Santa Maria Novella district attractions

The streets around the Medici family church are now filled with a daily outdoor market of leather goods, T-shirts, and other excellent Florentine souvenirs. I get much of my holiday shopping done here (who doesn't appreciate a leather wallet or belt straight from Florence?) ... » more

A church containing some of the seminal works of the early Renaissance, including Masaccio's Trinità fresco, the first use of true perspective in Western art... » more

Don't be put off by the tasteless "Chapel of the Princes" at the beginning—picture having all the money in the world, none of the renowned artistic taste of your famous ancestors, and a firm belief that, the more ostentatious and festooned with precious marbles your tomb, the greater your chances of getting into Heaven. It's what's in the basement that counts: three Medici tombs designed and carved by Michelangelo himself... » more

The Medici's home church was decorated with works by the family sculptor, Donatello, and its library's staircase is a wonderful example of Michelangelo's felicitous and playful architecture. A separate entrance by the back of the church leads to the "Chapel of the Princes," containing Medici tombs, several decorated with statues by Michelangelo... » more

Ghirlandaio frescoes, a long-lost Giotto Crucifix, and the final resting places of both Botticelli and his Birth of Venus muse, Simonetta Vespucci (as well as the man after whom America was named). Wow. Founded in 1256 by the Umiliati, a wool-weaving sect of the Benedictines whose trade helped establish this area as a textile district, the present Ognissanti was rebuilt by its new Franciscan owners in the 17th century... » 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

For great picnic pickings—not to mention photo ops—head to Florence's 19th-century covered food market, snuggled behind the outdoor stalls of the San Lorenzo leather market. It looks a bit like a old grandiose train station inside, all dingy glass and steel struts, but actually was purpose-designed to be a market in 1870–74... » 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