This typical Italian Gothic building, the Cathedral of Florence, is dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore. The church was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio (c1245-1302) who considerably enlarged the existing religious structure. Finished around 1367, the Cathedral was completely covered by coloured marbles like the earlier Baptistery, except for the facade that remained unfinished and was terminated only in the 19th century.
The project left unfinished also the Dome, since in 1421 only the frame (polygonal base) had been erected. Two architects, Lorenzo Ghiberti (1368-1445) and Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) won the competition although it was the latter who actually built the dome, showing a great mastery of technical knowledge, in 1436.
One of the most remarkable features of the outside of the building is the so-called Porta "della Mandorla" (north) (della mandorla = almond) that was given this name because of the large aureole around the figure of the Virgin sculptured also by Nanni di Banco (1380/90-1421) among others.
Its interior preserves very important works of art: on the left side we find the first two detached frescoes showing the "condottieri" Giovanni Acuto and Niccolò da Tolentino painted respectively by Paolo Uccello in 1436 and by Andrea del Castagno in 1456. Paolo Uccello also frescoed the clock on the inside wall, showing four vigorous heads of saints.
The many sculptures made specifically for the cathedral (many of which have now been moved to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, see related chapter) comprise also the Lunettes by Luca della Robbia above the doors of the Mass Sacristies. The large Pieta by Michelangelo (c.1553) has instead been removed and transferred to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.
Most of the splendid stained glass windows were made between 1434 and 1455 to the designs of famous artists like Donatello, Andrea del Castagno and Paolo Uccello. The wooden inlays on the Sacristy's cupboards were designed by Brunelleschi and by other artists, including Antonio del Pollaiolo.
The internal walls of the dome, which have recently been restored, were frescoed between 1572 and 1579 by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) and Federico Zuccari (c.1540-1609) who represented a large scene of the Final Judgement.

The present museum was founded in 1891 and has continued to receive all the works that were removed and continue to be removed (to grant their preservation) from S. Maria del Fiore and from the Baptistery. The collection is therefore the best guide to the several changes that have occurred in Florentine official sculpture originating with the building of the cathedral and extending over the centuries. The vast majority of sculptures preserved in the Museum are those that Arnolfo had chosen for the façade, which was only partially completed while the architect was still living. The partially erected façade remained in this condition until 1587, when the Grand Duke, following the suggestions of the architect Bernardo Buontalenti, decided to replace it with a more modern look, in accordance with the general plans for the renewal of the town. Despite the several projects and competitions that saw the participation of famous architects of several ages, the façade was completed only in 1887 by De Fabris, who gave it a completely different appearance as compared to the original project by Arnolfo. As a result of this remake, it was no longer possible to reinstall the statues that are however still preserved in the museum.
In addition to the sculptures of Arnolfo, the museum exhibits also works of the 14th century removed from the bell tower and sculptured by Andrea Pisano (1290 – 1349) and by his pupils and those from the so-called “Porta della Mandorla” located on the left side of the cathedral.
The sculptures of Nanni di Banco (1380/90-1421) and of Donatello (1386-1466), originally made for the bell tower and the church, can be considered masterpieces of 15th century sculpture, like the two large Cantorie by Luca della Robbia (1400- 1482) and Donatello removed from the cathedral's interior. Other important works have been moved to the museum recently, like the Magdalene, a wooden sculpture by Donatello, originally placed in the Baptistry and the Pietà by Michelangelo, which was removed from the cathedral in 1980.
The collection also comprises other 16th and 17th works by Tuscan artists, which shows the importance attributed to the finishing of Santa Maria del Fiore over the centuries.
An independent room exhibits a collection of working tools and materials, recovered during the restoration works of the Cathedral and the Dome. This manage to effectively evoke the commitment and technical ability of the workers who collaborated to the project of Brunelleschi.

The bell tower by Giotto remains, together with the huge dome one of the most striking views of the town. The famous painter, Giotto, was in fact also the architect of the project for the bell tower, although by the time of his death (1337) only the lower part had been completed. The works continued under the direction of Andrea Pisano (c. 1290-1349) and Francesco Talenti (not. 1325-1369) who completed the project.

The Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in Florence although it is impossible to exactly determine the period. In the Middle Ages, it was believed to be a Roman pagan temple dedicated to Mars.
Its balanced geometrical layout and decorations in white and green marble from Prato originates from the harmonious integration of Romaneque and Paleochristian architecture developed during between the 11th and 13th centuries.
The external sculptures and basreliefs above the doors and on the doors themselves are the most important works ever made in Tuscany. The gilded bronze doors were made respectively by Andrea Pisano in 1336 (the door now facing south) and by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1427 and in 1452 (the two doors facing to the north and east). The latter door is known with the name of Gate of «Paradise» and represents one of the best artistic results ever achieved by the artist, who combines the rhythms of the late Gothic period to a newly learnt classical language. The original gate has now been removed for restoration and replaced with a copy. Some of the restored panels are exhibited in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
The marble sculptures above the doors were sculptured by Francesco Rustici (1474-1554) (Preaching of the Baptist) and Vincenzo Danti (1530-1576) (Beheading of the Baptist) and by Andrea Sansovino (the Baptism of Christ, which is a copy, since the original work will be exhibited in a museum).
In addition to the inlaid floor (end of 12th century and beginning of 13th century), the interior displays some large mosaics on the apse and ceiling. All the mosaics have a gilded background and were made between 1266 and the beginning of the 14th century by Byzantine artists from Venice, with the collaboration of vigorous Tuscans like Meliore, Coppo di Marcovaldo and above all Cimabue (rec. 1272-1302), the master of Giotto.
Other works of sculpture include the tomb of Giovanni XXIII, the Anti-Pope died in Florence in 1426 that was designed by Donatello and Michelozzo. The beautiful and ascetic wooden Magdalene sculptured by Donatello and originally exhibited in the Baptistery is currently displayed in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.

The Loggia of Bigallo, built in the mid 14th century for the Compagnia della Misericordia together with the neighbouring oratory, became in 1425 the seat of the Compagnia del Bigallo, named after the hospital it directed at Santa Maria a Fonteviva that was known as Hospital of Bigallo.
The works directly purchased by the Brotherhood or donated to it, dispersed due to several vicissitudes, were reunited in this museum in 1904. The collection, reorganised in 1976, comprises both religious and historical works that offer us further evidence on the life of the Brotherhood between the 14th and 16th centuries. The most remarkable pieces are the Crucifix of the “Master of Bigallo”, the works of Bernardo Daddi and his pupils and those of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini.
In addition to paintings, the collection displays also some important sculptures like those of Alberto Arnoldi (mid 14th century) who also sculptured the niches and loggia.

Built at the turn between the 13th and 14th centuries as the seat of the Priors, the oldest part of Palazzo Vecchio was originally designed by Arnolfo di Cambio (1245-1302). The later additions of the 15th and above all of the 16th centuries changed the scale of the rear part of the palace, without however modifying the massive appearance of the huge blocks, projecting gallery and asymmetrical tower.
Initially, the seat of the Signoria was provisionally used by the Grand Ducal family until 1540 when Cosimo I de’ Medici moved the residence to the newly built Palazzo Pitti (it was at that time that the palace was referred to as “old”). The transformations applied by Vasari date back to this period (1550-65). He sumptuously redecorated the newly reconstructed interiors taking into account the new role of the palace, which was to be used both as seat of the government and as official residence of the ruling family (the so-called “Monumental Quarters”).
The most important rooms of the palace are illustrated in sequence. The first entrance courtyard with white and gilded stucco work, redecorated with frescoes in the 16th century, owes its elegant structure to the second half of the 15th century. The courtyard opens on to the ancient Armoury now frequently used by the Town Council to organise exhibitions.
On the first floor we find the grandiose Salone dei Cinquecento, a work by Cronaca (1495), which was used for the assemblies of the General Council of the People, after the State reforms brought about by Girolamo Savonarola. The walls of the hall, originally decorated by Michelangelo and Leonardo, owe their present-day monumental appearance to Vasari and his pupils and date back to the second half of the 16th century. The panelled ceiling, the frescoes on the walls, the Udienza (the raised section of the room with statues by Bandinelli and Caccini), the sculptures of De’ Rossi featuring the Deeds of Hercules contribute to the complex and rich symbolism and offer a precise historical view of the glorious past of the Medici family. The hall also exhibits the Genius of Victory by Michelangelo.
In contrast with the grandness of this hall, but equally sumptuous is the little Studiolo of Francis I, a jewel of Mannerism art and sensitivity, where the prince retired to meditate and gaze his treasures (about 1570).
The visit can continue through the rooms on the first floor, each dedicated to a personality of the Medici family (Cosimo the Elder, Lorenzo, Leo X…), all appropriately frescoed.
On the second floor we find the "Quarter of the Elements" and the apartments of Eleonora da Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I. Despite the rich overall decoration, it is worth admiring the small chapel of the princess that was magnificently decorated by Bronzino (1503-1572). The visit can continue through the official rooms, like the Audience Chamber and the Lily Chamber with sumptuous ceilings, decorations and doors dating back to the 15th century.
The final section of the monumental apartments preserves the Loeser Collection, donated to the Town of Florence by the American art critic Charles Loeser, who died in 1928. The collection includes paintings and sculptures of the Tuscan school ranging from the 14th to the 16th centuries (works by Tino da Camaino, Berruguete, Rustici, Bronzino and Cellini).

The fourteenth century building of Orsanmichele, built on the spot where the oratory of San Michele in Orto once stood as wheat warehouse, soon became a representative and religious building thanks to the generosity of the Guilds, which decorated it between the 14th and 16th century with extraordinary sculptures and paintings. Today, the whole building is a museum on its own. The two rooms above the church, on the first and second floors, were reopened to the public in 1996 with the aim of exhibiting and preserving works that could no longer be left on the building's façade and of additionally displaying all the works that had been explicitly commissioned for Orsanmichele and had been disseminated due to various reasons.
The first floor currently exhibits eight of the fourteen statues or groups of statues, in bronze or marble, which once adorned the niches dedicated to the Guilds on the outside of the building. The second floor displays the forty small stone sculptures representing the Saints and Prophets originally installed on the top of the columns that divide the windows with three lights and the doors.
A great visual impact, inside the typically Gothic setting, is offered by the exhibition of the large statues on a platform. These were originally located in the external niches and have now been restored. The statues include extraordinary Renaissance masterpieces, commissioned by the Florentine Guilds, like St. Mark of Donatello, The Disbelief of St. Thomas of Verrocchio, together with St. John the Baptist of Ghiberti, Sant’Eligio and St. Philip of Nanni di Banco. The group also comprises the statues of St. Jacob, St. Peter and the Madonna of the rose respectively attributed to Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti, Bernardo Ciuffagni and Pietro di Giovanni Tedesco.
The museum has yet to be completed. The statues that are still located on the outside of the building are still waiting to be restored and replaced with copies, like the others already displayed inside the museum.

The Palace of the Uffizi was designed in 1559 and only took its architect, Giorgio Vasari, five years (1560-65) to build; this was the period in which Cosimo de' Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, was steadily consolidating - bureaucratically as well - his recent rise to power. In the shape of a horse-shoe, the Uffizi buildings stretch from Piazza Signoria to the River Arno and are connected to Palazzo Vecchio by a passageway above Via della Ninna and with the Pitti Palace by the Vasari Corridor (1565): they were designed to house the "offices" (from here it takes its name) of the thirteen judges who directed the the city administration.
The rooms on the ground floor instead were designed as workshops and studios for the court artists and craftsmen specialized in working metals, precious stones, glass, ceramics and tapestries. The ancient Mint, where the florins were coined, was situated on the West side and incorporated into the Palace, together with the "Fonderia" (or Pharmacy), which specialized in the distillation of perfumes, medicines that were supposed to be miraculous, and poison. (Many of these activities were illustrated by Vasari's students in the paintings on the walls of Francesco I's "Studiolo" in Palazzo Vecchio).
Vasari knocked down all the houses in the quarter of the "Baldracca" quarter to make room for the new buildings but spared the church of San Pier Scheraggio and incorporated it into the construction; up until the construction of Palazzo Vecchio, this Romanesque basilica (consacrated in 1068) had been used for the City Councils of the Florentine Republic (Dante was a councillor here too). Restoration work on the church in 1971 led to the discovery of earlier remains and stratifications, including traces of a frescoed room dating from the Roman "Florentia" (perhaps a tavern) and a church of Longobard style. Today this area, which is situated beside the entrance to the museum and used for conferences, contains detached frescoes by Botticelli (Annunciation, 1481) and Andrea del Castagno (the series of Famous Men from Villa Carducci at Legnaia, 1450 ca.)
The design of the huge Uffizi building, which can be considered Vasari's finest masterpiece, is based on the contrast between the white plasterwork and grey local stone (taken from Brunelleschi's construction of the Hospital of the Innocents) and also strongly influenced by Michelangelo's design of the Laurentian Library (window frames in relief and strongly marked mouldings). The architecture of the building gains in slenderness and light thanks to the large number of decorative elements: from the ground-floor loggia with its columns and pilasters, the mezzanine floor with its small square windows placed between corbels, the first floor with its formal, large and balconied windows, to the parapet and columns of the upper loggia and lastly the great overhanging roof. A square (the square of the Uffizi) is created in the interior of the rectangle, which almost becomes a courtyard.
When Vasari died (1574), he was substituted by architects Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti, who completed the building by 1580, joining it on the Western side to the Loggia dei Lanzi, where they created a hanging garden on the roof and a little loggia that was destroyed in 1840. In 1581 Francesco I ordered Buontalenti to close the upper loggia and transform it into a Gallery which was to contain the Grand Duke's collections of art. In this period we find painter Allessandro Allori's accounts registering his expenses for the elegant grotesque figures frescoed on the ceiling of the first corridor of the Gallery.
Buontalenti also carried out the Tribune (1584) and the Medici Theatre (1586, demolished in 1889), where many famous performances were staged; in height this occupied what are today two floors of the Gallery of Prints and Drawings: three of the powerful wooden trusses that held up the ceiling were brought to light in 1978 and can be seen today in the Room of Botticelli.
Some of the last changes were made by the Lorraine family in the 18th century with the new (and still up-to-date) East entrance and the addition of graceful staircases and vestibules, painted in red and pastel green, which were almost neoclassical in taste. Architect Gaspare Maria Paoletti carried out the splendid Room of Niobe in the West Corridor, worthy pendant of the Tribune, to contain the twelve classical statues from the Villa Medici in Rome. The 28 statues of famous Florentines that stand in the niches of the external portico, which goes all around the square, were not placed there until 1835.

This is one of the most famous museums of paintings and sculpture in the world. Its collection of Primitive and Renaissance paintings comprises several universally acclaimed masterpieces of all time, including works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. German, Dutch and Flemish masters are also well represented with important works by Dürer, Rembrandt and Rubens.
The Gallery was created by Grand-duke Francesco I and subsequently enriched by various members of the Medici family, who were great collectors of paintings, sculpture and works of art. The collection was rearranged and enlarged by the Lorraine Grand-dukes, who succeeded the Medici, and finally by the Italian State.
The Uffizi buildings also house other important collections: the Contini Bonacossi Collection and the Collection of Prints and Drawings (Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi).
The Vasari Corridor, the raised passageway connecting the Uffizi with the Pitti Palace, was built by Vasari in 1565. It is hung with an important collection of 17th-century paintings and the famous collection of artists’ Self-portraits.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 8,15 – 18,50
Closed Monday, New Year’s Day, May 1st and Christmas Day.
Tickets: Full price: € 6,50
Reduced: € 3,25
For the The mind of Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, the ticket prices will be € 9,50 (full price) and € 4,75 (reduce price)
www.uffizi.firenze.it

Although the origins of the first Franciscan oratory are still lost in the mists of time, the construction of the new Basilica of Santa Croce is well documented and was officially started on May 3rd 1294, when the architect, Arnolfo di Cambio, laid the first stone of what was to become a masterpiece of Gothic art. His design was based on spatial grandiosity, with the structural elements carried out with rational clarity and sobriety.
It is built on the plan of an Egyptian cross (in the shape of a T), with the interior divided into three naves (114,45 metres), a chancel and a transept full of chapels whose patronage was reserved for the most illustrious families in this quarter of the city: the Bardi and Peruzzi families were the foremost, but there were also the Tosinghi, Pulci, Rinuccini and Alberti families...The walls of these chapels and the entire church were immediately covered in frescoes by Giotto and his school, who turned the basilica into a museum of Florentine Trecento painting. The same artists also designed the wonderful luminous stained glass windows.
When at last the church was finished in 1442, it was consacrated by Pope Eugene IV. The facade was left undecorated, in fact it was not completed until 1857-63, more or less at the same time as the Belltower was rebuilt to replace the original one which had been struck by lightning.
New architectural additions were introduced thanks to the patronage of Cosimo "the Elder" de' Medici and Andrea de' Pazzi. The former had the Chapel of the Novitiate built next to the Sacristy in 1434-45 by Michelozzo and decorated by Andrea della Robbia and Mino da Fiesole; the latter sponsored the Pazzi Chapel, in the first cloister or Cloister of the Dead, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and started in around 1430.
Brunelleschi also designed the second Cloister of the Convent, or Greater Cloister, continued after his death by Bernardo Rossellino (1453 circa) with a fine entrance door (1450 circa) by Benedetto da Maiano.
Rather out of place in this substantially Gothic ambience, the Niccolini Chapel (situated in the left transept) dates from a later period and was carried out in around 1570 by the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio. Giorgio Vasari was "remodernizing" the basilica for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici more or less in the same period (1566-1584). This was when the huge altars we can see on the walls in the side naves were built, all of them enriched with religious paintings carried out by the finest Florentine painters of the period.
The basilica also contains numerous examples of typically Renaissance sculpture. The most famous of these is the Crucifix by Donatello (1425, Bardi Chapel in the left transept) and his aristocratic Annunciation in grey stone with gilded highlights (1430-35), recently restored by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. Nor should we forget the Pulpit by Benedetto da Maiano (1472-80) or the Madonna of Milk by Antonio Rossellino (1478), placed above the tomb of Francesco Nori, prior of the Republic and who died saving Lorenzo the Magnificent's life at the time of the "Pazzi Conspiracy". Lastly, the two funeral monuments by Bernardo Rossellino (1444-1451) and Desiderio da Settignano (1455-64). The former, dedicated to Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444), humanist and Chancellor of the Republic, is considered a prototype among Renaissance tomb monuments.
The presence of a great many funeral monuments and tombstones (276 can still be seen on the floor alone) has led to the Basilca being thought of as the city Pantheon, the burial place of Florence's most illustrious citizens. Somewhere here lie the tombs of Taddeo Gaddi and Count Ugolino della Gherardesca. Other famous inmates include Michelangelo (tomb by Vasari, 1570), Galileo Galilei (tomb by Foggini, 1737), Vittorio Alfieri (tomb by Canova, 1810). Unfortunately the monument to Dante, whose remains repose at Ravenna, is only a cenotaph (S. Ricci, 1829). The poet Ugo Foscolo described the church and its Tombs of the famous in his "Sepolcri".
Other tombs can be found in the first cloister, beneath the loggia attached to the church (the oldest), and in an undergound corridor. The latter form a complete range of Neoclassical and Romantic sculpture. The Cloister, which also contains the entrance to the Museum, can be reached directly from the square.

The huge rectangular space of Piazza Santa Croce, created in front of the Franciscan Basilica, is the result of a 13th-14th century urban project whose mediaeval origins can still be clearly seen in many of the buildings surrounding its perimeter. However the two most famous palaces in the square actually date from a later period: Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori, which is an original adaptation of a 14th century house carried out by Baccio d'Agnolo towards the end of the 15th century (opposite the church), and Palazzo dell'Antella, which previously belonged to the Cerchi family (civic number 21-23), the leaders of the "White" Guelph party.
This palace was built by Giulio Parigi, an architect who worked on the Pitti Palace for the Medici family, and who repeated the mediaeval leitmotiv of the projecting consoles that can be seen on the buildings beside it, between the ground and the first floors. However Palazzo Antella's lovely facade also stands out from the other buildings because of its murals: the festoons and grottesque figures were frescoed in 1620 in only twenty days by a group of twelve painters under the direction of Giovanni da San Giovanni, a friend of Niccolò dell'Antella.
A bust of Cosimo II de' Medici is placed just above the doorway, while a marble plaque, dated February 10th 1565, can be seen between the two windows on the ground floor: this serves to mark the halfway line of the "playing field" that is created every year inside the square for the spectacular game of Football in period costume, a tradition that dates from the early 15th century, though it was suspended in 1739 and not revived again until 1930.
Santa Croce has traditionally always been used for important civic and religious events because it is large enough to contain crowds of people. This is where the Franciscan preachers, as well as St. Bernardino of Siena, during the plague of 1437, addressed the population. This was also where Carnival and May Day festivities were celebrated, as well as tournaments, jousting and carousels, especially during the Renaissance, with the enthusiastic partecipation of the younger members of the Florentine aristocracy: such events included the famous jousts described by Pulci (1469) and Poliziano (1475), with Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici among the principal protagonists.

In the picturesque cloister to the side of the Church of Santa Croce one finds one of the greatest works by Filippo Brunelleschi: the Pazzi Chapel.
It dates from just three years before the death of the architect (1443). The plan of the chapel is again the circle and the square. A rectangular base is cDowned with a conical central dome supported by fine "veiled" vaulting that one also finds in the porch. The spaces are divided up with a geometric lucidity; the white intonaco (plaster) of the walls is in the cool contrast to the pilasters in grey "serene" stone, and the beautiful decorations in glazed terracotta which adorn the interior are by Luca della Robbia. In the same courtyard there is the long refecotry housing the dramatic CRUCIFIX by Cimabue. Dating from c. 1270 (see Opera St.Croce museum) this was the work of art most damaged in the floodof 1966.
Ten years time was necessary for the restoration of the panel painting. After lying immersed in the mud for an entire day.

This museum is located next to the church of Santa Croce, one of the most extraordinary examples of Italian Gothic architecture with 14th century paintings, at a short distance of the famous Cappella dei Pazzi (around 1430) built by Brunelleschi. The museum has been recently reopened after the very serious damage suffered during the flood of 1966. The museum exhibits several important Florentine works moved to this location from the church and the adjoining cloisters. The Refectory displays the large Crucifix by Cimabue (active 1272-1302) that was seriously damaged in 1966 and only partially restored. Despite its mutilation, the work confirms the high artistic level acquired by an artist who can be rightly enough considered the father of Western painting.
Detached frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi (1290 ca-1366) and Orcagna (14th century), discovered under the 16th century whitewash of the church, are displayed in the adjoining rooms, together with a series of important sculptures, featuring in particular some glazed terracottas from the Della Robbia studio and a remake of the tomb of Gastone della Torre di Tino da Camaino (1280 ca-1337). One of the most important works is undoubtedly the large gilded bronze statue featuring S. Lodovico di Tolosa, made by Donatello in 1423 to be fitted in one of the niches of Orsanmichele and commissioned by the Guelphs.