Oltrarno attractions

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

A half dozen museums (including a killer painting gallery called the Galleria Palatina that acts as a kind of "Uffizi: Part II," covering the late Renaissance and baroque eras) and the lovely landscaped Boboli Gardens... » more

The church's Brancacci Chapel—painted by Masolino and, more importantly, by his innovative student Masaccio—is where a young Michelangelo came to study great art... » more

Florence's only real Romanesque church—with a beautiful facade and a wondrous, moving space inside—perches atop a hill amid greenery in the Oltrarno. For every 10,000 people who say "Oo! Look at that pretty church up there!" and snap a photo of it, maybe one bothers making his way up here to see it up close. Their loss. (Oh, and no matter what the movie showed, it was a vista across the Arno to this church that was the "view" discussed in EM Foster's famous book, "A Room with View.")... » more

Fantastic, classic viewpoint over the city of Florence. This is where they take the photographs for the postcards of the Florentine skyline. (And no, it's not spelled wrong; this was a legitimate alternate spelling for "Michelangelo" back when they named the piazza.) ... » more

The blank brick non-facade hides a perfection of Brunelleschian architecture inside, along with some fine altarpieces... » more

Bellosguardo is the forgotten hill of Florence, rising above the Oltrarno and offering more intimate views across the city than the famous ones from Fiesole. Many of the roads are narrow and hemmed in by high garden walls, but the glimpses of fabulous villas and ornate gardens through the gates are worth the time to explore the neighborhood. Galileo once lived in the villa on Piazza di Bellosguardo. Illustrious foreign residents of Bellosguardo Hill have included Henry James (he wrote The Aspern Papers at Via di Bellosguardo 20), Nathaniel Hawthorne (he penned The Marble Faun at the Villa di Montauto on Via san Carlo), and Florence Nightingale... ... » more

Italy has very few zoos, but this is the largest zoological collection, rooms full of insects, crustaceans, and stuffed birds and mammals—everything from ostriches and apes to a rhinoceros. The last 10 rooms contain an important collection of human anatomical wax models crafted between 1775 and 1814 by Clemente Susini for medical students... » more

A tiny Gothic church just south of the Pitti Palace sports a High Renaissance facade by Michelozzo (1457) and a Crucifixion over the high altar recently attributed to Giotto. Also peek at the remnants of Niccolò Gerini's early 15th-century Pietà fresco over the first altar on the right... » more

The Casa Guidi is the Florence home where from 1847 English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning lived with her husband, Robert, moving in just after their secret marriage. One of her msot fmaous poems was "Casa Guidi's WIndows," and she died here in 1861... » more

This little church was probably the second to be established in the city, the first edition of it rising in the late 4th century. The current version was built in the 1730s. The star works are in the first chapel on your right, paintings by mannerist master Pontormo (1525–27). The Deposition and frescoed Annunciation are rife with his garish color palette of oranges, pinks, golds, lime greens, and sky blues... » more