Florence's centro storico (historic center) has at its very core two focal points, a religious one around the cathedral at Piazza San Giovanni/Piazza del Duomo, and a civic one several blocks to the south around the irregularly shaped Piazza della Signoria.
The latter is a lively, statue-studded square lined with cafés and home to the Gothically imposing, fortress-like Palazzo Vecchio, off which stretches the "U" of the Uffizi Galleries, Florence's great art museum.
The wide, pedestrian-choked promenade Via Calzaiuoli runs north-south to connect these two centers, and between them lies a thicket of cobblestone streets that make up the medieval heart of Florence.
West of this core is Florence's main shopping district, centered on Via Roma, the cafe-lined 19th-century Piazza della Repubblica, and Via de' Tornabuoni, the main artery of Florence's high fashion industry.
Via Roma actually changes names as it moves south, becoming Via Calimala, then Via Por Santa Maria. You may not notice it at first as you continue walking south up a gentle slope, but at the end of Via Por Santa Maria you actually step onto a bridge, the famous Ponte Vecchio, off either side of which hang a phalanx of gold- and silversmith shops that makes it seem like the street just continues. At small piazza in the bridge's center you can look up and down the Arno River.
Unlike in other Italian cities, there are two systems of street numbering here: black (nero) and red (rosso). Black numbers are for residential and office buildings and hotels, while red numbers (indicated by an r following the number) identify commercial enterprises, such as restaurants and stores. The two numbering systems operate independently of each other—so the doorways on a given street might run 1r, 2r, 3r, 1 (black), 4r, 2 (black).
For years, Florence has proclaimed that it's busily renumbering the whole city without the color system—plain 1, 3, 5 on one side, 2, 4, 6 on the other—and will release the new standard soon, but no one is quite sure when. Florentines reluctant for their addresses to change have been holding up the process. This is all compounded by the fact that the color codes occur only in the centro storico and other older sections of town; outlying districts didn't bother with the codes and use the international standard system common in the United States.
To the northwest of Piazza del Duomo is Piazza Santa Maria Novella, fronting the church of Santa Maria Novella (Masaccio's Trinità fresco inside was the first Renaissance painting to use linear perspective). This is the western edge of the visitor's city.
Just north of the church is the train station, whose surrounding streets are packed with cheap hotels.
Between the station and the Duomo lie Piazza San Lorenzo (home to the Medici family church) and Piazza del Mercato Centrale (home to the covered central food market). These two squares and the streets around them are filled with the stalls of Florence's outdoor leather market.
Back at Piazza del Duomo, three main streets run north. Via de' Martelli/Via Cavour leads straight up to Piazza San Marco, bus junction and home to the San Marco monastery, filled with paintings and frescoes by its most famous brother, the early Renaissance master Fra' Angelico.
Via Ricasoli heads to the Accademia, home to Michelangelo's David. Via de' Servi runs to the exceedingly pretty Piazza SS. Annunziata, surrounded on three sides by Brunelleschi-designed or -inspired porticoes.
Borgo de' Greci meanders east out of Piazza della Signoria to find its way to Piazza Santa Croce, home to a major church and the eastern edge of the visitor's city. The streets in this neighborhood hide many of Florence's finest restaurants.
The Arno River flows across the southern end of the city. The bulk of Florence—all that I just described—lies north of the Arno. The artisan's quarter called the Oltrarno sits across the river, home to some excellent restaurants and shopping. From the Ponte Vecchio, Via Guicciardini leads straight up to Piazza Pitti and the Pitti Palace. The Oltrarno's center is Piazza Santo Spirito, anchored by Santo Spirito church with a fine early Renaissance interior courtesy of Brunelleschi.
Tourist info: Firenzeturismo.it
Planning your day: Florence would well be worth a week, but you can still fit a lot into just a day or three.
To help you get the most out of your limited time in the Cradle of the Renaissance, here are some perfect itineraries, whether you have one, two, or three days to spend in Florence.
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Tourist info: Firenzeturismo.it
Florence tourist information
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tel. +39-055-290-832
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This article was written by Reid Bramblett and was last updated in June 2014.
All information was accurate at the time.
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