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39 Best things to see & do in Florence

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Last updated: 23 July, 2024
Expert travel writer: Nicky Swallow
  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

World-class art in Florence

Bucket List Experience

World-class art in Florence

With around a million paintings, frescoes and sculptures, Florence harbours the world’s densest concentration of Renaissance art (and not only), remarkable for both the sheer volume of work contained within its walls, but also for the quality; expect to see masterpieces by the likes of Giotto, Masaccio, the Lippis, Leonardo and Michelangelo.

Exactly why this ‘rebirth’ occurred in Florence is a matter for debate, but wealthy patrons such as the ruling Medicis, along with the presence of outstanding artistic talents and the 15th-century thirst for knowledge, certainly helped.

Adult price: £-

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Exterior of the entrance to the museum

Bucket List Experience

Accademia Gallery, Florence

Florence’s other big-name art museum (with the Uffizi) has a world-class collection of 14th- and 15th-century art, but those endless queues of people are really here to see one thing: Michelangelo’s 1504 4m-high statue of David.

Moved here in 1873 from Piazza della Signoria, the iconic sculpture appears quite different in the flesh: the head and hands are larger than expected (a trick of perspective; originally the statue was placed higher up).

Walk around the back to see David’s sling, a tree stump – and those famous buttocks.

Adult price: £10

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Uffizi Gallery

Bucket List Experience

Uffizi Gallery

Containing some 5,400 works, the Uffizi’s collection spans art history from ancient Greece through to 18th-century Venetian painting. But most of all, it is known as the world’s largest and most important collection of Renaissance and Mannerist art.

You could spend all day wandering the galleries, but the best bet is to pick out the works you want to see beforehand and head straight for those. The website has helpfully selected its must-see masterpieces and provided some useful background information on each – worth reading before you go.

Adult price: £10

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Florence is known as the cradle of the Renaissance and is home to a wealth of buildings belonging to that era. Lavish Romanesque and Gothic styles were fashionable in the 11th – 13th centuries, before an early Renaissance style emerged in the early 15th century.

The centre of Florence is filled with palaces, churches and monuments defining this movement which was characterised by a classical sensibility with pilasters, columns, arches and pediments and strictly mathematical proportions.

The three architects who dominated the period were Brunelleschi, Michelozzo and Alberti while Michelangelo became one of the most important architects of the High Renaissance.

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Completed in 1436, this multi-colored marble megalith is crowned with one of the marvels of the Renaissance world; Brunelleschi’s vast double-shelled dome – built without scaffolding – was a breathtaking feat of engineering.

If time is short, skip the cathedral’s barn-like interior and visit the dome (463 steps) and Giotto’s magnificent bell tower (414 steps).

Adult price: £16

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Many of Florence’s religious buildings were constructed between the 11th and 13th centuries, but few have remained untainted by later additions. During Renaissance times, wealthy families such as the ruling Medicis commissioned the finest artists to fresco family chapels, carve tombs for loved ones, update architectural structures and create bespoke works of art.

Step into any Florentine church today and you’ll find an extraordinary legacy of art treasures by masters such as Giotto, Masaccio, the Lippis and Michelangelo.

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Pitti Palace

Bucket List Experience

Pitti Palace

Florence’s most imposing building was once home to the Medici court and later to the Savoy kings. Now this vast former palace houses multiple museums, the largest – and most important – of which is the Palatina Gallery.

The Palatina is laid out in a series of grand rooms on the first floor with fabulous frescoed ceilings under which hang masterworks by the likes of Raphael, Rubens, Botticelli and Van Dyck in elaborate gilded frames.

The other museums include the Treasury of the Grand Dukes, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Costume and Fashion. A new ground-floor gallery opened in late 2021 housing the oldest collection of Russian icons in Western Europe.

Adult price: £9

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Florence’s best food & drink

Bucket List Experience

Florence’s best food & drink

The Florentines are quite traditional in what they eat and justly proud of their local cuisine which is hearty, rustic, and based on simple ingredients such as bread, pulses, meat and poultry, fresh veg and olive oil, all prepared with the minimum of fuss. Typical seasonal ingredients include artichokes and porcini mushrooms, wild boar, rabbit, pork, game and excellent beef.

Wash it down with one of the robust local red wines; Tuscany is Italy’s premier wine-growing region producing from Chianti Classico in the hills between Florence and Siena to the highly-rated (and highly-priced) Super Tuscans from the Bolgheri zone on the coast.

Meals are traditionally divided into antipasti (starters), primi (soup, pasta), secondi (meat, fish) and dolce (dessert).

Good for age: 18+

Duration: -

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Gucci Museum

Bucket List Experience

Gucci Museum

Opened in October 2011 to celebrate the 90th birthday of this famous Florentine brand, the Gucci Museo has eight sleek, spot-lit rooms showcasing pivotal pieces from the company archives.

Admire gowns worn to the Oscars by the likes of Hilary Swank, along with oddities such as Gucci bicycles, sledges and scuba-diving fins.

Adult price: £6

Good for age: 8+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

A ride down the river Arno in a traditional wooden boat or ‘barchetto’ is one of the more unusual ways to see the city.

The 50-odd minute tour takes in landmarks such as the Ponte Vecchio and Santa Trinita bridges, vast Palazzo Corsini and the Uffizi gallery; it’s particularly romantic at sunset when an aperitivo is included, but early morning is another evocative time to go.

Adult price: £45

Good for age: 4+

Duration: 1 hour

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Bargello Museum

Bucket List Experience

Bargello Museum

This imposing 13th-century building, erstwhile prison and torture chamber, was opened as a museum in 1865 to celebrate Florence becoming capital of Italy. Today, it is to 14th- to 17th-century sculpture what the Uffizi Gallery is to Renaissance painting; it houses one of the most important collections in the city.

But it doesn’t finish there; you can also expect an eclectic and fascinating haul of the decorative arts from Islamic art to glittering Byzantine and Renaissance jewellery, ivories, textiles, ceramics  and miniature bronzes.

Adult price: £6

Good for age: 18+

Ponte Vecchio

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Ponte Vecchio

Bucket List Experience

Florence’s oldest bridge spans the Arno at its narrowest point and was spared from bombing by the retreating Germans after World War II. Thronged with tourists, it is famous for its glittering gold shops which replaced the original foul-smelling butcher’s shops in the 1590s.

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Galileo Museum

Bucket List Experience

Galileo Museum

Named after one of the most famous scientists in history, this museum holds a collection of more than 1,000 scientific instruments and related objects inherited from the Medici family and Lorraine dynasty.

Highlights include Ludovico Buti’s optical trick, a portrait of a man in a ruff that becomes a woman in the mirror; gruesome wax models of foetuses in the womb for 18th-century medical students; and two preserved fingers belonging to Galileo Galilei himself.

Adult price: £9

Good for age: 8+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

Bucket List Experience

Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

Housed in the basement of vast, 13th-century Palazzo Spini-Feroni, the Ferragamo dynasty’s headquarters, this small museum displays rotating exhibits from Salvatore Ferragamo’s archives of 10,000 shoes (the Florence-based footwear maestro usually created a pair and a spare). Close up, the shoes resemble sculptures, in experimental materials from nylon fishing line to cellophane.

Highlights include 18-carat gold sandals made for a magnate’s wife, and footwear created for Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

Adult price: £6

Good for age: 8+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

For centuries, the Oltrarno neighbourhood south of the river has been known for its artisan workshops, originally established to furnish and decorate the grand palazzi that were built in the area by local aristocrats.

While bureaucracy and rising rents have forced many to re-locate, the narrow streets around Piazza Santo Spirito, Piazza della Passera and Borgo San Frediano are still home to cabinet makers, furniture restorers, picture framers, upholsterers, book-binders and so on.

It’s fun to wander and observe these master craftsmen and women at work; most are happy for you to go into their workshops and have a chat.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 2-3 hours

Palazzo Strozzi

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Palazzo Strozzi

Experience

This 16th-century palazzo is home to one of Italy’s most innovative public art galleries. Rotating exhibitions showcase artists as diverse as Jeff Koons, Ai Wei-Wei and Bill Viola and Bronzino, Donatello and Pontormo. The ‘Strozzino’ gallery in the basement focuses on contemporary art and peripheral cultural events.

Strozzi is family-friendly with frequent activities for kids, and a good courtyard café.

Adult price: £13

Good for age: 18+

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Boboli Gardens

Experience

Boboli Gardens

Laid out on the hill that stretches up behind the Pitti Palace, this 16th-century former playground for the Medici family is one of the most beautiful gardens in Italy.

This shady green oasis makes a wonderful escape on a hot, summer’s day and is criss-crossed by pathways, dotted with fountains and scattered with lichen-covered statues.

At the top is the walled Giardino del Cavaliere with wonderful views over the rural outskirts of Florence. Walk down via the Neptune fountain and the amphitheatre which was built to hold Medici court spectacles.

Adult price: £5

Good for age: 13+

Palazzo Vecchio

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

night view of Old Palace (Palazzo Vecchio) in Florence, Italy

Experience

This imposing palace on Piazza della Signoria has been at the centre of power in Florence since its construction in 1299 and still functions as the town hall. Now partly a museum, its sumptuously decorated rooms reveal magnificent frescoes, coffered ceilings and hidden chambers. Book skip-the-line tickets online here.

Adult price: £8

Good for age: 18+

Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Internal dispensing room in the Santa Naria Novella Pharmacy in Florence

Experience

This famous pharmacy, established by Dominican friars in Florence in 1221 and housed in a 13th-century frescoed chapel, has served up herbal remedies and therapeutic treatments to Florentines for centuries. The signature soaps, potpourri, lotions, potions and herbal remedies make brilliant gifts to take home.

Good for age: 18+

Florence Gelato Festival

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Florence Gelato Festival

Experience

Gelato (ice cream) was invented in Florence in the 16th-century, where it first appeared during banquets at the Medici court. For five days in late May, this festival celebrates this fact with a festival dedicated to all things gelato (including frozen cocktails).

Good for age: 8+

Duration: 5 days

When: Late May

Freq: annually

Baptistery of St John

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Baptistery of St John

Bucket List Experience

The octagonal, Romanesque Baptistery, thought to originate in the Dark Ages, is one of Florence’s oldest buildings. It is famous for its three sets of ornate bronze doors although the ones you see today are copies (the originals are in the Cathedral Works Museum).

Adult price: £4

Good for age: 18+

Florence’s Central Market

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Florence’s Central Market

Experience

The first floor of Florence’s traditional produce market, Centrale Mercato, was transformed in 2014 into a dazzling food hall where producers offer everything from freshly-made mozzarella, truffle pasta, barbequed ribs, artisan bread and cheeses to hand-made chocolates. Pair a guided tour (to find ingredients) with a Tuscan cooking class after.

Good for age: 18+

Brancacci Chapel

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Brancacci Chapel

Experience

This side chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine church (separate entrance) is decorated with world-class frescoes by 15th-century artists Masaccio, Masolino and Filippino Lippi. Highlights of these seminal works which profoundly influenced the Florentine Renaissance include Masolino’s Temptation of Adam and Eve and Masaccio’s The Tribute Money. Book ahead to climb up and see them up close.

Adult price: £7

Good for age: 18+

HZERO Model Railway Collection

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

HZERO Model Railway Collection

Experience

An ex-cinema houses the fabulous private model railway collection belonging to the late Marchese di San Giuliano. The centrepiece is a 280-square metre model, one of the largest in Europe; the landscaping (from mountains to seascapes) is exquisite.

Adult price: £12

Good for age: 4+

Magi Chapel

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Magi Chapel

Experience

Benozzo Gozzoli’s glorious fresco depicting the Procession of the Magi dates from 1459 and covers the tiny ‘Cappella dei Magi’ in Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. Painted in brilliant jewel colours, it shows a procession of richly-attired kings, knights and servants travelling through a fairytale rural landscape.

Adult price: £6

Good for age: 18+

Maggio Musicale Festival

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Maggio Musicale Festival

Experience

Italy’s oldest musical festival and one of its most prestigious features an ever-enticing world-class offering of opera and concerts in the 1,800-seater Teatro dell Opera, supported by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra and chorus. A must for classical music buffs.

Adult price: £20

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 3 months

When: mid-April - mid-July

Freq: annually

Scoppio del Carro

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Scoppio del Carro

Experience

This traditional Easter festival sees a towering cart laden with fireworks pulled through the city by white oxen accompanied by a procession of flag throwers and drummers in colourful Renaissance garb. In Piazza del Duomo, a mechanical dove swoops down from the cathedral to light the blue touchpaper.

Good for age: 10+

Duration: 1 day

When: Easter Sunday

Freq: annually

Taste Florence Festival

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Taste Florence Festival

Experience

Committed foodies should look out for this annual food and drink fair held in late March that attracts producers, buyers – and droves of foodie punters – from all over Italy and beyond. Held in Fortezza da Basso.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: One weekend

When: Late March

Freq: annually

MaMa Florence Cooking School

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

MaMa Florence Cooking School

Experience

For visitors who want to learn to make as well as eat the local specialities, this cooking school is a good place to start. Hands-on classes taught by pro chefs include making pasta, pizza, gelato, Tuscan meat and vegetarian. You can opt to tour the Central Market first too.

Adult price: £100

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 3-4 hours

When: Daily

Freq: daily

Gelateria della Passera

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Gelateria della Passera

Experience

This hole-in-the-wall ice cream shop (on pretty Piazza della Passera in the Oltrarno) dishes up some of the best gelato in the city centre, all made in small batches from fresh ingredients and without any kind of artificial flavourings. Think pistachio, pink grapefruit, zabaglione and coffee; flavours move with the seasons.

Good for age: 4+

Procacci

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Procacci

Experience

A historic, atmospheric old café famous for its tiny, delicate truffle sandwiches, best sampled with a glass of the house (Antinori) fizz. You can also buy fresh truffles here when in season.

Good for age: 18+

Pasticceria Dolci e Dolcezze

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Pasticceria Dolci e Dolcezze

Experience

This tiny, off-piste café and pasticceria with its old-fashioned atmosphere and green boiserie makes some of the best cakes and pastries in the city. It’s famous for its divine flourless chocolate cake, but also for fruit tarts, puff pastry sfoglie, buttery croissant and excellent coffee.

Good for age: 18+

Le Volpi e l’Uva

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Le Volpi e l’Uva

Experience

This small wine bar specialises in wines from small, independent producers and always has something interesting on offer. Order one of the bubbling, melted cheese-topped crostini to soak it up; the one with truffle-infused sausage is particularly good.

Good for age: 18+

Basilica of Santa Trinita

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Basilica of Santa Trinita

Experience

The beautiful but little-visited 14th-century Santa Trinita (Holy Trinity) houses several artistic gems. The Sassetti chapel has scenes from the life of St. Francis (1495) by Ghirlandaio while the altarpiece shows his famous Adoration of the Shepherds (1485). Lorenzo Monaco decorated the Bartolini-Salimbene chapel in 1422.

Good for age: 18+

Basilica of San Lorenzo

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Basilica of San Lorenzo

Experience

Brunelleschi’s 1420 church of San Lorenzo was commissioned by the Medici, but Michelangelo’s projected façade was left unfinished, hence the rough brick you see today. The classical grey and white interior houses several masterworks including two bronze pulpits by Donatello. Michelangelo’s adjacent Laurentian library is a must-see. Book a private guided tour here.

Adult price: £6

Good for age: 18+

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella

Experience

Crowned by Alberti’s magnificent, swirling marble façade, this lofty Dominican church with its ranks of striped columns, houses several extraordinary works of art including Masaccio’s seminal Trinità fresco (1424-25), Giotto’s Crucifix (ca. 1300), and frescoes (1485-90) in the Sanctuary. Book a private guided tour here.

Adult price: £6

Good for age: 18+

Basilica of Santo Spirito

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Basilica of Santo Spirito

Experience

Brunelleschi’s last church – with its iconic blank façade-was mostly completed after the architect’s death in 1442. Its vast, serene grey and white interior features 35 columns in pietra serena, 38 chapels and an elaborate high alter. Look out for Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child with Saints.

Adult price: £2

Good for age: 18+

Basilica of Santa Croce

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Basilica of Santa Croce

Experience

Built in 1294, Santa Croce is the largest Franciscan basilica in Italy and is famed for its frescoes by Giotto in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels. It was the favoured burial place of many past illustrious citizens including  Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Ghiberti and Rossini. Book an entry ticket here, or a private guided tour here.

Adult price: £7

Good for age: 18+

Basilica of San Miniato al Monte

  • Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Basilica of San Miniato al Monte

Experience

Perched on a hill with spectacular city views, this 1,000-year-old church houses a 13th-century mosaic in the apse, frescoes by Paolo Uccello and an intricate intarsia marble floor featuring zodiac symbols. Catch the Gregorian chant at 5.30pm (4.30pm in winter), then take in the sunset views.

Good for age: 18+