Amazing Places to visit in Florence

• Bargello Museum  Official site
  
  What is now a museum with one of the most  comprehensive collections of medieval and renaissance sculpture in all of Europe, used to be a medieval police station - a place of torture.  The collection includes works by Donatello, Michaelangelo, Brunelleschi and Giambologna.
  
  Don't miss the Chapel of Mary Magdalene with frescoes by painters from Giotto's workshop which is adjacent to the Museum.
   
• Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiori - The Duomo
  
  The Duomo is the 4th largest cathedral in the world, and being in Florence, is one of the most famous.  It's green, white and pink marble facade, which confronts the traveler standing in the Piazza, is interesting to say the least.  The Duomo is surmounted by a dome, which can be seen at many vantage points in and around the city, was designed by Brunelleschi.

• Basilica Piazza San Lorenzo
  
  Brunelleschi also designed the Basilica, an example of one of the purest Renaissance churches in Florence in the Piazzo San Lorenzo. Work, on what was the Medici's parish church, was begun in 1425.  The church abounds with stunning works, including a cloister designed by Donatello, a staircase and sacristy by Michelangelo and the Laurenziana Library.  Most of the most powerful de Medicis are buried in the "Medici chapels", which are decorated with precious marble and semiprecious stones.
   
• Piazza della Signoria
  
  This Piazza is a massive public space, used as a public meeting place from the 13th century forward.  It is surrounded by historic buildings and statuary, many of which are replicas of originals elsewhere in Florence or other parts of Italy.  The latin name for the platform in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, where political speeches have been made for centuries, is "arringhiera", from which the word "harangue" is derived.  Ammannati's statue of Neptune, which Michelangelo thought to be a waste of good marble, stands in the piazza.
   
• Pitti Palace    Official site
  
  The Pitti's were rivals of the de Medici's, and had enough money to have Brunelleschi design their home on the southern bank of the Arno river. A very large and imposing building it now houses a sizeable portion of the Medici's art collection.  The over-decorated rooms contain works by Tintoretto, Filippo Lippi, Raphael, Veronese, Rubens and others.

• Chiesa Santa Croce
  
  This is a "wow" experience. The scintillating facade is done in geometric shapes of differently colored marbles.  The interior is a sepulchre for Florentine nobles.  The walls are lined with tombs, and the floor itself is paved with over 270 tombstones.  Among the city of the dead are Michelangelo, Galileo, Bardi and Macchieveli.  Giotto, Brunelleschi (of course) and della Robbia have contributed to the architecture and furnishing of the church.  The crucifix in the museum, damaged during the great flood of 1966 and mostly restored, was designed by Cimabue.
  
   
• Accademia Gallery    Official site
  
  Michelangelo's David in the flesh.  No picture captures its beauty.  The statue of David in the Piazza della Signoria is a mere copy - although a good one.
  
   
• The Galleria degli Uffizi  Official site
  
  Said to be one of the finest art galleries in the world, the Uffizi contains a treasure trove of beautiful paintings and artifacts.  One can see the evolution of Italian art from its beginning til the beginning of the 18th century. Many of the Renaissance "greats" are represented here:  Cimabue, Giotto, Duccio, Martini, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Bellini, Correggio, Titian, del Sarto, Caravagio, Tintoretto, and of course Michelangelo.  There are a few paintings by outsiders as well: Rubens and Rembrandt to name some of the lesser lights.
   
• Ponte Vecchio
  
  This bridge, which is the oldest in Florence, spans the narrowest point on the River Arno.  The lower part of the span includes covered boutiques and cafes.  Over top is the Corridolo Vasariano, a passage that links the Palazzo Vecchio to the Pitti Palace.  There were other bridges across the Arno, but most of them were destroyed by the fleeing Germans in World War 2.

Other Palazzos worth seeing:

• Museum of the Medici Palaces
• Strozzi Palace
• Recellai Palace
• Boboli Gardens
• Forte di Belvedere
• Piazzale Michelangelo

Other churches and holy places:

• Orsanmichele
• Santa Trinita
• Santa Maria Novella
• Santa Annunziata
• San Marco

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