Tourist attractions Florence

Topped by a fine 94m-high bell tower, this huge building dominates its square. Built between 1299 and 1315 to designs by Arnolfo de Cambio, this uncompromising Gothic structure was initially seat of the Signoria. It became Cosimo I’s residence in the..

This is one of the world’s greatest museums. Its collections trace the evolution of Italian painting from the earliest days to the 17C. The museum is located in the old Uffizi palace, the seat of Medici Florence’s bureaucrats. Built by Vasari in 15..

A fine example of medieval architecture, the 13C Palazzo del Podestà has a remarkable courtyard, one of Italy’s finest with a striking décor in the form of the coats of arms belonging to Florence’s senior magistrates (whose residence this was). It ..

Standing 82m high, Giotto’s slender bell tower illustrates the originality of Florentine Gothic and the significance given to horizontal lines and geometric decoration. While the plans and decorative scheme were Giotto’s work, it fell to Andrea Pisan..

The Romanesque church of St Reparata (the substructure, built on Paleo-Christian vestiges, can be seen in the Duomo crypt) was deemed too modest for such an important city as Florence. Consequently, work on a cathedral began in 1296 to plans by Arno..

“My handsome St John”: such were the words of Dante in describing the baptistry dedicated to St John the Baptist, patron saint of the city. During the Middle Ages St John the Baptist's image featured on the famous gold florin coin. Clad in sombre whi..

At the heart of the city, the duomo together with the campanile and the baptistry form an extraordinary white, green and pink marble ensemble, bearing witness to the evolution of Florentine art from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Built in ..

Located in the heart of the Palazzo Pitti, the Galleria Palatina houses an extraordinary array of 16C-18C paintings including a fine collection of works by Raphael (the Veiled Lady , the Madonna of the Grand Duke , the Madonna della Seggiola )..

Begun by Brunelleschi in 1420 close to the Palazzo Medici (this was the illustrious family’s parish church and place of burial). Inside, the architect’s break from Gothic tradition and inauguration of the classic Florentine Renaissance style can be s..

The main focus of interest in Florence’s Carmelite church (damaged by fire in the 18C) is an extraordinary series of frescoes decorating the walls of the Brancacci Chapel, situated at the end of the south transept (which luckily survived the fire)...

The best way of discovering Tuscany, renowned for its beautiful light and landscape, is the road from Florence to Fiesole. It skirts hillsides covered in olive groves, cypresses and terraced gardens as each bend in the road reveals yet another incomp..

Historically and to this day the political heart of Florence, with a backdrop formed by the Palazzo Vecchio , the loggia della Signoria and the Uffizi beyond, the square traces its origins to the 13C, when the Guelphs defeated the Ghibellines an..

The loggia was constructed at the end of the 14C to accommodate the members of the Florentine government (the Signoria) during official ceremonies. It was later used as a guardroom by Cosimo I's lancers. Today it houses Antique and Renaissance statue..

The city's oldest surviving bridge replaced a stone predecessor built by the Romans slightly upstream. Constructed in 1345 after several earlier attempts were swept away by the river, it spans the Arno at its narrowest point. In 1944 it was the only ..

This Franciscan church was begun in 1295 to the designs of Arnolfo di Cambio, but the neo-Gothic façade dates from the 19C. The inside is composed of the chancel and ten elegant frescoed chapels. Note the Bardi Chapel , decorated with scenes from t..

Two cloisters to the right of the church lead to the Pazzi Chapel and the Sante Croce museum . The first, running alongside the church aisle, has a closed gallery containing gravestones and tombs. It is separated by convent buildings from the gre..

The cathedral museum is as essential a visit as the campanile, baptistry or cathedral itself, since many sculptures and objects from these buildings are displayed here. Art lovers will be delighted by its multiple masterpieces by great figures such a..

Created by Ghirlandaio in 1483, the decorative scheme of the Sassetti Chapel is Santa Trinita’s main attraction. Relating the Life of St Francis of Assisi, the artist painted a series of portraits of his contemporaries. In the depicted scenes may b..

The youngest of Florence’s great Renaissance private palaces and one of the finest examples of domestic architecture of the period anywhere. The rich merchant Filippo Strozzi commissioned Benedetto da Maiano to build it: when the patron symbolically ..

Allied to the Medici and Strozzi dynasties, the Rucellai family owed their very name and fortune to the imporation of lichen (called oricella) which was an effective red dye. Their emblem, a sail billowing in the wind, symbolises maritime trade and f..