Home of the Renaissance and the Medici family
Florence is a beautiful city full of amazing architecture, statues and fountains. Walking through the city is a delight with narrow cobbled streets flanked by medieval architecture. It’s known as the home of the Renaissance.
Duomo
The Duomo (cathedral) dominates the city, it’s ornate intricate facade of pink, white and green marble is a delight.
You can climb the Duomo’s dome to get fantastic views of the city. The campanile is a free-standing bell tower situated next to the Duomo. Climbing the Duomo or the bell tower is not for the faint-hearted. The Duomo has 463 steps and the bell tower has 414 steps. We climbed both on the same day, and in 30 degrees heat, it was hard to do. The staircases are quite narrow with little ventilation and in some places difficult to climb.
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery is very busy and it’s one of the most visited art museums in the world. It holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance, including Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. After the house of Medici died out, the families art collections was gifted to the city of Florence.
Pitti Palace
The Pitti Palace which is on the other side of the river is now a museum and houses some important collections including paintings, sculpture, works of art, porcelain, silver and period costumes.
Galileo Museum
Our favourite museum to visit was the Galileo Museum which is next to the Uffizi along the river bank. It’s not a large museum but it is crammed with interesting valuable scientific instruments from the Medici Collections, including some unique Galileo artifacts.
Basilica of Santa Croce
The Basilica of Santa Croce was interesting to walk around and it’s also got a nice piazza at the front of it where you can take have lunch or an ice cream.
Visit our page on Florence for more information and beautiful pictures from our travels around Florence.