Florence › Places and landmarks
Uffizi
Galleria degli Uffizi
The Medici’s offices turned into one of the world’s great museums, with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
Giorgio Vasari built the Uffizi for Cosimo I de’ Medici from 1560, as offices for the magistrates of Florence, in a long U from the square down to the Arno. The Medici filled its top floor with their art collection.
Their last heir, Anna Maria Luisa, left everything to the city in 1737 on condition that it never left Florence. Today it holds Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio.
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.
Piazza della SignoriaThe square of the Palazzo Vecchio, with a copy of Michelangelo’s David at its door.
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.
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.