Florence & Pisa 5-day Itinerary

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.