Tuscany
Capital of Tuscany and the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, with a compact UNESCO-listed historic centre laid out along the Arno.
Isa's story about Florence is coming soon.
Explore by neighborhood
See every pick and jump straight to its practical details.
Hotels
Compare Isa's picks by neighborhood, character and price, then go directly to the hotel's official booking flow.
★★★★★
San Marco
from ~€900/night
Occupies the 15th-century Palazzo della Gherardesca and the former Conventino, reopened in 2008 after a seven-year restoration of its frescoes and stuccoes. Its 11-acre Giardino della Gherardesca is the largest private garden in central Florence.
★★★★★
Duomo
from ~€750/night
A Rocco Forte hotel on Piazza della Repubblica, a few minutes' walk from the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. The building dates from the late 19th-century redevelopment of the square and was fully redesigned by Olga Polizzi.
★★★★★
Santa Maria Novella
from ~€650/night
Set on Piazza Ognissanti in a palazzo whose original design is attributed to Brunelleschi, facing the Arno. Sister property to the Westin Excelsior across the square.
★★★★★
Duomo
from ~€550/night
A 19th-century palazzo beside Palazzo Strozzi, operating as a hotel since 1894 and extended into the adjoining Bristol wing after a recent restoration. Home to the Cibrèo restaurant and cocktail bar.
★★★★★
Oltrarno
from ~€500/night
A late 19th-century neoclassical villa on Viale Machiavelli, in the hills above the Oltrarno near the Boboli Gardens. Has a heated outdoor pool set in a 900 sq m Italian garden and a spa.
★★★★
Duomo
from ~€330/night
Built into the Byzantine-era Torre della Pagliazza and the medieval church of San Michele in Palchetto, on a quiet square one block from the cathedral. Contains a small private museum of the tower's excavated remains and the two-Michelin-star restaurant Santa Elisabetta.
★★★★
Piazza della Signoria
from ~€350/night
A 1950s-styled design hotel owned by the Ferragamo family's Lungarno Collection, built around the medieval Torre dei Consorti at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio. Its rooftop terrace bar looks over the Arno.
★★★★
Piazza della Signoria
from ~€250/night
A contemporary hotel on Via Calimaruzza, between Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza della Signoria and directly above the Mercato Nuovo. Has a rooftop restaurant and bar with cathedral views.
Activities
Search every pick, narrow it by practical constraints, and book through the official source.
Piazza della Signoria
€25 bought same-day at the ticket office, €29 if booked online in advance (the €4 difference is the presale fee). Reduced €2 for EU citizens 18-25; a €16 afternoon ticket applies from 4pm as of 1 January 2026.
⏱ Timed entry — arrive on time
🎟 Timed entry — arrive on time
Advance booking required
Built in 1560 by Vasari as administrative offices for the Medici, it holds the world's foremost collection of Italian Renaissance painting, including Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera. Rooms are arranged broadly chronologically along two long corridors above the Arno.
San Marco
€16 plus a €4 online reservation fee (€20 total). Reduced €2 for EU citizens 18-25; free on the first Sunday of the month, when booking is not possible and you queue on site.
⏱ Timed entry — arrive on time
🎟 Timed entry — arrive on time
Advance booking required
Houses Michelangelo's David, moved here from Piazza della Signoria in 1873 and displayed under a purpose-built skylit tribune, along with his unfinished Prisoners. Also holds a large collection of Florentine Gothic panel painting and a museum of historical musical instruments.
Duomo
Free entry to the nave, no booking required; expect a security queue. Closed to visitors on Sundays and during religious celebrations. The dome, campanile, Baptistery and museum are all separately ticketed.
Usually works as a walk-in
Begun in 1296 to Arnolfo di Cambio's Gothic design and consecrated in 1436, with a polychrome marble facade completed only in 1887. The nave interior is comparatively bare, its focus being Vasari and Zuccari's Last Judgement frescoed inside the dome.
Duomo
€30 Brunelleschi Pass, valid 3 days and the only ticket that includes the dome climb; it also covers Giotto's Campanile, the Baptistery, the Opera del Duomo museum and Santa Reparata. A timed entry slot must be reserved.
⏱ Timed entry — arrive on time
🎟 Timed entry — arrive on time
Advance booking required
463 steps rise between the inner and outer shells of Brunelleschi's 1436 dome, passing a walkway at the base of the Last Judgement frescoes before reaching the lantern. There is no lift and the upper passage is narrow and steep.
Duomo
€20 Giotto Pass, valid 3 days, covering the campanile, the Baptistery, the Opera del Duomo museum and Santa Reparata. The €30 Brunelleschi Pass includes all of these plus the dome climb.
🎟 Valid 3 days
Advance booking recommended
A 84.7 m Gothic bell tower begun by Giotto in 1334 and finished by Andrea Pisano and Francesco Talenti, faced in the same white, green and pink marble as the cathedral. 414 steps lead to a terrace that gives the best close view of the dome itself.
Duomo
€15 Ghiberti Pass, valid 3 days, covering the Baptistery, the Opera del Duomo museum and Santa Reparata; the €20 Giotto and €30 Brunelleschi passes also include it. The vault mosaics are under restoration and partly obscured.
🎟 Valid 3 days
Advance booking recommended
An octagonal Florentine Romanesque building of the 11th-12th centuries, long thought by Florentines to be a converted Roman temple. Its ceiling carries 13th-century gold-ground mosaics, and the bronze doors on site are copies, the originals being in the Opera del Duomo museum.
Piazza della Signoria
€18 full museum admission, reduced €12; the Torre di Arnolfo is a separate €20 ticket. Under-18s enter free but still need a timed booking. Closed early on Thursdays (9:00-14:00).
⏱ Timed entry — arrive on time
🎟 Timed entry — arrive on time
Advance booking required
The seat of Florentine government since 1299 and still the city hall, rebuilt inside for Cosimo I with the vast Salone dei Cinquecento frescoed by Vasari. Holds Donatello's Judith and Holofernes and Michelangelo's Genius of Victory.
Piazza della Signoria
Free and open at all hours; the Loggia dei Lanzi sculptures are open-air and require no ticket.
Usually works as a walk-in
Florence's civic square since the 14th century, lined with open-air sculpture including a copy of Michelangelo's David and Ammannati's Neptune Fountain. The adjoining Loggia dei Lanzi shelters Cellini's Perseus and Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women.
Piazza della Signoria
Free to cross at any hour. The Vasari Corridor above it reopened in 2024 and is a separate Uffizi ticket (€43 same-day, €47 in advance).
Usually works as a walk-in
A segmental arch bridge of 1345 and the only Florentine bridge not destroyed in 1944, lined with shops that have housed goldsmiths since Ferdinando I expelled the butchers in 1593. The Vasari Corridor runs above its eastern side.
Oltrarno
€16 bought same-day at the ticket office, €19 booked online in advance. Combined with the Boboli Gardens it is €22 same-day or €25 in advance. Reduced €3.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
A 15th-century palace bought by the Medici in 1549 and later the royal residence of the House of Savoy, now containing the Palatine Gallery, the Royal Apartments, the Treasury of the Grand Dukes and the Museum of Costume and Fashion. The Palatine Gallery is hung salon-style with works by Raphael and Titian.
Oltrarno
€10 bought same-day at the ticket office, €13 booked online in advance. Combined with Palazzo Pitti it is €22 same-day or €25 in advance. Reduced €3; there is little shade, so midday in summer is hot.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
The formal garden laid out behind Palazzo Pitti from 1550, an early model for the Italian garden style, with an amphitheatre, the Buontalenti Grotto and the Isolotto pond. It rises steeply, with views back over the city from the upper terraces.
San Niccolò
Free and open at all hours. Reached by bus 12 or 13, or on foot in 20-30 minutes uphill from Ponte alle Grazie via the Rampe del Poggi.
Usually works as a walk-in
A terrace laid out by Giuseppe Poggi in 1869 on the hill south of the Arno, holding bronze copies of Michelangelo's David and the Medici Chapel allegories. It gives the standard panorama of the historic centre with the dome and campanile at its centre.
San Niccolò
Free entry; donations welcome. The monks sing Gregorian chant at vespers in the crypt most afternoons. A five-minute walk uphill from Piazzale Michelangelo.
Usually works as a walk-in
A Florentine Romanesque basilica begun in 1013 on the hilltop above Piazzale Michelangelo, with a geometric green-and-white marble facade and a raised choir over an open crypt. Still a working Benedictine abbey.
Santa Croce
€10 full price plus a €1 per-ticket booking fee when purchased online; reduced €6. Open Mon-Sat 9:30-17:30 with last admission at 17:00, and from 14:00 on Sundays and religious holidays.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
The principal Franciscan church of Florence, begun in 1294 and holding the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini. Its chapels contain Giotto frescoes, and the complex includes Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel and two cloisters.
Santa Maria Novella
€7.50 full admission to the basilica and its cloisters. A €12 rate applies during special events, with basilica entry included for the duration of the event.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
The Dominican church of Florence, built from 1279, whose upper facade was completed by Alberti in 1470 as an early Renaissance front on a Gothic body. Contains Masaccio's Holy Trinity, one of the first paintings to use systematic linear perspective.
San Lorenzo
€10 for the full visit covering the basilica, the Old Sacristy, the cloisters, the Treasury museum and the monumental underground. The Medici Chapels next door are a separate ticket. Open Mon-Sat 10:00-17:30, last entry 16:30.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
The Medici parish church, rebuilt by Brunelleschi from 1419 as a founding work of Renaissance architecture and left with a bare stone facade. Includes Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy with Donatello decoration, and Michelangelo's Laurentian Library reached from the cloister.
San Lorenzo
€11 full price plus a €3 online reservation fee. Reduced €2 for EU citizens 18-24; free on the first Sunday of the month. A €32 ticket adds Michelangelo's Secret Room.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
The Medici funerary complex attached to San Lorenzo, entered separately from the rear of the basilica. Comprises Michelangelo's New Sacristy with the Night, Day, Dawn and Dusk allegories, and the vast pietra dura Chapel of the Princes.
Piazza della Signoria
€12 full price plus a €3 online reservation fee. Reduced €2 for EU citizens 18-24; under-18s free. Booking is advisable April to October.
🎟 Valid all day
Advance booking recommended
A 13th-century fortified palace that served as the city's police headquarters and prison, now the national museum of Renaissance sculpture. Holds both Donatello Davids, works by Michelangelo, Cellini and Giambologna, and the competition panels by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi for the Baptistery doors.
San Lorenzo
Free to enter. Ground-floor market stalls open mornings Mon-Sat; the first-floor food hall runs daily until midnight, with dishes roughly €8-20.
Usually works as a walk-in
A cast-iron and glass market hall of 1874 by Giuseppe Mengoni, built during Florence's years as capital of Italy. The ground floor remains a working produce, butcher and fishmonger market; the first floor was converted in 2014 into a food hall of independent counters.
San Lorenzo
Varies by operator and format: roughly €70-120 per person for a half-day class, higher when a market tour, wine pairing or a professional kitchen is included. There is no single official seller.
Usually works as a walk-in
Hands-on classes covering Tuscan staples such as fresh pasta, ribollita and tiramisu, usually in small groups of eight to twelve. Many operators begin with a guided shop at the Mercato Centrale before cooking.
Oltrarno
Free to explore on foot. Individual workshops set their own prices, keep shop hours and often close for a long lunch; some accept visitors only by appointment.
Usually works as a walk-in
The quarter south of the Arno around Santo Spirito and San Frediano, still home to workshops in leather, gilding, bookbinding, marbled paper and furniture restoration. Piazza Santo Spirito, fronted by Brunelleschi's last church, is the district's centre.
Chianti
Varies widely: roughly €80-150 per person for a small-group minibus tour with two tastings and lunch; private drivers cost substantially more. No official seller, as tours are run by independent operators.
Usually works as a walk-in
The hill country between Florence and Siena, the Chianti Classico zone, reached in under an hour by road and typically visited for two winery tastings with a stop in Greve or Castellina. Coordinates anchor on Greve in Chianti, the usual first stop.
