Who said that there is only good food in Florence?! Well, we want to reveal a secret to you. Florence is also full of memorable places to visit. Churches, museums, squares, bridges, private collections, romantic corners and gardens. All within walking distance.
Where do we want to start?
Here is a list of addresses, more or less known, more or less popular, that can become a destination during your stay in Florence and make it unique.
- CHIOSTRO DELLO SCALZO. Via Cavour 69. Small hidden gem with a cycle of frescoes by Andrea del Sarto.
- CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. Piazza San Marco. Home to the masterpieces of Beato Angelico.
- CHURCH OF Ss. ANNUNZIATA. Piazza Santissima Annunziata. Overlooking the splendid square with Brunelleschi’s portico, it is the church of the Florentines. In the cloister, a cycle of frescoes by the masters of Mannerism. All to be discovered.
- LA SPECOLA. Via Romana 17. Recently renovated museum of natural history and mineralogy. Large and refined collection of 18th century wax models.
- CHURCH OF SANTA FELICITA. Piazza Santa Felicita. It houses, in the first chapel on the left as you enter, the Deposition by Pontormo, a masterpiece of Mannerism. It is the church through which the Vasari corridor passes and overlooks the private box of the Medici family, just above the entrance door.
- TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. Entrance from the Marini Museum. Small pearl by Leon Battista Alberti, replicates the features, to scale, of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
- MARINO MARINI MUSEUM. Piazza San Pancrazio. Beautiful brutalist renovation of the church by Leon Batista Alberti, with works by the world-famous artist from Pistoia, Marino Marini.
- BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA NOVELLA. Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Masaccio, Giotto, Filippino Lippi, are just some of the artists who are found inside the church whose facade was designed by Leon Battista Alberti.
- BASILICA SANTO SPIRITO. Piazza Santo Spirito. Designed by Brunelleschi, with its splendid “smooth” facade, truly avant-garde for the time, it houses a splendid wooden choir and a crucifix made in his youth by Michelangelo.
- PALAZZO STROZZI. Piazza Strozzi. In the heart of the city, a stone’s throw from Piazza della Repubblica, it is a temporary venue for prestigious exhibitions of ancient, modern and contemporary art.
- MUSEO NOVECENTO. Piazza Santa Maria Novella 10. Collection of works of the 20th century Italian as well as a venue for exhibitions of national and international contemporary art.
- PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI. Via Cavour 3. The first home of the Medici, it hosts temporary exhibitions and houses the precious Cappella dei Magi, a Renaissance masterpiece by Benozzo Gozzoli, a true lookbook of fashion of the time.
- BASILICA SAN LORENZO. The Medici church, built by Brunelleschi with Donatello, where almost all the members of the dynasty were buried and where you can visit the two sacristies, the old and the new, the work of Brunelleschi and Donatello and Michelangelo.
- MEDICI CHAPELS. Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini. An exemplary demonstration of the “greatness” of the Medici family where you can also see the new sacristy built by Michelangelo with the tombs of Giuliano Duca di Nemours and Lorenzo Duca d’Urbino.
- MUSEO GALILEO. Science Museum. Piazza dei Giudici 1. One of the most important collections in the world of scientific instruments, from 1500 to 1800.
- MODERN ART GALLERY. Palazzo Pitti. Piazza Pitti. Works from the late 18th century to the early 20th century with a large and representative collection of “macchiaioli”, a movement of artists active in Tuscany in the second half of the 19th century.
- CASAMONTI COLLECTION. Piazza Santa Trinita, 1. On the first floor of Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni, an authentic Renaissance masterpiece by Baccio d’Agnolo, it offers selections of modern and contemporary art from the collection of the famous art dealer Roberto Casamonti.
Alongside these lesser-known, but no less fascinating, addresses, we cannot fail to mention the classic destinations of Florence, unmissable and unforgettable for the quantity and quality of works of art they collect.
We will limit ourselves to a list, given their fame.
- UFFIZI
- ACCADEMIA GALLERY
- BARGELLO
- DUOMO OPERA
- PALATIN GALLERY
- BOBOLI GARDENS
- DUOMO
- BAPTISTERY
- BASILICA OF SANTA CROCE
- PONTE VECCHIO