City ​​Art: Florence

Visiting Florence is definitely a pleasure. However, don’t expect to see it all at once: it’s impossible. Just the Uffizi Gallery, one of the oldest art museums in the Western World, requires many days to be able to truly get to see everything.

We recommend you start from the center, where you will find the Cathedral, Piazza della Signoria, an L-shaped square and Ponte Vecchio.

If you would like to view the city from above, the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower (Florence Cathedral), designed by Brunelleschi, is a must. From whichever street you enter the Piazza, it will seem as if the Cathedral is just about to fall out of the sky. It is the tallest building in the city. Entrance is free. However, you will have to pay to walk up the numerous steps that lead straight to the lantern: Florence, now, is at your feet.

Via dei Calzaiuoli, right next to the Cathedral, is full of great ice cream places and stores. But don’t let the crowd of people scare you because less than 1 km away are the Palazzo Vecchio (the city offices), La Loggia dei Lanzi (also called Loggia della Signoria), the Uffizi Gallery and Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge left undamaged during World War II. In the afternoons it fills up with couples who take vowels of fidelity to each other, put a padlock on the fence and throw the key in the water. Even though the City Government keeps taking the padlocks away it seems as if they magically reappear.