Florence

Explore Florence through its streets, squares and river.

The historic centre is a useful place to connect art with everyday city space. A church, a seat of government and a bridge lined with shops each organize a different kind of encounter. Our first-day route links the Duomo with Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio and the Santo Spirito area. Use it as a starting shape, then adjust the day around the visit you most want to make.

A Renaissance city with a longer story

Florence's UNESCO-listed historic centre preserves the work of many centuries. Its medieval merchant city and the cultural influence of the Renaissance can be read in churches, palaces and public spaces on both sides of the Arno. The Medici were central to its development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but no single dynasty or period explains every building. Notice the changes in material, scale and use as you move between landmarks.

Places worth understanding.

Our first detailed place guide in Florence. More places will join this collection as their guides are reviewed.

Churches & architecture

Florence, Italy Place guide

Florence Duomo

Understand Santa Maria del Fiore and its surrounding monuments, then choose between a cathedral visit, the museum and a reserved climb of Brunelleschi's dome.

Start here.

1. 01

   Look closely at the Duomo complex

   Start with the relationship between Santa Maria del Fiore, the detached bell tower and the Baptistery. The cathedral's patterned marble and Brunelleschi's terracotta-covered dome create very different effects. See the exterior first, then decide whether an interior visit will help answer your own questions. The museum offers a way to meet works made for this complex; a climb asks more of your legs and your booking plan.

2. 02

   Follow the civic story to Piazza della Signoria

   Palazzo Vecchio gives the square a strong centre of gravity. Walk around the sculptures before choosing one to study, and look at how it addresses the palace or open space. The David outside the palace is a copy; seeing it here is a chance to consider the public setting rather than to tick off an encounter with Michelangelo's original. Keep palace interiors as a separate visit with their own arrangements.

3. 03

   See the Arno from more than one angle

   Ponte Vecchio carries shops as well as people across the river. Cross it with room to look, then find a view from the riverbank where the bridge's full structure becomes easier to understand. On the bridge, a shopfront and an opening toward the water compete for attention; from outside it, the buildings read as part of the crossing. Those two perspectives make a useful pair.

4. 04

   Continue into the Oltrarno

   Beyond the Arno, the area around Santo Spirito offers a way to follow Florence's craft traditions into smaller streets. The municipality's Oltrarno itinerary highlights workshops working across traditional and contemporary practices. Follow what interests you without treating every doorway as an attraction: ask before entering or photographing a working space, and allow a shop to be a shop rather than a compulsory stop.

A little planning goes a long way.