The best things to do in Florence, Italy
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The concept of a "new Florence" might seem like an oxymoron; like the new Botticelli or Michelangelo, two masters of the Renaissance that the city of the Rinascimento has leaned on for the last five centuries. Florence is so rich with artistic and architectural wonders; who can blame the conservative Florentines for resting on their laurels or sore-footed visitors for having the sensation that the great Tuscan capital is just one big stifling museum?
But Florence has changed over the last five years. Firstly, it’s bigger: in 2021 UNESCO added the churches of San Miniato al Monte, San Salvatore al Monte, Giuseppe Poggi’s renovated ramps and Piazzale Michelangelo in the Florentine hills to its World Heritage Sites, extending the centro storico to 530 hectares. It’s also quieter, cleaner and brighter since motor vehicles were banned in the city centre and the rebirth of some of Florence's most important artworks and museums via a series of recent ambitious restorations.
Meanwhile, a refreshing breeze has swept across Florence’s airless traditions. A new hotel landscape brings playful visions of the contemporary city; an energetic dining scene embraces New York-style glamour and the multi-cultural – from Neapolitan pizza sensations to Tuscan-Chinese dim sum and vegan fare (notably Amza Zahouani’s Oltrarno ventures) – alongside its traditional trattoria dishes. And a generation of artisans is breathing sustainability and diversity into Florence’s ancient arts and crafts.
Since architect Paolo Desideri’s €175-million conversion of the Teatro Comunale into a multifunctional music space and opera house, urban regeneration projects go from strength to strength. The city’s former granary and army barracks are now a co-working hub and Manifattura Tabacchi, a disused tobacco factory near Piazza Puccini undergoing a progressive €250 million transformation, is destined to be Florence’s new dynamic creative and fashion hub.
Italy's most enchanting city is going through a sparkly revival, with iconoclastic art, edgy architecture and quirky twists on regional food popping up everywhere. There's so much more to explore but where to begin? These are all the very best things to do in Florence.
Giotto's Bell Tower
The Bell Tower or Campanile, designed by Giotto in 1334, is emblematic of the city of Florence. Looming over the Duomo and the Baptistery at nearly 280 feet, the free-standing tower is arguably the most eloquent example of 14th-century Gothic architecture in the city, and is visible from just about every vantage point. The climb to the top up 414 steep and narrow steps is challenging, and it’s not for claustrophobics, but the views from the top are knockout.
Address: Piazza del Duomo, 50122 Firenze FI
Website: duomo.firenze.it
Museo Stibbert
The overcrowding in Florence can get oppressive in the hot, humid summer months, and particularly in and around the city’s headlining sights. Luckily, there is plenty more to see than David and the Duomo, so head for the northeastern suburbs and this quirky collection of some 50,000 artifacts housed in two adjacent villas. Amassed by Anglo-Italian soldier Frederick Stibbert, they range from Napoleon’s coronation robes to a collection of snuff boxes. The rambling garden, complete with a lily pond and Neo-classical temples, is another reason to go.
Address: Via Federico Stibbert, 26, 50134 Firenze FI
Website: museostibbert.it
Curious Appetite: Craft Cocktail and Aperitivo Tour
Curious Apetite’s three-hour Craft Cocktail and Aperitivo Tour of Florence kicks off at a given meeting point in the centro storico. The custom tours – on foot – take in multiple cafés and bars and are geared towards individuals or small groups. Tailored to your preferences – say, a particular liquor or cocktail – they are led by a team of savvy sommeliers, culinary professionals, and food historians under the direction of expert Coral Sisk. Reservations are required but you can book as late as 24 hours in advance.
Website: curiousappetitetravel.com
Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
A night at the opera can be a glamorous treat, and there's nowhere better to experience it than in Italy, where the genre was born. Florence is home to one of the country’s most prestigious opera houses. Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino occupies a striking contemporary building west of the city centre. Try and book something by Verdi, Puccini, or Rossini where there will be lots of local audience participation – the Florentines know and love their opera!
Address: Piazza Vittorio Gui, 1, 50144 Firenze FI
Website: maggiofiorentino.com
I Renaioli - Sunset Boat Ride
These cruises along the Arno offer an unusual perspective of the historic centre of Florence from water level and are undeniably romantic. The boats – restored 100-year-old wooden transport vessels – glide visitors past the Uffizi, under the Ponte Vecchio and Ponte Santa Trinità and past the elegant palazzos lining each bank of the river; well-informed guides will tell you all about the history of the boats as you slip silently along. It’s a brilliant experience – which can be booked privately or as part of a small group – for anyone who wants a different view of Florence away from the crowds.
Website: renaioli.it
Mercato di Santo Spirito
One of the most beautiful squares in Florence, expansive Piazza Santo Spirito is the beating heart of the uber-cool Oltrarno neighbourhood south of the river. At its head stands the eponymous church with that iconic blank façade, Renaissance master Filippo Brunelleschi’s last work left incomplete. With its residential vibe, leafy trees, daily market, and buzzing nightlife, the piazza offers a happy combo of fresh air, tranquillity and a lively, day-into-night scene. The small resident daily market expands each Sunday to fill the entire square; on the second Sunday of the month you can browse for cheap and cheerful trinkets and vintage linens or winkle out the odd antique bargain while the ‘Fierucola’ on the third of the month offers organic produce, artisanal cheeses, quirky ceramics, and hand-woven linens and knitted sweaters.
Address: Piazza Santo Spirito, 50125 Firenze FI
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi, an illustrious collection of who's who in priceless Renaissance art, is a Florence must-see. Plus, thanks to the progressive curatorial investment by director Eike Schmidt, the Uffizi is upgrading its experience with temporary exhibitions, a virtual gallery , fantastic Instagram presence and a passepartout for access to all three museums: Gli Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, and Giardino di Boboli. Schmidt continues to open doors, filling up 14 rooms with 105 previously warehoused works from 16th- and 17th-century painters including Titian and Tintoretto. This continues the Uffizi’s trend of showing off the very best of the Renaissance, as it did with its Room 41, dubbed the Raphael and Michelangelo Room, which focuses on the artistic exchanges between the two masters. Also know, this is timed-entry reservation system.
Address: Piazzale degli Uffizi, 6, 50122 Firenze FI
Website: uffizi.it
AquaFlor Firenze
Housed in a ravishing vaulted space – formerly the stables of a grand, Renaissance-era palazzo – this shop has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it entrance. But once you're through the modest doorway, you'll find yourself immersed in the sensual fantasy world of master perfumer Nicola Bianchi. Bianchi co-founded the business in Lucca before moving to this space in Florence’s Santa Croce neighbourhood, the only dedicated outlet for his collections, which are all beautifully displayed in mahogany-and-glass cabinets or laid out on antique tables. It's as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the olfactory nerve.
Address: Borgo Santa Croce, 6, 50122 Firenze FI
Website: aquaflor.it
Gucci Garden
Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele is always pushing the limits, and this time he blurs the lines between monument and merchant at Gucci Garden, an interactive complex where fashion, food, history, and art commingle. Located in the 14th-century Palazzo della Mercanzia in Florence’s Piazza del Signoria, Gucci Garden is Michele’s colourful journey through the Florentine fashion house’s past, present, and future. The multi-level boutique-slash-museum includes a store selling exclusive Gucci Garden designs, a gallery space with contemporary exhibitions, and a ground-floor restaurant by rockstar chef Massimo Bottura.
Address: P.za della Signoria, 10, 50122 Firenze FI
Website: gucci.com
Museum of Fashion and Costume
The Museo della Moda e del Costume is housed in the Meridiana wing of the grand, 15th-century Pitti Palace complex in 14 beautifully decorated rooms where damask-panelled walls and frescoed ceilings represent the best in Florentine elegance. The Pitti Palace and its Palatine Gallery are well known, but this museum still feels like a secret known only to fashion insiders. The focus of the collection is Italian and ranges from Baroque formal wear to ravishing gowns from the 1980s from the likes of Armani and Versace, and contemporary Valentino. An hour is enough to cover the whole museum and come away dazzled.
Address: Piazza de' Pitti, 1, 50125 Firenze FI
Website: uffizi.it
Medici Chapels
Attached to the Basilica of San Lorenzo (but with a separate entrance), the Medici Chapels or Cappelle Medicee were built as the mausoleum of the Medici family. The opulent – and rather gloomy – octagonal Chapel of the Princes, resplendent in coloured marbles and intricate inlay, houses six sarcophagi of the Medici Grand Dukes. A small passageway leads to Michelangelo’s exquisite and relatively plain New Sacristy and the tombs of Lorenzo il Magnifico, his son and grandson, topped by the celebrated reclining figures of Night and Day and, opposite, Dawn and Dusk. It’s an essential visit for Medici Family and Michelangelo buffs and perfect if you are short on time.
Address: Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini, 6, 50123 Firenze FI
Website: bargellomusei.it
Museo Galileo
Context Travel's private Galileo and Science tours are great for anyone interested in learning about the science of the Renaissance, and it's especially great for families with kids. Martino, the guide, is a complete professional, an introspective academic, a Dante scholar, and a philosophy PhD who clearly loves Galileo – and his enthusiasm is infectious. The Renaissance is his playground, and he comes prepared, never dumbing down nor condescendingly responding to any questions. He is also passionate, professional, thoughtful, and witty.
Address: Museo Galileo, Piazza dei Giudici, 1, 50122 Firenze FI
Website: museogalileo.it
Museo di San Marco
Museo di San Marco is set in a beautiful convent designed in the 15th century by architect Michelozzo, a favourite of Cosimo de' Medici. Located in the Oltrarno neighbourhood, it feels like it's a secret, though it's always been beloved for its standout frescoes. This experience is full-immersion Renaissance: You're stepping into a time capsule. There's no curation, no seasonal exhibits, no pacing – nothing. It's a beautifully preserved convent-cum-museum.
Address: Piazza San Marco, 3, 50121 Firenze FI
Website: museitoscana.cultura.gov.it
Bardini Villa
With so much art, it’s easy to forget Florence’s proximity to nature, both in its glorious hilly surroundings and its superstar Renaissance gardens – manicured works of art, too grand to be classed as mere “green spaces.” Most magical are the gardens of the Bardini Villa above the city where one can walk through boughs of wisteria, and further on – the terraced Rose and Iris Gardens in the new UNESCO extension – before watching the sun set into the great bowl of Florence from romantic working monastery San Miniato al Monte.
Address: Costa San Giorgio, 2, 50125
Website: villabardini.it
Gioia Bini
Florence is known for the Big Three: Gucci, Emilio Pucci and Salvatore Ferragamo, a fashion game that can now be spotted in any major global city. But a new generation of Florentine labels has restored the hunting thrill to shopping in the city. Following the haute couture seams of Loretta Caponi, young Fiorentina Gioia Bini – now a regular in the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar – designs limited edition hand-sewn bell-shaped and architectural dresses with up-cycled fabrics from the region’s best textile mills.
Address: Lungarno Serristori 9, 500125
Website: gioiabini.com
Mercato Centrale
Food halls are a brilliant way to experience the best of what a city has to offer on the culinary scene, and Mercato Centrale does exactly that for Florence. It’s situated on the second floor of an impressive late-19th-century steel-and-glass market building (a fully operational market complete with traditional butchers, fishmongers and fresh produce can be found on the first floor). Inside, visitors sit at one of the many communal tables in the centre of the space, surrounded by stalls selling everything from pizza, fresh pasta, barbecued meats and, of course, ice cream. Sarah Allard
Address: Piazza del Mercato Centrale, Via dell'Ariento, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: mercatocentrale.com
Bargello Museum
The new €1.8 million re-haul of the Bargello Museum, which was kicked off by a major Donatello exhibition in 2022, is one of a number of recent renovation projects polishing up the city’s greatest hits. Most wondrous are the works at the Brancacci chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine church, where scaffolding forms viewing platforms from which to see Masolino and Masaccio’s restored frescoes masterpieces – often cited as the genesis of the Renaissance.
Address: Via del Proconsolo, 4, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: chiesadelcarmine.net
Vivoli
In case you’ve somehow managed to miss the many (many) photos and videos of this now Insta-famous cafe doing the rounds on social media, let us fill you in. Vivoli is Florence’s oldest gelateria, serving tourists and locals alike everything from gelato and cookies to traditional Florentine desserts. But for most, there’s only one thing that has them queuing across the road… affogato. The team expertly spreads soft, creamy gelato into pre-chilled coffee cups before a shot of espresso goes into the hollowed-out middle. Head outside to spoon (and, once the ice cream has melted into the coffee, slurp) it in the sun-filled street, and start planning your return. Sarah Allard
Address: Via Isola delle Stinche, 7r, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: vivoli.it
Palazzo Strozzino
A dialogue between Renaissance and the contemporary art age housed in the palace of the Medici's nemesis, the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation upped its game when it hired Arturo Galansino formerly of London's Royal Academy in 2015. Since then it has become a major Florentine institution showing the works of Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović and Jeff Koon as well as co-hosting the likes of the Donatello exhibition. Meanwhile, the iconic Odeon cinema in Palazzo Strozzino across the road is to become a new multifunctional cultural centre.
Address: Piazza degli Strozzi, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: palazzostrozzi.org
Marino Marini Museum
Henry Moore visited Florence in his youth, went on to sculpt the same marble as Michelangelo, showed in Florence in 1972 and donated works to the city – all the while cross-fertilising with Tuscan primitivist sculptor Marino Marini. One of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century. Marini’s monolithic equestrian sculptures are shown in this under-the-radar ex-tobacco factory once a chapel designed by Leon Battista Alberti.
Address: Piazza di San Pancrazio, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: museomarinomarini.it
Superduper Hats
With a new space at the urban regeneration project Manifattura Tabacchi, Superduper Hats is the brainchild of Matteo Gioli, Ilaria and Veronica Cornacchini’s who fashion unisex millinery showpieces on antique wooden moulds.
Address: Via delle Cascine, 35, 50144 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: superduperhats.com
Iacobella Gaetani
Inspired by the Colombian Mochila, Iacobella Gaetani founded her eponymous handbag label in 2019. A fusion of Florence’s leather- and jewellery-working cultures, Iacobella’s hand-stitched plaited bags often use recycled leather strips and have a gem fastening as their trademark.
Website: iacobella.com
Sileno Cheloni
New perfume laboratory Sileno Cheloni is a nod to the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutico Santa Maria Novella, the historic pharmacy founded by Dominican friars in 1221 with its flagship in the celestial chapel of San Niccolo’. Nearby, in a space that rather conjures the dark arts, master perfumer Cheloni has created an “olfactory library” of 2,000 essences for his one-off alchemical creations, which also come in the form of medieval-style scented silver pomanders.
Address: Via di San Niccolò, 72R, 50125 Firenze FI, Italy
Website: silenocheloni.com
Some content shared in this piece originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveler.