterior, the interior is worth a look, if only for the blue-and-white glazed Giovanni della Robbia statue of St. Romulus over the entry door.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 8:00-12:00, across Piazza Mino from the bus stop.
The chief attraction in the Archaeological Area is its Roman theater. Occasionally used today for plays and concerts, the well-preserved theater held up to 2,000 people in its heyday. The site’s other ruins are, well, ruined, and lacking in explanation. But the valley view and peaceful setting are lovely.
The museum, located within the Archaeological Area, imparts insight into Fiesole’s Etruscan and Roman roots with well-displayed artifacts and a few sheets of English description in the corners.
Cost and Hours: €8, except Fri-Sun when an obligatory combo-ticket (€10) adds the Bandini Museum (see next listing), buy tickets from the TI next door, covered by Firenze Card; April-Sept daily 10:00-19:00, March and Oct daily 10:00-18:00; Nov-Feb Wed-Mon 10:00-14:00, closed Tue; behind the Duomo at Via Portigiani 1, www.museidifiesole.it.
This petite museum displays the wooden panels of lesser-known Gothic and Renaissance painters as well as the glazed terra-cotta figures of Andrea della Robbia.
Cost and Hours: €5, covered by €10 combo-ticket with Archaeological Area and Museum, Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon-Thu, shorter hours off-season, behind Duomo at Via Dupre 1.
The first two restaurants are on Piazza Mino, where the bus from Florence stops; the other is near the view terrace above town.
Fiesolano (a.k.a. Ristorante Perseus), a local favorite, lacks views but serves authentic Tuscan dishes at a fair price in a rambling interior, at a few sidewalk tables, or on a shady garden terrace in fair weather (daily 12:30-14:30 & 19:30-23:30, Piazza Mino 9R, tel. 055-59-143, Leonardo).
Ristorante Aurora is an upscale alternative with a view terrace overlooking the city of Florence (daily 12:00-14:30 & 19:00-22:30, Piazza Mino 39, tel. 055-59-363).
Ristorante La Reggia has perhaps the best food (and highest prices) in town, as long as you’re willing to make the steep walk up. Reserve a table at a window or on their terrace to enjoy the vista (primi €10-12, secondi €16-20, daily 11:00-15:00 & 18:00-23:00, Via San Francesco 18, tel. 055-59-385).
Picnics: Fiesole is made-to-order for a scenic and breezy picnic. Grab a simple sandwich and a pastry at Fiesole’s best pasticceria, Alcedo (head up the main drag from the bus stop to Via Gramsci 27). Round out your goodies across the street at the Coop supermarket (Mon-Sat 8:00-13:00 & 16:00-20:00, closed Sun) before backtracking to the panoramic terrace. Or, for more convenience and less view, picnic at the shaded park on the way to the view terrace (walk up Via San Francesco about halfway to the terrace, and climb the stairs to the right).
Gelato: Your most convenient option is Gelateria Il Tucano, on the main drag, before the pasticceria (Via Gramsci 8, tel. 055-59-594).