Visit Florence Museums

Visit Florence Museums We are a group of local guides passionate about Italian arts and culture. Our goal is to make your trip to Tuscany and Florence a memorable one!
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22/06/2026

Firenze

22/06/2026

Ponte Vecchio, Firenze, Italia

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Loggia dei Lanzi, Firenze, Italia

Florence ❤️
21/06/2026

Florence ❤️

5 Churches in Florence You Should Not MissYou will see Florence’s churches from the outside all day long.But the real Fl...
20/06/2026

5 Churches in Florence You Should Not Miss

You will see Florence’s churches from the outside all day long.

But the real Florence is often behind those heavy wooden doors: Michelangelo’s tomb, Brunelleschi’s architecture, frescoes that changed art forever, hidden crypts and views above the whole city.

These are the five I would not skip.

1. Santa Maria del Fiore — The Florence Cathedral

Yes, everyone sees it from outside. But do not stop at the façade.

Go inside the Cathedral, climb Brunelleschi’s Dome if you are able, and visit Santa Reparata beneath it. Down there, you can walk through the remains of Florence’s earlier cathedral and find Brunelleschi’s tomb beneath the building he made famous.

The Cathedral is free to enter, but the Dome, Bell Tower, Baptistery, Opera del Duomo Museum and Santa Reparata require the Duomo pass.

2. Basilica di Santa Croce

Santa Croce is where Florence starts to feel deeply personal.

Michelangelo is buried here. So are Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini and many other names that shaped Italian history. But do not only look for the tombs. Walk slowly through the church, look at the chapels and take time for Cimabue’s crucifix, which survived the devastating 1966 flood.

It is one of the places where you understand that Florence was not only beautiful. It was a city full of artists, scientists, writers, rivalries and ideas that changed the world.

3. Santa Maria Novella

Many people only know the train station with the same name. The church is one of the most important places in Florence.

Inside, you can see Masaccio’s Trinity, one of the paintings that changed the way artists understood perspective. You will also find Ghirlandaio’s frescoes, beautiful cloisters and rooms that make the complex feel far larger than it first appears.

Go early or later in the day. It is close to the station, but it deserves much more than a quick visit before catching a train.

4. Basilica di San Lorenzo

San Lorenzo is the Medici church.

The outside looks unfinished and almost plain, but inside is one of the clearest examples of Renaissance Florence. Brunelleschi redesigned the space with calm proportions, clean lines and soft light, creating a church that feels completely different from the crowded drama of the Duomo.

Do not rush away after the Basilica. The Medici Chapels and Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library are nearby, so this whole area can easily fill a morning.

5. San Miniato al Monte

Most people climb to Piazzale Michelangelo, take their photo and turn back.

Keep walking uphill for another ten minutes and you will reach San Miniato al Monte. It is one of the oldest and most peaceful churches in Florence, with a green-and-white marble façade, an ancient crypt, a golden mosaic above the altar and a view over the entire city.

Go near sunset, but arrive before the light disappears. The church itself is the reason to come. The view is simply the reward.

These are 10 masterpieces I would never skip.1. Michelangelo’s David — Accademia GalleryYou have seen him in photos a th...
20/06/2026

These are 10 masterpieces I would never skip.

1. Michelangelo’s David — Accademia Gallery

You have seen him in photos a thousand times. It does not prepare you for the real thing.

David is enormous, powerful, and somehow more human than any sculpture has the right to be. Stand close enough to see the veins in his hands and the tension in his face.

2. The Birth of Venus by Botticelli — Uffizi Gallery

This is one of the most famous paintings in the world, but it still feels quiet when you stand in front of it.

Venus arrives on the shore, carried by the wind, and the whole painting seems to move even though it has been still for more than 500 years.

3. Primavera by Botticelli — Uffizi Gallery

Most visitors come for Venus, then realise Primavera may be even more beautiful.

It is full of flowers, mythological figures, hidden meanings and tiny details. You can look at it for ten minutes and still notice something new.

4. The R**e of Polyxena by Pio Fedi — Loggia dei Lanzi

This sculpture is outside, in the middle of Piazza della Signoria, and it is completely free to see.

Pio Fedi turned marble into panic, movement and emotion. The figures look as if they are still struggling in front of you.

5. Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini — Loggia dei Lanzi

Also in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Perseus stands above you holding Medusa’s severed head.

It is dramatic, dark and almost impossible to believe it was created in bronze in the 1500s.

6. Donatello’s David — Bargello Museum

Before Michelangelo’s David, there was Donatello’s.

It is smaller, stranger and completely different. This bronze David was one of the first large free-standing n**e sculptures made since ancient Rome.

7. Michelangelo’s Tondo Doni — Uffizi Gallery

This is the only finished panel painting by Michelangelo that survives.

The colours are intense, the bodies twist in impossible ways, and even the Holy Family feels full of movement and power.

8. The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti — Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

The famous doors on the Baptistery are replicas. The original panels are protected inside the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.

Stand in front of them and look closely at the depth, architecture, faces and tiny scenes. It feels like an entire Renaissance world made from gold.

9. Michelangelo’s Pietà Bandini — Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

This unfinished sculpture is one of Michelangelo’s most emotional works.

He worked on it late in life, and many people believe the figure supporting Christ may be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself.

10. Judith and Holofernes by Donatello — Palazzo Vecchio

This sculpture is powerful because it is not trying to be beautiful.

Judith stands above Holofernes at the exact moment of victory. It was once placed in front of Palazzo Vecchio as a symbol that Florence would not accept tyranny.

Florence has hundreds of masterpieces.

But these are the ones that can stop you in your tracks, make you forget the crowds, and remind you why this city changed the world.

Florence Like a Local: 10 Things Most Visitors Walk Straight PastSome of its best stories are hidden in a face carved in...
20/06/2026

Florence Like a Local: 10 Things Most Visitors Walk Straight Past

Some of its best stories are hidden in a face carved into a wall, a window nobody closes, a forgotten tomb, or a church you would never enter unless somebody told you why.

1. Walk into Dante’s old neighbourhood

Go beyond the Casa di Dante sign and walk slowly through Via Santa Margherita. Step inside the tiny Church of Santa Margherita dei Cerchi if it is open. This is the quiet medieval corner traditionally connected to Dante and Beatrice, where people still leave small notes and wishes near her memorial.

2. Find Michelangelo’s hidden face on Palazzo Vecchio

Most people photograph the statues in Piazza della Signoria and never look at the building itself.

Walk toward the corner of Palazzo Vecchio on the Uffizi side and look closely at the stone. There is a rough profile of a man’s face scratched into the wall, known as L’Importuno. Legend says Michelangelo carved it while listening to someone who would not stop bothering him.

3. Look up for La Berta

On the outside wall of Santa Maria Maggiore, there is an old stone head sticking out from the church.

Her name is La Berta. Nobody knows exactly who she was, which is why Florence created so many stories about her. Most people pass beneath her without ever looking up.

4. Find Florence’s window that is never closed

In Piazza Santissima Annunziata, look up at Palazzo Budini Gattai, on the corner near Via dei Servi.

One window has stayed open for centuries. According to the old story, a woman waited there every day for her husband to return from war. He never came back. When the family tried to close the window after her death, strange things began to happen inside the palace, so they opened it again.

5. Stand on the spot where Savonarola was executed

There is a small circular marker in the pavement of Piazza della Signoria, close to the Fountain of Neptune.

It marks the place where the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was executed in 1498. Thousands of people cross the square every day without noticing that they are walking over one of Florence’s darkest historical moments.

6. Have coffee at Biblioteca delle Oblate

This is not a rooftop bar. It is a public library inside a former convent.

Walk upstairs to the café and terrace, sit down with a coffee, and you will have one of the most beautiful close views of Brunelleschi’s Dome in Florence — usually with students reading around you instead of crowds taking photos.

7. Time your visit for the Santo Spirito market

Piazza Santo Spirito changes completely on market days.

Check the calendar before you go, then spend a slow Sunday morning looking through local crafts, vintage clothing, handmade objects, food and small stalls before sitting down for a coffee in the square. It feels far more local than the souvenir streets around the Duomo.

8. See the Last Supper almost nobody talks about

Go to the former convent of Sant’Apollonia, near San Marco.

Inside is Andrea del Castagno’s enormous Last Supper, painted across an entire wall. It is dramatic, powerful and often much quieter than the museums everyone fights to enter.

9. Visit Casa Buonarroti and look for Michelangelo’s shoes

Casa Buonarroti is a small museum near Santa Croce, built around the memory of Michelangelo and his family.

You will find two early Michelangelo sculptures, drawings and personal objects. But the detail that stays with many people is the old pair of worn leather shoes believed to have belonged to him. Suddenly, Michelangelo feels less like a distant genius and more like a real person who walked these same streets.

10. Find Brunelleschi’s tomb beneath the Cathedral

His tomb is beneath Santa Maria del Fiore, inside the archaeological site of Santa Reparata. After visiting the Dome, go down into Santa Reparata and look for the simple stone tomb behind a grate near the entrance.

The man who made Florence’s impossible Dome possible is buried quietly beneath it.

These are the Florence details that change the way you see the city.

Do Not Leave Florence Without Doing These 10 ThingsFlorence is not only about rushing from the Duomo to the Uffizi, taki...
20/06/2026

Do Not Leave Florence Without Doing These 10 Things

Florence is not only about rushing from the Duomo to the Uffizi, taking a photo on Ponte Vecchio, and leaving.

Some of the best memories happen when you slow down, look up, walk into the quieter streets, and do the small things that make the city feel personal.

1. Stay at Piazzale Michelangelo for sunset

Do not just arrive, take one photo and leave. Stay until the light changes over the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and the Arno. On the evenings when music starts and people begin dancing, stay a little longer and join them.

2. Look for Florence’s tiny wine windows

Walk through Santo Spirito, Santa Croce and the streets around Via dei Benci, then keep looking at the old palace walls. You will begin to notice the small arched windows where Florentine families once sold wine directly from their homes.

3. Rub the Porcellino’s snout

At Mercato Nuovo, find the bronze wild boar known as Il Porcellino. Rub his snout, place a coin in his mouth and hope it falls through the grate below. The old tradition says it brings good luck and brings you back to Florence.

4. Eat a proper bistecca alla fiorentina

Do not order it without understanding what it is. A real bistecca alla fiorentina is large, thick, shared between people and served rare. Go hungry, order a good bottle of Tuscan wine, and make a proper evening of it.

5. Walk through Villa Bardini

Most people only know Boboli Gardens. Villa Bardini is quieter, more intimate and gives you one of the best views over Florence. The city opens up below you, with the Duomo rising above the rooftops.

6. Visit the Rose Garden before sunset

Below Piazzale Michelangelo, the Rose Garden feels calmer than the famous viewpoint above it. Walk among the roses, olive trees and sculptures, then watch Florence slowly turn gold before going up to Piazzale Michelangelo.

7. Stand in front of Michelangelo’s tomb

Go inside Santa Croce and find Michelangelo’s tomb. It is not only a famous name on a wall. It is one of those moments when Florence suddenly feels very real: the city where Michelangelo was born, worked, struggled, and where he was finally brought home.

8. Give the Uffizi the time it deserves

Do not try to “do” the Uffizi in one rushed hour. Book ahead, go in with enough time, stop at the café when your feet need a break, and let yourself slow down in front of Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Caravaggio.

9. Walk through Oltrarno without a plan

Cross the Arno and leave the busy streets behind. Walk through Santo Spirito, San Frediano and the smaller streets around Piazza della Passera. This is where Florence starts to feel less like a checklist and more like a real city.

10. Buy leather from a real Florentine workshop

Do not buy the first bag you see hanging outside a market stall. Look for a workshop where you can speak to the maker, ask where the piece was made and see the craftsmanship closely. One good leather piece will mean more than five cheap souvenirs.

Florence becomes unforgettable when you see the famous places.

But it stays with you when you also find these smaller moments between them.

20/06/2026

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20/06/2026

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