This is Florence's main cathedral. It's the fourth largest church in the world after St Peter's in Rome, St Paul's in London and the cathedral in Milan.

The Duomo

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The Piazza Repubblica was created in the nineteenth century when the old Jewish quarter was demolished and is based on the site of a Roman Forum. It's not as beautiful as some of Florence's medieval squares but it has a certain elegance and style not least because of its smart cafes, Gilli and Paszkowski which are on the right hand side of the square as you walked into it and Giubbe Rosse on the left.

Piazza Della Repubblica

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The Signoria was the government of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Drawn from members of the various city guilds who were aged over 30, it met at the Palazzo Vecchio which is the large brick building with the crenelated roof and the tower. Even today the palace, which was built between 1298 and 1302 is the seat of local government in Florence - amazingly there are phones and computers amongst the frescoes!

Piazza Della Signoria

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This is the Mercato Nuovo, or new market. It's referred to as new because although there has been a market here since the 11th century this structure was only built in the sixteenth century.

Mercato Nuovo

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One of the most famous bridges in the world. It's also one of the busiest, in case you haven't noticed. It's been a scene of hustle and bustle since it was built in 1345. There’s actually been a bridge here since the time of the Romans and an earlier wooden version was washed away in a flood.

Ponte Vecchio

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The Pitti Palace actually contains seven museums. One of the most impressive of these is the Galleria Palatina, an art gallery originally established by the Lorraines at the start of the 19th century which contains works by Titian, Raphael, Rubens and van Dyke amongst others.

Palazzo Pitti

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The Church of Santo Spirito was the last important project of the great Renaissance architect and creator of the cathedral dome, Filippo Brunelleschi.

Santo Spirito

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This church is nothing much to look at from the outside but the artistic treasures inside it mean that it is something you should try and visit

Santa Maria Del Carmine

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Art and the Renaissance

The Ponte Santa Trinita, the bridge we’re standing on at the moment, was built by Cosimo I and it's one of the most elegant bridges in Florence. The arches in particular seem to flow effortlessly and quite how these delicate, graceful structures manage to hold up the bridge and survive the regular floods seems to defy the rules of engineering.

Ponte Santa Trinita

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The church of Santa Trinita was built towards the end of the eleventh century by Giovanni Guelberto, a wealthy Florentine.

Church of Santa Trinita

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This is the smartest shopping street in Florence..

Palazzo Strozzi

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This church is known as Santa Maria Novella or new because it was built on the site of a ninth century chapel. When a group of Dominican monks acquired the site in the thirteenth century they built a new church here and a cloister which is over to the right.

Santa Maria Novella

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The tall, octagonal building with the red roof on the right as you entered this little square from the Via Melarancio is the Cappella dei Principi, the chapel of the princes, part of the Medici chapel which extends behind it. The Cappella dei Principi was built in the seventeenth century and was intended to celebrate the glory of the Medici as well as holding the sarcophagi of various Medici princes. It’s known for its stunning decoration of intricately carved marble which is studded with precious stones. The chapel took over 200 years to build and is regarded as a perfect example of patrons, in this case the Medici, working closely with artists and architects. You should be able to see the entrance over to your right.

San Lorenzo

Welcome to Florence. 
During our tour of the cradle of the Renaissance, we’ll start here at the impressive Duomo or cathedral, walk down one of the city’s most popular streets and look in on one of it’s most famous the squares, the Piazza della Repubblica. We’ll then see the magnificent Palazzo Vecchio, the centre of the city’s government for over five hundred years where I’ll give you a quick history of Florence, before we visit the Mercato Nuovo, the new market which is also actually centuries old.

Florence

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