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Places to visit in Florence

Discover local landmarks and their stories. Open a place guide to plan your visit, or explore the city with a self-guided quest.

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Florence

Piazza del Duomo

Piazza del Duomo is the spiritual and architectural heart of Florence, a square dominated by one of the most ambitious building projects in history: the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with Filippo Brunelleschi's revo…

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Florence

Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio is the fortress-like town hall of Florence, standing guard over Piazza della Signoria with its 94-metre tower of Arnolfo reaching into the Tuscan sky. It has been the seat of Florentine government since 1…

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Florence

Palazzo Medici

Palazzo Medici Riccardi is the palace that launched the Renaissance. Built for Cosimo de' Medici between 1444 and 1484, it was the family's power base during their rise to dominance over Florence. The palace was designe…

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Florence

Palazzo Pitti

Palazzo Pitti is the largest palace in Florence and one of the most important museum complexes in Italy. It stretches across the south bank of the Arno, backed by the magnificent Boboli Gardens. The palace was commissio…

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Florence

Piazza Santo Spirito

Across the Arno in the Oltrarno quarter, Piazza Santo Spirito has been Florence's rebellious heart since the 13th century. The Augustinian monks who received land here in 1250 turned the square into an open-air theater f…

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Florence

Ponte Vecchio

Florence's most iconic bridge has stood over the Arno since 1345, though its history stretches back to Roman times. The current stone structure was rebuilt after a devastating flood destroyed an earlier version in 1333, …

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Florence

Galleria dell'Accademia

On August 16, 1501, a 26-year-old Michelangelo received a commission worth 400 ducats: carve a monumental figure of David from a single block of marble that two other sculptors had already tried and failed to work with. …

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Florence

Casa Buonarroti

Michelangelo bought this modest palazzo on Via Ghibellina in 1508, the same year he began painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The timing meant he could never actually settle into his Florence home, spending most of his …

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Florence

Piazza Santa Croce

Piazza Santa Croce holds Florence's most storied church: the Basilica di Santa Croce, the largest Franciscan church in the world and the final resting place of some of history's greatest minds. Galileo, Michelangelo, Mac…

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Florence

Entry via della Vigna Vecchia

Via della Vigna Vecchia is one of those Florence streets that tells its story right in its name. "Old Vineyard Street" dates back to when the monks of the Badia Fiorentina tended grapevines here, long before the area bec…

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Florence

Gelateria Perché No

Since 1939, Gelateria Perche No has been scooping some of the finest gelato in Italy from its spot between Piazza della Signoria and Piazza della Repubblica. The name means "Why Not?" in Italian, and that playful spirit …

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Florence

Misericordia di Firenze

Founded in 1244 by St. Peter Martyr, the Misericordia di Firenze is the oldest private voluntary charitable organization in the world that has been continuously active since its founding. For nearly 800 years, this broth…

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Florence

Basilica di Santa Maria Novella

In 1221, the Florence Diocese assigned a small oratory called Santa Maria delle Vigne ("by the vineyards") to a group of Dominican friars. The area was surrounded by agricultural fields outside the city walls, and the fr…

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Florence

Medici Chapels

The Medici family did not just rule Florence. They planned to dominate eternity. The Medici Chapels, attached to the Basilica di San Lorenzo, represent the most ambitious funerary project of the Renaissance, conceived to…

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Florence

Palazzo Grifoni

On the corner of Piazza Santissima Annunziata, a single window has remained open for approximately 500 years. No one has ever closed it, and according to legend, no one ever should. The story goes that toward the end of…

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