Explore Florence

The Basilica of Santa Croce is the principal Franciscan church of Florence, begun in 1294 on Piazza Santa Croce. It holds the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini, chapels frescoed by Giotto, and the Pazzi Chapel by Brunelleschi in the cloister; the marble façade was added in the 19th century.

Palazzo Pitti is a Renaissance palace south of the Arno, begun in 1458 for the banker Luca Pitti and later the main residence of the Medici grand dukes and then of the House of Savoy. It now houses the Palatine Gallery, the Royal Apartments, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Fashion and Costume, with the Boboli Gardens behind it.

The Museo di San Marco occupies the Dominican convent of San Marco, rebuilt by Michelozzo for Cosimo de' Medici from 1437. It holds a large collection of works by Fra Angelico, including the frescoes he painted in 44 friars' cells and the Annunciation at the top of the stairs, as well as Michelozzo's library and the cells of Savonarola.

The Brancacci Chapel is a side chapel of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, painted with scenes from the life of Saint Peter. Masolino and Masaccio worked on the frescoes from 1425 to 1427, including Masaccio's Tribute Money and Expulsion from Eden, and Filippino Lippi completed the cycle around 1481–1485. Visitors enter through the convent.

The Great Synagogue of Florence, on Via Luigi Carlo Farini, was completed in 1882 in Italian and Moorish Revival styles, with a green dome and a painted interior. The Jewish Museum of Florence, inside the building, shows ceremonial objects and the history of the city's Jewish community from its first settlement to the post-war years.

The Boboli Gardens are the formal gardens behind Palazzo Pitti, laid out for Eleonora di Toledo and Cosimo I de' Medici from about 1550 and later extended towards Porta Romana. The terraced grounds hold an amphitheatre, ancient and Renaissance statues, the Buontalenti Grotto, the Neptune Fountain and the 18th-century Kaffeehaus.

Piazzale Michelangelo is a terrace on the hill south of the Arno, laid out by the architect Giuseppe Poggi in 1869 during the years Florence was Italy's capital. It looks over the river, its bridges and the historic centre with the Cathedral dome, and in its middle stands a bronze copy of Michelangelo's David.

San Miniato al Monte is a Romanesque basilica on one of the highest points of Florence, above Piazzale Michelangelo, begun in 1013 over the tomb of the martyr St Minias. Its white and green marble façade carries a 13th-century mosaic of Christ, and Olivetan Benedictine monks in the adjoining abbey sing their services in Gregorian chant.

The Museo del Calcio is the museum of the Italian national football team, in a rebuilt farmhouse at the Italian Football Federation's training centre in Coverciano. Opened in 2000, it displays shirts, balls, medals, boots and cups from the national team's history since the 1920s, alongside a digital archive of photographs and films.

Tenuta Bossi is a wine and olive estate in the Chianti Rufina hills near Pontassieve, owned by the Gondi family since 1592. Its centre is Villa Bossi, a Renaissance villa with a park, a chapel and vaulted cellars beneath it. The estate covers 315 hectares, with 19 hectares of vineyards and 32 of olive groves.