Piazza della Signoria

The square of the Palazzo Vecchio, with a copy of Michelangelo’s David at its door.

Photo: Zolli, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

For seven centuries this has been Florence’s political square, in front of its town hall. Here the preacher Savonarola held his bonfire of the vanities in 1497, and was burned himself a year later.

Its statues make it an open-air museum: the copy of Michelangelo’s David, Ammannati’s Neptune fountain and Cosimo I on horseback. Visit it in 3D ›

More in Florence

DuomoFlorence’s cathedral, crowned by Brunelleschi’s dome, still the largest brick dome ever built.

Giotto’s Bell TowerThe slender bell tower beside the cathedral, clad in white, green and pink marble.

BaptisteryThe octagonal baptistery with Ghiberti’s bronze doors, which Michelangelo called the Gates of Paradise.

Palazzo VecchioFlorence’s fortress-like town hall since 1299, with its tall tower off to one side.

Loggia dei LanziAn open arcade on the square, full of statues, among them Cellini’s Perseus with the head of Medusa.

UffiziThe Medici’s offices turned into one of the world’s great museums, with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.

Ponte VecchioThe bridge of goldsmiths over the Arno, the only one the retreating Germans left standing in 1944.

Piazza della RepubblicaWhere the Roman forum was, now a square with a carousel and old cafés under a triumphal arch.

Santa CroceThe great Franciscan church where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are buried.

Santa Maria NovellaThe Dominican church with its white and green marble front by Alberti, by the station that bears its name.

Il PorcellinoThe bronze boar at the Mercato Nuovo: rub its nose and you will come back to Florence.

Bistecca alla fiorentinaA huge T-bone steak, grilled over coals and served rare, by the kilo.