A Loop Trip South from Ponte Vecchio
Torre dei Barbadori, Torre dei Belfredelli, and Photo Op
Staying in the tourist zone leaves you with an incomplete impression of Florence. Most of its people live and work outside the touristy center. The best place to get a sense of rustic, old Florence is in the Oltrarno neighborhood, south of the Arno River. While the essence of the Oltrarno is best enjoyed by simply wandering, this walk gives you a structure in which to cover its highlights.
We’ll start at Ponte Vecchio, walk to the Pitti Palace, explore some colorful (and slightly seedy) back streets, pass by the Brancacci Chapel, and return to where we started—Ponte Vecchio. This walk is a helpful way to link some of the Oltrarno sights worth seeing.
(See “Oltrarno Walk” map, here.)
Pitti Palace: Various combo-tickets cover different parts of the palace and range from €7 to €11.50 (more with special exhibitions). The Palatine Gallery is open Tue-Sun 8:15-18:50, closed Mon.
Santo Spirito Church: Free, Mon-Tue and Thu-Sat 9:30-12:30 & 16:00-17:30, Sun 16:00-17:30 only, closed Wed.
Santa Maria del Carmine: Free, daily 8:00-12:00 & 17:00-18:30.
Brancacci Chapel: €6, cash only, Mon and Wed-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 13:00-17:00, closed Tue; free reservations are required, but on weekdays and any day off-season, it’s usually possible to get a time right away, especially if you come before 15:30 (reservation tel. 055-276-8224 or 055-276-8558, English spoken).
When to Go: What you’ll see on this walk varies with the time of day, but mornings and evenings are best. Mid-afternoon is sleepy, and many shops and churches are closed. Most of the artisan shops are closed on weekends. In the evening, cafés, restaurants, and strolling people—both locals and tourists—leave the strongest impression.
Getting There: Start at Ponte Vecchio, which crosses the Arno River (a 10-minute walk south of the Duomo).
Length of This Tour: Allow about an hour, not including visits to church interiors, the Brancacci Chapel, or the Pitti Palace. With less time, finish the walk early, at Piazza Santo Spirito.
Eating: You’ll pass a number of recommended restaurants, described on here.
Starring: Views of the Arno, Florence’s medieval past, present-day artisans at work, and few tourists.
(See “Oltrarno Walk” map, here.)
• Start in the middle of Ponte Vecchio.
The Arno River separates the city center from the Oltrarno—the neighborhood on the “other” (altro) side of the river. The two sides have historically been connected by this oldest bridge—Ponte Vecchio (current version built in 1345)—lined with its characteristic shops.
Florence was born on the north bank (founded by the Romans in the first century B.C.), and since the 1200s, the Oltrarno has been the city’s poorer, working-class cousin. As the Oltrarno grew in medieval times, the wooden walls were replaced by stone, and two more bridges were added, connecting it with the city center. Looking upstream (east), you’ll see the lone crenellated tower that marks the wall that once defined the medieval city. By Michelangelo’s day, the Oltrarno had grown enough that this bridge was about mid-Florence.
Look above to see the Vasari Corridor (the yellow wall with the round windows), which was named for its architect, Giorgio Vasari. This was the personal passageway built for the Medici family to give them a private commute from the Uffizi (center of city government) to the Pitti Palace, their palatial home (which we’ll see a bit later). The corridor, built in five months in 1565, drilled straight through people’s homes. The only detour is where it curves around the tower at the end of the bridge. (The family who owned that tower must have had a lot of clout.) With Medici princes prancing back and forth in their corridor, the smells of the traditional shops had to go. That’s when Ponte Vecchio’s original merchants—butchers and fishmongers—were replaced by today’s gold- and silversmiths.
Ponte Vecchio has seen a lot of turmoil. The plaque above the crowds on the uphill side honors Gerhard Wolf, the German consul in Florence who is credited with saving the bridge (as well as other art treasures) from destruction during World War II. In August 1944, as Hitler’s occupying troops fled the city, they were ordered to destroy all of Florence’s bridges to cover their retreat. Ponte Santa Trinità was demolished (rebuilt in 1958), and Ponte Vecchio was next in line. But thankfully, Wolf understood the bridge’s historic value, and instead of destroying it, he had the buildings at either end blown up to render the bridge unusable. The flood of 1966, which later inundated the city, destroyed still more bridges and dramatically thrust entire trees like spears through buildings on Ponte Vecchio.
• Cross the bridge, turn right on Borgo San Jacopo, and walk one block. You’ll pass ugly buildings from the 1950s, built after the damage from WWII-era bombs. Stop at the twin towers.
The tower of the Barbadori family is typical of countless towers that created Florence’s 12th-century skyline. Across the street is the ivy-covered tower of the Belfredellis, another noble family. Just as the Montagues and Capulets feuded in nearby Verona, neighbors here also needed to fortify their mansions. At the corner of the Barbadori tower, next to the red and white “do not enter” sign, notice the high-water mark from the 1966 flood.
Step out to Hotel Lungarno’s little riverside viewpoint for a good look at Ponte Vecchio. Envision a city turned inward, facing its main commercial artery, the river. Barges of goods from Pisa moored here through the ages (loaded with cargo, including marble for artists such as Michelangelo). Today’s strict building codes leave the view essentially the same as you see in engravings from 1700. In a more poetic vein (see the plaque), this is a good spot to watch the rippling Arno and sail into the beyond with your thoughts.
• Continue down Borgo San Jacopo a half-block to the intersection (on the left) with the tiny street called Via Toscanella. On the corner, look up to find a little modern statue of a woman holding her nose—a dumpster is often left here. Turn left and enter Via Toscanella, following the lane away from the river...and deeper into the Oltrarno. Notice how Via Toscanella opens up a bit wider 20 yards down. In the 1950s, this former pedestrian-only promenade was widened to accommodate modern traffic.
You’re on a quiet and characteristic lane typical of the Oltrarno. A high stone wall hides a private garden (common in this city). The street is named for the family of Paolo Toscanelli (1397-1482), the scientist who used Brunelleschi’s dome as a giant sundial and convinced Columbus to reach the East by sailing west. For a glimpse of the clothing styles of today’s locals, look up at their laundry.
The little square ahead is Piazza della Passera. The recommended Trattoria 4 Leoni dominates the square, and the classic little Caffè degli Artigiani is a reminder of the earthy pride of this once rustic district, now gaining affluence as it becomes trendier. Demographically, the Oltrarno is an interesting melting pot of traditional craftspeople, immigrants, retired people, and yuppies.
Continue down Via Toscanella. You’ll pass artisan shops on this and neighboring streets. Their doors are open to welcome browsers. Be comfortable stepping in and enjoying the proud work of the artisan. It’s polite to say “Buon giorno” and “Ciao.” “Can I take a look?” is “Posso guardare?” (POH-soh gwahr-DAH-ray). Long a working-class neighborhood, the Oltrarno is where artisans still ply the traditional trades of their forebears. You’ll find handmade furniture, jewelry, leather items, shoes, pottery, and picture frames in a centuries-old style. Craftsmen bind books and make marbled paper. Antique pieces are refurbished by people who’ve become curators of the dying techniques of gilding, engraving, etching, enameling, mosaics, and repoussé metal work. It was in artisan workshops like these that boys like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and little Sandy Botticelli apprenticed.
• Continue to the end of Via Toscanella and turn left. You’ll soon see the stony facade of a huge palace.
The massive palace, with its rusticated stonework so pleasing to noble egos, sits conveniently in front of the quarry from where all that stone was cut. This behemoth shows the Renaissance aesthetics of symmetry and mathematical order on a giant scale. In the 15th century, the Oltrarno became a fashionable spot for Florentine nobles to build palaces.
Originally built for the Pitti family (15th century), the palace was later bought and enlarged by the Medici (16th century). In the 1860s, when Florence briefly ruled Italy as the interim capital, the palace was the “White House” for the ruling Savoy family. While stark on the outside, it is much warmer on the inside, and its bulk hides the lush Boboli Gardens. It’s been a museum since the early 1900s (
see the Pitti Palace Tour chapter).
• Turn 180 degrees and—with your back to the Pitti Palace—double back down the street called Sdrucciolo de’ Pitti (enjoy wrapping your tongue around that “sdr”). Continue west, crossing busy Via Maggio. You’ll come to a big church facing a square.
Piazza Santo Spirito, with its bald-faced church, is the community center, hosting a colorful produce market in the morning. Later in the day, bohemians and winos move in to drink and strum guitars on the church steps. Steer clear of any seedy characters camping out near the fountain.
Santo Spirito Church is worth a visit (see here) for its Brunelleschi-designed interior and crucifix by Michelangelo. As a teenager, Michelangelo was allowed to dissect bodies from the adjacent monastic mortuary in order to learn the secrets of anatomy—something he considered key to portraying bodies accurately. As thanks, he made the crucifix.
The church’s blank facade prompted the neighborhood to have a contest to design a fun finish: The nearby Ricchi Caffè displays the hundred or so entries on its walls. Choose your favorite while enjoying an ice cream or drink.
• To end the walk here: To return to the Arno River, face Santo Spirito Church and walk north, along the right side of the church, up Via del Presto di San Martino. At the end of the block, turn right and enter a busy five-way intersection, Piazza de’ Frescobaldi. From here, you’ll see Ponte Santa Trinità arcing over the Arno, decorated with statues on the end. You can finish the walk here, in the middle of Florence, free to explore.
To continue the walk: From the far end of Piazza Santo Spirito (opposite the church), turn right on Via Sant’Agostino. Stroll westward for 5-10 minutes, enjoying more people-watching and browsing the small antique and fashion shops, until you reach a big square.
Piazza del Carmine (the ugliest square in Florence) hosts the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, with its famous Brancacci Chapel and Masaccio frescoes. Just a few years ago, most of Europe’s main squares were parking lots just like this. Now this square is an exception.
Step into Santa Maria del Carmine. Redone after a 1714 fire, the church offers a good look at textbook Baroque art. Don’t miss the impressive 3-D work on the ceiling. Just as the Renaissance originated in Florence and went from here to Rome, Baroque originated in Rome and went from there to Florence. The adjacent Brancacci Chapel is covered with frescoes by Masaccio—some of the most exquisite art in Florence ( see the Brancacci Chapel Tour chapter).
Porta San Frediano (c. 1333) is one of the gates in Florence’s medieval wall, which stretches impressively from here to the river. This gate straddled the road to Pisa. In medieval times, a three-quarter-mile-wide strip outside the wall was cleared to deny attackers any cover. The tower, originally twice as high, was built when gravity ruled warfare. During the Renaissance, gunpowder became the weapon of choice, and the tower—now just an easy target—was lopped. Florence’s symbol, the lily (fleur-de-lis), decorates the top of the tower. The 40-foot doors weigh 16 tons each, and are studded with fat iron nails to withstand battering rams. Take a close look at the hardware. Touch it. Clang a ring.
• With your back to the church, head straight, toward the river. At Borgo San Frediano, consider detouring a few blocks left to see the Porta San Frediano city gate (see sidebar). Otherwise, turn right onto Borgo San Frediano, then take the first left to Ponte alla Carraia.
For a drink, snack, or treat, you have a couple of options: First, before turning onto Ponte alla Carraia, watch for La Cité Libreria Café, a cool local hangout with a leftist vibe and a good aperitivo scene in the evening (20 red on Borgo San Frediano). Or, facing the bridge, drop into Gelateria la Carraia for an ice-cream cone.
From the Carraia bridge, turn right and walk along the river toward Ponte Vecchio to the next square...
At this small square, along the river, two statues flank Ponte Santa Trinità. The elegant Palazzo Frescobaldi faces the river. A block up from the river, on the corner, look for the picturesque little Mediciera fountain that decorates a flat-iron corner.
Before moving on, just stand at the intersection, watch traffic come and go, and marvel at how the chaos all seems to work out fine.
• Now, cross the square and turn left, down Borgo San Jacopo.
See how quickly the rough-around-the-edges neighborhood becomes an upscale, pedestrian-friendly lane of fashion stores, antique and jewelry shops, and nice restaurants. Stop at #17 (on the right), at Torre di Marsili, to admire the terra-cotta figurines above the door, especially the fine Annunciation scene.
• A few steps past the tower are Via Toscanella and the twin towers, and—just like that—we’re back at Ponte Vecchio. Ciao.