Florence (Firenze) is the city that gave the world the Renaissance — the extraordinary confluence of Medici money, Humanist philosophy, and artistic genius (Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo) that transformed Western civilization between 1400 and 1550. In one concentrated historic centre — smaller than Manhattan — are the Uffizi Gallery (the world's finest collection of Renaissance painting), Michelangelo's David, Brunelleschi's dome (still the largest masonry dome ever built), and the Ponte Vecchio. Florence also has the finest Renaissance palaces, the Oltrarno artisan workshops, and the best bistecca Fiorentina (T-bone steak) in the world.
The Uffizi (Galleria degli Uffizi) is the world's most important collection of Italian Renaissance painting — Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo's Annunciation, Titian's Venus of Urbino, Raphael's Pope Leo X, Caravaggio's Medusa, Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna. Buy timed tickets online weeks in advance. The building itself (Vasari, 1560) was the Medici administrative offices.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLampredotto (braised beef tripe — the 4th stomach of the cow) in a bread roll with salsa verde is Florence's most traditional street food, sold from the trippaio carts since medieval times. At Nerbone inside the Mercato Centrale (ground floor, since 1872) or the cart of Sergio Pollini near Piazza del Duomo. The more adventurous: also try the bollito (boiled veal) panino.
Piazza della Signoria has been Florence's political heart since the 14th century — the open-air sculpture museum (Loggia dei Lanzi) with Cellini's Perseus and Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women, the replica of Michelangelo's David (the original is in the Accademia) and the Palazzo Vecchio (still the city hall, with extraordinary Vasari frescos inside).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Ponte Vecchio (1345 — rebuilt after the 1333 flood) is the only Florentine bridge the Germans did not destroy in 1944 (Hitler personally ordered it spared). The goldsmiths' shops on the bridge (since Cosimo I expelled the butchers in 1593) are lit gold at sunset. The view from the Ponte Santa Trinita (50m upstream) is the finest of the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio.
The Negroni (gin, Campari, sweet vermouth) was invented in Florence in 1919 at the Bar Giacosa (now Roberto Cavalli's Caffè Giacosa) — Count Negroni asked the bartender to strengthen his Americano by substituting gin for soda water. The definitive aperitivo at its place of origin.
The bistecca Fiorentina (T-bone steak from the Chianina cattle breed — minimum 600g, aged 4 weeks, grilled over oak charcoal, served very rare with only olive oil and rosemary, never sauce) is the finest steak in the world. At Buca Mario (1886 — the oldest restaurant in Florence) or Il Latini (communal tables, no reservations, a Florentine institution). Priced by weight (€50–80/kg).
The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore (Brunelleschi, 1436) is the largest masonry dome ever built (diameter 44.9m, height 114.5m) and the defining image of Florence. The interior climb to the lantern at the top (463 steps, narrow passages between the inner and outer shells) gives the most extraordinary view of Florence and of Vasari's Last Judgement fresco from directly below. Book online — queues without booking are 2+ hours.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Florence Baptistery (11th century Romanesque) has the finest medieval bronze doors in the world — Ghiberti's East Doors (the "Gates of Paradise," 1425–1452) took 27 years to make and had an unprecedented influence on Renaissance art. Michelangelo called them "the Gates of Paradise." The originals are in the Museo dell'Opera — the doors on the building are replicas.
Ribollita (the Tuscan peasant soup — twice-cooked beans, cavolo nero, stale bread — the most comforting thing in Italian cooking) with a carafe of house Chianti at Trattoria Mario (since 1953, communal tables, cash only, no reservations, the finest cheap lunch in Florence).
Michelangelo's David (1504, marble, 5.17 metres) is the most famous sculpture in the world — the representation of the human body at its most idealized, created when Michelangelo was 26 years old. The Academy also has Michelangelo's unfinished Prisoners (Prigioni) — the figures struggling to emerge from the marble, arguably more powerful than the finished David.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Oltrarno (south of the Arno) is the artisan quarter of Florence — the leather workshops (Via de' Bardi), the goldsmiths, the restorers, and the finest small galleries in the city. The Piazza Pitti with the enormous Pitti Palace (now the Palatine Gallery with Raphael and Titian) and the Boboli Gardens behind are the major monuments.
Pici all'aglione (thick hand-rolled Sienese pasta with a powerful garlic-tomato sauce) or pappardelle al cinghiale (wide pasta ribbons with slow-cooked wild boar sauce) at an Oltrarno trattoria — with a bottle of Chianti Classico DOCG. At Buca dell'Orafo or Trattoria dall'Oste.
Piazzale Michelangelo (on the hill south of the Arno, 15 min walk from the centre) is the finest viewpoint of Florence — the entire city laid out below: the Duomo dome, the Campanile, the Palazzo Vecchio tower, and the Arno curving through the city. Best in the morning before the tour buses arrive.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSan Miniato al Monte (11th-12th century, on the hill above Piazzale Michelangelo) is the finest Romanesque church in Tuscany — the green and white marble facade, the interior floor mosaics (13th century) and the frescoed sacristy (Spinello Aretino) make it the most beautiful church interior in Florence that is not the Duomo.
The upstairs food hall of the Mercato Centrale has every Tuscan product at high quality — schiacciata (the Florentine flatbread), cured Cinta Senese pork, pecorino Toscano, truffled products and a glass of local wine. More refined than the street food downstairs, with better seating.
The Museo Nazionale del Bargello (in Florence's 13th-century law court and prison) has the finest Renaissance sculpture collection in Italy after the Accademia — Donatello's two Davids (the first free-standing nude male sculpture since antiquity), Michelangelo's early works, Cellini's models for Perseus, and the finest collection of Della Robbia terracottas.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe traditional Florentine antipasto: crostini neri (bread topped with chicken liver pâté — the essential Florentine opener) and crostini con lardo (with cured pork fat and rosemary), followed by pappardelle al cinghiale. At Buca Mario or any of the Centro Storico trattorias.
Florence has the finest gelato in Italy (and therefore the world) — Gelateria dei Neri (Via dei Neri, the favourite of Florentine art students) or Vivoli (since 1930, cup only — no cones) for the ricotta e fichi or pistachio. The definitive Florence farewell.