Boat tours on a traditional barchetto

Where to go and what to see in Florence to get the most from your trip – a 5-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Nicky Swallow.

Where to go and what to see in Florence to get the most from your trip – a 3-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Nicky Swallow.

A heady mix of incomparable Renaissance art, gorgeous palazzos, Tuscan cuisine and home-grown haute couture.

The astonishingly beautiful region of Tuscany has it all: art cities and ancient hill towns, high mountains and long sandy beaches, alongside luxurious hotels and some of Italy’s best food and wine.

Footwear fantasies in everything from cellophane to gold, by Florence’s legendary shoemaker to the stars.

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.

The world’s largest and most important collection of Renaissance and Mannerist art, home to 5,400 works spans art history from ancient Greece through to 18th-century Venetian painting.

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

For centuries, the Oltrarno neighbourhood south of the river has been known for its artisan workshops; it still is today.

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.

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.

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.