Florence
Florence is one of the capitals of culture of Italy: the Florentine dialect was the base of Standard Italian, thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces by Dante Alighieri, Boccaccio, Machiavelli and others; it is well known in the fashion industry, and even more in the tourism one.
It was the birthplace of the Renaissance, and the main hub for artists of the calibre of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raffaello; and its turbulent political history with the powerful Medici family and religious and republican revolutions has inspired many movies, TV series and books. This city has lots to offer, especially monument and art-wise, and you will need time in order to savour it fully.
Photo by Italyforeveryone.com
How to get to Florence
There are two airports that can get you to Florence, one in close town Pisa (Galileo Galilei Airport, 90 minutes away from Florence), and the most renowned and used Florence Airport, Peretola (Aeroporto Amerigo Vespucci). The Amerigo Vespucci Airport is close to the city centre and it is easily accessible by car: you just need to drive on Viale Alessandro Guidoni until you get to the motorway entrance Firenze Nord/Firenze Mare (A1 and A11). There is a Volainbus shuttle which is pretty much always active and can get you directly to the city centre or back to the airport.
There is also a very comfortable and ecologic tramway connection, the T2, which can take you to the centre and back.
For more information, check the website: https://www.aeroporto.firenze.it/en/
How to things in Florence
Uffizi Gallery
The name derives from the offices (Uffizi) for the Florentine magistrates which Cosimo I de’ Medici commissioned to Vasari, in 1560. In the Gallery, which occupies two floors, you will find a collection of ancient statues and busts from the Medici family and, most notably, some of the best paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance period, including Titian’s Venus of Urbino, Caravaggio’s Bacchus, Gentileschi’s Judith and Holofernes, Rembrandt’s Self-portrait as a Young Man, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi, to name only a few. If you like, check part of the collection on Google Arts and Culture.
Photo by Italyforeveryone.com
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
Official site  |
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| 8.15 am – 6.50 pm (last access: 5.30 pm) | |
| Monday | |
| In order to avoid waiting in queue (it can easily take hours!), buy the ticket online to enter at a specific time. The price in total for a standard ticket will be €16. | |
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Florence Cathedral
Known before as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower and now as Florence Cathedral, its construction started in 1296 with Arnolfo di Cambio and more or less completed in 1436 thanks to many different artists, between whom is the ingenious Brunelleschi, supported by Cosimo de’ Medici.
Brunelleschi was responsible for the architecture of the dome, a marvellous feat fruit of a challenge that he faced with progressive ideas while still eyeing the past, namely Rome’s Pantheon. The inside of the Cathedral is truly Gothic in its austerity, and presents important works of art which honour the illustrious Florentine men and military leaders who funded the construction.
Photo by Italyforeveryone.com
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| For full timetables, visit the official website | |
| For closing days, visit the official website | |
| For ticket price, visit the official website | |
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Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria
Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”) is the town hall of the city and an incredible Romanesque fortress-palace. A copy of Michelangelo’s David statue overlooks it and the Piazza. Among the many things to see in the Palazzo, on the first of its two floors there is the Salone dei Cinquecento (“Hall of the Five Hundred”). It is the most imposing chamber of the Palazzo, built at first for the leader of the Republic that took the exiled Medici’s place in 1494.
Once Cosimo I de’ Medici was back, he asked for the room to be enlarged, and during this transformation, famous (but unfinished) paintings Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo and Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci were lost, both then becoming sort of a legend thanks to a few drawings and tales left about them.
Photo by Italyforeveryone.com
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 9.00 am – 7.00 pm (last access: 6.00 pm) (on Thursday, closing time is 2.00 pm) | |
| Always open | |
| Different options available. The standard ticket with the Palazzo Vecchio Museum is €12.50. You can buy your ticket online and avoid queues by paying €1 more and enter at a specific time. | |
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Ponte Vecchio
Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”) is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel arch bridge over the Arno River. Shops of are built along it, with butchers, tanners, and farmers once selling their products, now substituted by jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. The bridge has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables before their premises, and bridges with shops like these were customary at the time.
At the entrance to the bridge you will find a stone with an inscription from Dante’s Divina Commedia (Paradiso). Be sure to stop and take a few pictures there, especially at sunset.
Photo by Italyforeveryone.com
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Always accessible | |
| Always open | |
| No tickets required | |
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Gallery of the Academy of Florence and Michelangelo’s David
This art museum, smaller and more specialised than the Uffizi, is best known as the home of the David, but it offers also other sculptures by genius Michelangelo and a large collection of mostly Renaissance paintings by Florentine artists. In fact, here you can enjoy Michelangelo’s four Prisoners, intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II, and a statue of Saint Matthew, all unfinished but beautifully sculpted; works by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Del Sarto and more can also be seen here.
Michelangelo’s David can strike admiration and awe in you with its 5 metres height, as it did for the Florentines once it was unveiled in front of them, as a symbol of their strength and independence.
Michelangelo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 9.00 am – 6.45 pm (last access: 6.15 pm) | |
| Monday | |
| You can buy your ticket online and avoid queues, entering at a specific time. The standard ticket is €16. | |
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