Sights in Florence's centro storico

Renaissance painting 101, a cornucopia of Old Masters (Giotto, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, etc.), plus Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring. One of the world's top galleries... ... » more

Renaissance frescoes, della Robbia sculptures, Uccello frescoes, and the chance to climb between the onion-like layers of Brunelleschi's Dome, an ingenious feat of engineering that rewards the effort with a city panorama from the top... ... » more

A wonderful little museum hidden behind the cathedral and home to all sorts of works that used to decorate it: to sculptures by Donatello and Michelangelo, Ghiberti's original panels from the Gates of Paradise, and the secrets behind Brunelleschi's revolutionary dome... ... » more

The campanile is one of Italy's loveliest bell towers, known as Giotto's Bell Tower, even though that early Renaissance painter only designed and built the first two levels of it. Several architects and styles later, it emerged as "The Lily of Florence," a 277-foot-high pillar of marble pierced with slender windows and ringed by marble reliefs. ... » more

Florence's Baptistery and its Gates of Paradise sit across just across the courtyard from the Duomo. It is world famous for its three sets of bronze double doors covered with relief panels. The South Doors were done by Gothic great Andrea Pisano, and the other two represent the life work of Lorenzo Ghiberti. Against one wall rises the Tomb of Antipope John XXIII, designed by Renaissance architectural giant Michelozzo and decorated by none other than Donatello. ... » more

A lively, statue-studded square lined with cafés and home to the Gothically imposing, fortress-like Palazzo Vecchio, off which stretches the "U" of the Uffizi Galleries, Florence's great art museum... ... » more

Florence's Town Hall since medieval times, the bits not being used by city government are a testament to the Medici Grand Dukes and their talent for self-aggrandizement (also, the most overlooked Michelangelo sculpture in town). ... » more

Hanging off either side of this ancient bridge over the Arno are strings of teensy shops selling gold and jewelry, some of them dating back to the Renaissance... ... » more

What the Uffizi is to paintings, the Bargello is to sculpture: Donatello, Michelangelo, Giambologna, Ghiberti, Desiderio da Settignano, Agostino di Duccio, Vecchietta, Michelozzo, Luca della Robbia, and many more. ... » more

Wonderful, often-overlooked museum dedicated to the history of scientific inquiry, especially its early flowering in Renaissance Italy—which is to say, there's a whole lot of Galileo memorabilia, from the telescopes he used to discover the moons of Jupiter (which helped bolster his blasphemous theory that the Sun, not the earth, was at the center of our solar system; this got him in deep trouble with the Inquisition) to his shriveled middle finger (what would an Italian institution be without a holy relic of some sort?) A visit makes a great break from all that art... ... » more

This former granary—which, given its location halfway down the historic center's major street, you'll keep passing as you criss-cross Florence—is ringed by (replica) statues of saints by Donatello, Ghiberti, and Verrocchio, and contains a massive and gorgeous gothic altar by Andrea Orcagna... » more

This was the first Gothic church in Florence, built in 1250–58, perhaps by Nicola Pisano (but likely by a lesser-known artist), and best-known for the richness of its Renaissance frescoes—especially the courtly works by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Sassetti Chapel—nominally of religious events, but populated by parades of contemporary figures (including Lorenzo de' Medici and his kids) in scenes reproducing faithfully the squares and streets of late 15th century Florence ... » more

As you wander Florence, you'll undoubtedly stumble across this large pedestrian square with a small carousel in the middle, its sides lined by shops and classy 19th century cafes. This was originally the site of the forum (main square) for the ancient Roman settlement of Fiorentina. By the Middle Ages it had become the city's Jewish ghetto... » more

A medieval town home in Dante's old neighborhood (not his actual house) with a tiny museum dedicated to the great poet; honestly, only scholars and confirmed literature nerds will be at all interested... » more

Florence's old covered "Straw Market" actually dates back to the 11th century, but has been called the "New Market" since 1551, when it became shaded by a lovely Renaissance loggia. It still has a stall or two selling the straw hats and bags for which it was once famous, but mostly it's tourist souvenirs now. Be sure to rub for good luck the snout of the bronze porcellino (boar) on the south side (a baroque copy of an ancient Roman statue)... » more

Florence's only pointy bell tower rises above a Benedictine abbey and Gothic church where Dante once gazed longingly at his Beatrice. The interior has an uninspired baroque overlay, but there are also tombs sculpted by Mina da Fiesole and Bernardo Rossellino, a painting by Giorgio Vasari, several nice but ruinous frescoes by Nardo di Cione, and Filippino Lippi's 1485 Madonna Appearing to St. Bernard. Lovely Renaissance cloisters... » more

This tiny, spare medieval church with several Dante associations has a lovely altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned with Four Saints by Neri di Bicci and regularly hosts music concerts... » more

Inside is a small museum of 14th-century works collected by the Compagnia Maggiore di Santa Maria del Bigallo, a lay confraternity (a medieval good-works association/brotherhood—something like the Shriners). Also get in to see the 1342 Madonna della Misericordia by the school of Bernardo Daddi, which features the earliest known cityscape view of Florence, which includes the original facade of the Duomo as envisioned by Arnolfo di Cambio... » more