Built by the powerful Medici family to serve as their mausoleums, entering the Medici Chapels feels like stepping into a large jewellery box. The Chapel of the Princes is decorated with semi-precious stones and dotted with works of art, while Michelangelo designed the New Sacristy.
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Things to see in Florence
Tourist offices
Azienda di Promozione Turistica (APT)
Address: Via Camillo Cavour 1r, Florence, Italy
Tel: +39 55 29 08 32.
Opening Hours:
Mon-Fr 0900-1300.
www.firenzeturismo.itThe main tourist office in Florence distributes maps and information. It also sells passes and tickets. You can also find a tourist information desk in the airport arrivals hall, at Santa Maria Novella train station, at Piazza s. Giovanni 1, at Via del Termine 11 and Piazzale delle Cascine.
The Firenze Card (www.firenzecard.it) is valid for three days and grants admission to 72 of the most important museums in Florence and also includes free public transport. The card is available online, at tourist information offices, and at the ticket offices of several museums.
Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels)
Opening Times: Daily 0815-1700.
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini 6, Florence, 50123, Italy
Telephone: +39 055 238 8602.
Website:
www.cappellemedicee.it
Duomo (Cathedral)
Brunelleschi's gravity-defying dome dominates the Florence skyline and defines the city. The double-skinned roof that sits atop the city's rose-coloured cathedral was an architectural breakthrough and remains the largest self-supporting dome since the classical era. Despite the lavish pink, white and green marble frontage, the cathedral's cavernous interior is surprisingly free from decoration.
Opening Times: Mon-Fri 0830-1900, Sat 0830-1700, Sun 1300-1600.
Admission Fees: Yes.
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazza del Duomo, Florence, 50121, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 230 2885.
Website:
www.museumflorence.com
Gallerie dell'Accademia (Accademia Gallery)
While Florence offers a panoply of art, most people associate the city with just one masterpiece - Michelangelo's David. Crafted when the artist was only 29 years old, the huge statue, carved from a single block of marble in 1502, occupies pride of place in the city's Accademia Gallery.
Opening Times: Tue-Sun 0815-1850 (last admission 30 minutes before closing time).
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Via Ricasoli 60, Florence, 50121, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 238 8612.
Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens
Built for the wealthy Pitti family in 1440, this sprawling palace now houses six different museums. The best two are the misleadingly named Gallery of Modern Art which houses Florentine art from the 18th and 19th centuries and the Galleria Palatina with Rubens, Titian and Raphael wrapped in heavy gilt frames. Few make it to the Costume Gallery, Silver Museum and Porcelain Museum and visitors at saturation point should head to the wonderful Boboli Gardens, a haven of fountains, grottoes and shady walks.
Opening Times: Mon-Sun 0815- 1630 (Nov-Feb)/ 1730 (March and late October) / 1830 (April, May, Sep and early October) /1850 (June-Aug).
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazza Pitti, Florence, 50125, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 238 8616.
Ponte Vecchio (Vecchio Bridge)
Home to Florence's gold and silversmiths since 1563, this famous 14th-century bridge is literally lined with gold, and is a prime shopping trap for tourists today. High above the shops is the Corridoio Vasariano, a secret passage that links the Uffizi Gallery to the Pitti Palace but can only be visited by prior appointment.
Opening Times: Daily 24 hours.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Between Via de 'Guicciardini and Via Por Santa Maria, Florence, Italy
Santa Croce
Some of Italy's most gifted men are buried in this elegant Franciscan church, including Michelangelo (whose body was smuggled out of Rome in a packing case), Machiavelli, Galileo, Rossini and Ghiberti. Dante's tomb lies empty - the forefather of Italian literature died in Ravenna and the city refused to return his corpse.
Opening Times: Mon-Sat 0930-1730 (last entry at 0500).
Sun 1400-1730 (last entry 0500).
Admission Fees: Yes (combined ticket with Museum Santa Croce).
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazza Santa Croce 16, Florence, 50122, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 246 6105.
Website:
www.santacroceopera.it
Uffizi Gallery
The Medici art collection, housed in the majestic, 16th-century Uffizi Palace, is one of the most important accumulations of art in the world. It is too vast to tackle on a single visit, but don’t miss Botticelli's mythological masterpieces, The Birth of Venus and Primavera, nor Leonardo Da Vinci's Annunciation if you’re short of time.
Opening Times: Tue-Sun 0815-1850.
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazzale degli Uffizi 6, Florence, 50122, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 238 8651.
Website:
www.uffizi.it
Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Bargello National Museum)
The grim façade of the Palazzo del Bargello, formerly the city's jail and torture chamber, is a daunting introduction to Tuscany's most impressive collection of Renaissance sculpture. Masterpieces by Cellini, Donatello and Michelangelo are arranged over three floors and overflow into the Palace's handsome courtyard.
Opening Times: Tue-Sat 0815-1700.
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Via del Proconsolo 4, Florence, 50122, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 238 8606.
Website:
www.bargellomusei.beniculturali.it/
Museo Novecento
Showcasing a wealth of 20th-century art across 15 exhibition areas, this innovative museum celebrates the creative sparks of the 1900s. Working back from the 1990s, it’s a chronological journey of paintings, sculptures and installations by the likes of Giorgio De Chirico, Giorgio Morandi and Emilio Vedova. The top floor has a fascinating cinematic depiction of Florence.
Opening Times: 1 April until 30 September: Mon, Tue, Wed, Sat and Sun 1100-2000, Thu 1100-1400, Fri 1100-2300.
1 October until 31 March: Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun 1100-1900, Thu 1100-1400.
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazza Santa Maria Novella, 10, Florence, 50123, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 286132.
Website:
www.museonovecento.it
Santa Maria Novella
The zebra-striped façade of the Santa Maria Novella church, completed in 1470, is one of Florence's most dramatic frontages. Its graceful scrolls, gothic arches and classical pediments combine to make a standout building in a city of wonderful architecture. Inside is Masaccio's Holy Trinity (1427), a fresco displaying an outstanding use of perspective.
Opening Times: April until September: Mon-Fri 0900-1900 (last entry 1815).
July and August: Sat 0900-1830 and Sun 1200-1830 (last entry 1745).
October until March: Mon-Fri 0900-1730 (last entry 1100).
September until June: Sat 0900-1730 and Sun 1300-1730 (last entry 1645).
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Piazza Santa Maria Novella 18, Florence, 50123, Italy
Telephone: +39 55 219 257.
Website:
www.smn.it
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