Florence travel guide — where to stay, what to do, and where to eat in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.
Florence is one of the most historically significant cities in the world: the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, the seat of the Medici dynasty, and a city that shaped Western art, literature, and thought more profoundly than virtually any other. The city's origins are Roman (Florentia, founded 59 BC), but its glory came with the mercantile wealth of the 13th-14th centuries, the literary revolution of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, and above all the extraordinary flowering of the arts under Medici patronage from the 15th century onward. Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Masaccio, Leonardo, Botticelli, Michelangelo — the roll-call of Florentine genius has never been matched.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped Florence.
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1
Florentia founded by Julius Caesar as a Roman military colony on the Arno River crossing
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2
Florence becomes an early Christian bishopric; San Lorenzo (the oldest church in Florence) built
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3
Florence becomes an independent commune (city-state), the beginning of republican self-government
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4
Construction of Santa Croce (Arnolfo di Cambio) and the first phase of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) begins
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5
Arnolfo di Cambio begins the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore
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6
Giotto di Bondone paints revolutionary frescoes at Santa Croce, Padua, and Assisi that launch the pre-Renaissance
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7
Dante Alighieri dies in Ravenna, having completed the Divine Comedy — Florence's greatest literary legacy
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8
Ciompi Revolt — the woollen workers uprising, one of the earliest recorded popular revolts in European history
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9
The famous competition for the Baptistery North Doors: Ghiberti defeats Brunelleschi, and the Renaissance begins
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10
Cosimo de' Medici the Elder becomes unofficial ruler of Florence — the Medici dynasty begins
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11
Brunelleschi completes the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore — the engineering marvel of the Renaissance
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12
Lorenzo de' Medici 'il Magnifico' rules Florence — the Golden Age of the Renaissance; patronage of Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo
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13
The Medici expelled from Florence; Savonarola's republican government and the Bonfire of the Vanities
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14
Savonarola executed in Piazza della Signoria
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15
Medici return to Florence; Michelangelo continues work on the New Sacristy and Lorenzo de' Medici's tomb
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16
Florence falls to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; Medici become hereditary rulers
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17
Vasari builds the Uffizi as offices for Cosimo I; the Vasari Corridor (aerial walkway) connects to Pitti Palace
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18
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici bequeaths the entire Medici collection to Florence — the decisive act that created the Uffizi as a public museum
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19
Florence serves as capital of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy
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20
Catastrophic Arno flood (November 4) devastates Florence's art treasures; international rescue effort (the 'Mud Angels') saves thousands of works
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21
Historic Centre of Florence designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Historical eras
The chapters of Florence's past.
Historical sites
Places where Florence's past comes alive.
Uffizi Gallery
The most important Renaissance art museum in the world, housing the greatest concentration of Italian Renaissance paintings ever assembled. Built by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de' Medici as offices (uffizi means offices) for Florentine magistrates in 1560, the building was converted to a gallery by Francesco I de' Medici in 1581. The collection was bequeathed to the city of Florence by Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici in 1737 — one of the most remarkable acts of cultural philanthropy in history.
Where: Florence Historic Centre
Admission: €20-25 (book in advance online at uffizi.it — sold out weeks ahead in peak season); free first Sunday of month
Baptistery of San Giovanni (Gates of Paradise)
One of the oldest buildings in Florence and among the most important Romanesque buildings in Italy. The octagonal Baptistery dedicated to St John the Baptist was the place where all Florentines were baptised, including Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Medici family. Its three sets of bronze doors are among the greatest masterpieces of Renaissance sculpture. Lorenzo Ghiberti's East Doors (the Gates of Paradise, 1425-1452) stunned contemporaries and set the standard for subsequent Renaissance sculpture.
Where: Piazza del Duomo, Florence
Admission: Part of the Duomo complex ticket (€20); includes Baptistery, Duomo interior, Campanile climb, Dome climb, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Palazzo Vecchio
Florence's imposing Gothic town hall has been the seat of civic power since 1299 and remains the city's working municipality today. The landmark crenellated tower (Arnolfo's Tower, 94m) dominates Piazza della Signoria, which serves as Florence's civic heart. Inside, the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) was commissioned by Savonarola in 1495 and later decorated by Giorgio Vasari with enormous battle paintings for Cosimo I de' Medici. Vasari may have painted Leonardo's lost Battle of Anghiari behind his own paintings — an archaeological mystery that remains unresolved.
Where: Piazza della Signoria, Florence
Admission: €12.50 (museum); Tower climb €10 additional; reduced for under 18
Basilica di Santa Croce
The largest Franciscan church in the world and the Florentine 'Pantheon', housing the tombs of the greatest Italians of all time: Michelangelo Buonarroti (tomb by Vasari), Galileo Galilei, Niccolò Machiavelli, Leon Battista Alberti, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and the cenotaph of Dante Alighieri (who is buried in Ravenna). The church also contains some of the finest Gothic frescoes in Italy, painted by Giotto di Bondone in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels circa 1320 — these frescoes directly influenced the birth of the Italian Renaissance.
Where: Piazza di Santa Croce, Florence
Admission: €8 (includes cloister and Pazzi Chapel)
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Florence's most underrated museum and the world's greatest collection of Renaissance sculpture. The Bargello — originally the city's police headquarters and then its notorious prison — houses Donatello's revolutionary bronze David (c.1440, the first free-standing nude sculpture since antiquity), Michelangelo's Bacchus (1496-1497), Cellini's model for Perseus, Giambologna's Mercury (c.1564), and the two panels from the famous 1401 competition to design the Baptistery doors (Ghiberti's winning entry and Brunelleschi's rejected design, side by side for comparison). All of this with almost no queues.
Where: Florence Historic Centre
Admission: €10 (no advance booking needed — rarely crowded)
Museums
Curated collections that tell Florence's story.
Galleria degli Uffizi
Admission: €20-25 (book ahead)
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Admission: €10 (walk-in available)
Galleria dell'Accademia
Admission: €16 (book ahead)
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Admission: Included in Duomo complex ticket (€20)
Palazzo Pitti - Galleria Palatina
Admission: €16 (includes Palatine Gallery and Modern Art Museum)
Museo degli Innocenti
Admission: €10
Historical tours
Guided experiences that bring history to life.
Overview tours
Walking tours of Florence's historic centre are the best way to understand the concentration of masterpieces in a small area. Many companies offer specialist art history, Renaissance, and culinary tours.