Florence Is the perfect introduction for Italy's famed Dolce Vita. Life is sweet in Florence, an elegant city known for its truly extraordinary treasure of world-class art and architecture and seasonal cuisine. Away from its urban heart, the pace slows as the magnificent landscape and the gentle beat of the seasons cast their seductive spell.
Renaissance paintings and Gothic cathedrals? You can bet there are many in this city.
Florence's wealth of museums and galleries are home to many of the finest examples of Renaissance art in the world, and its architecture is unparalleled.
Let's discover some of the most famous museums in the city!
Uffizi Gallery
Home to the world's greatest collection of Italian Renaissance art, Florence's premiere gallery occupies the vast U-shaped Palazzo Degli Uffizi. The world-famous collection, displayed in chronological order, spans the gamut of art history from ancient Greek sculpture to 18th-century Venetian paintings. But its core is the Renaissance collection.
Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned Vasari to build the huge U-shaped Palazzo Degli Uffizi in 1560 as a government office building (Uffizi means office). Following Vasari's death in 1564, architect Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti took over, with Buontalenti modifying the upper floor to house the artworks keenly collected by Cosimo I's son, Francesco I. In 1580 the building was completed.
Not to be missed when visiting the Uffizi, are the Botticelli rooms, Leonardo da Vinci's room, and Michelangelo's room.
Duomo (Cathedral)
Properly titled Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral of St Mary of the Flower), but known as the Duomo (Cathedral), this is Florence's iconic landmark. Designed by Sienese architect Arnolfo di Cambio, construction began in 1296 and took almost 150 years. The result, Brunelleschi's distinctive red-tiled cupola, the graceful campanile (bell tower), and the pink, white, and green marble facade, it's breathtaking.
The Duomo Clock
Upon entering the Duomo, look up to see its clock with a fantastic, 4.6m-wide frescoed face resembling a flower. one of Europe's first monumental and unconventional clocks, it notably turns in an anticlockwise direction, counts in 24 hours starting at the bottom, and begings the first hour of the day at sunset (rather than midnight). The clock was painted by eclectic Florentine painter Paolo Uccello between 1440-1443. To this day, it is lovingly tended for by two caretakers who enter the tiny door on the ground level below the clock, climb the steep narrow staircase hidden between the duomo's thick interior and exterior walls, and adjusts the clock mechanism to take into account the changing hour of sunset.
Duomo Opera Museum
This inspiring museum tells the magnificent story of how the Duomo was built through art and short films. Its spectacular main hall, Sala del Paradiso, is dominated by a full-size reconstruction of the Duomo's original facade, decorated with some 40 facades carved by 14th-century masters.
Building work began in 1296 but it was never finished and in 1587 the facade was eventually dismantled.
This is also where you will find Ghiberti's original 15th-century masterpiece, Porta del Paradiso (Doors of Paradise; 1425-52).
Michelangelo's achingly beautiful "La Pietà", carved when he was nearly 80 years old and destined for his own tomb, is displayed in the "Tribuna di Michelangelo". Dissatisfied with the quality of the marble and his own work, Michelangelo dismantled the unfinished sculpture, destroying the Christ figure's left arm and leg.
Santa Maria Novella Basilica
The striking green and white marble facade of 13th-century to 15th-century "Basilica di Santa Maria Novella" fronts an entire monastic complex, comprising romantic church cloisters and a frescoed chapel. The Basilica itself is a treasure of artistic masterpieces, climaxing with frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio. The lower section of the basilica's striped marbled facade is transitional from Romanesque to Gothic. The upper section and the main doorway were designed by Leon Battista Alberti.
Basilica of San Lorenzo
Considered one of Florence's most harmonious examples of Renaissance architecture, this unfinished basilica was the Medici parish church and mausoleum. It was designed by Brunelleschi in 1425 for Cosimo the Elder and was built over a 4th-century church. In the solemn interior, look for Brunelleschi's austerely beautiful Sgrestia Vecchia (Old Sacristy) with its sculptural decoration by Donatello.
Academy's Gallery
A queue marks one of the Renaissance's most iconic masterpieces, Michelangelo David. But the world's most famous statue is worth the wait. The subtle detail, the veins in his sinewy arms, the leg muscles, and the change in expression as you move around the statue, are impressive. Carved from a single block of marble, Michelangelo's most famous work was his most challenging, he didn't choose the marble himself and it was veined. And when the statue of the nude boy-warrior, depicted for the first time as a man in the prime of life rather than a young boy, assumed its pedestal in front of Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza Della Signoria in 1504, Florentines immediately adopted it as a powerful emblem of Florentine Power, liberty and civic pride.
Bargello Museum
It was behind the stark walls of Palazzo del Bargello, Florence's earliest public building, that the podestà (governing magistrate) meted out justice from the 13the century until 1502. Today the building safeguards Italy's most comprehensive collection of Tuscan Renaissance sculptures, with some of Michelangelo's best early works and several by Donatello.
Strozzi Palace
This 15th-century Renaissance mansion was built for the wealthy merchant Filippo Strozzi, one of the Medici's biggest political and commercial rivals. Today it hosts exciting art exhibitions that span all periods and genres. Its contemporary art events are particularly sensational.
There's always a buzz about the palace, with trendy Florentines strolling through the palace's elegant inner courtyard and sipping drinks at the Strozzi caffè.
Gucci Garden
Elegantly housed in 14th-century Palazzo della Mercanzia, Gucci Garden is an all-out whimsical ode to the Florentine fashion giant. The practically psychedelic, boudoir-styled boutique on the ground floor is designed as much for experiential browsing as high-end shopping, while gallery rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors illustrate the Gucci story born in 1921 with clothing, accessories, video installations, and highly popular "selfie" wall emblazoned with the famous double G monogram.
Via de' Tornabuoni
Renaissance palaces and Italian fashion houses border Via de' Tornabuoni, the city's most expensive shopping strip. Named after the Florentine noble family, it is referred to as the "Salotto di Firenze" (Florence's Drawing Room). At its northern end is Palazzo Antinori, owned by the aristocratic Antinori family (known for wine production) since 1506.
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