Top 10 things to do in

FLORENCE
 SUMMARY
Top 10 things to do in Florence

01 - Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia Gallery ......................................................... page 3

02 - Uffizi Gallery .............................................................................................................................................. page 4

03 - Ponte Vecchio and Vasari Corridor ........................................................................................ page 5

04 - Palazzo Vecchio ..................................................................................................................................... page 6

05 - The Duomo, The Baptistery and Giotto Bell Tower .................................................. page 8

06 - Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato Church........................................................ page 10

07 - Piazza Santa Croce & Santa Croce Church ..................................................................... page 12

08 - Pitti Palace, the Palatine Gallery and Boboli Garden ............................................ page 14

09 - Bargello museum ................................................................................................................................ page 16

10 - Medici Chapels ........................................................................................................................................ page 18

Top 5 Restaurants and Gelato ............................................................................................................... page 20

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 01 - Michelangelo’s David
at the Accademia Gallery
A visit to the Accademia Gallery is like a study in the technique of Michelan-
Top 10 things to do in Florence

gelo as a sculptor. In the main hall of the gallery are Michelangelo’s famed
Prisoners, also known as the Slaves, so-called for their seemingly “enslaved”
appearance, trapped within the blocks of marble. Seeing these unfinished
“non-finito” sculptures gives us great insight into the unique techniques of
the artist. Quite unusually, Michelangelo worked from the front of a block
of marble to the back. Vasari likened this technique to the image of a figure
lying in a bath of slowly emptying water, slowly revealing itself. Michelan-
gelo’s extremely advanced sense of the proportions of the human body is
perfectly evident here, revealing a skill like no other artist in history.

The story of David was ever-popular in art throughout the 15th century as
a symbol of the strength and truth of good over evil. David was a young
shepherd boy who fought against the giant, Goliath, to save his people, the
Israelites.

Michelangelo’s David was created for the Duomo and completed in 1504,
when Michelangelo (1475-1564) was just a young man of twenty-nine. In-
stantly hailed as a masterpiece, it was decided it was too important to wa-
ste on the already busy exterior of the Duomo, and instead to give it its own
place of pride, in the political heart of Florence, in Piazza della Signoria.
In 1873 it was moved to its very own, specially-created space in the Accade-
mia Gallery by means of a made-to-measure railway. A copy was created
and replaced in Piazza della Signoria in 1910, so that David still guards over
the city of Florence.

Don’t forget to take a peek at the often overlooked collection of rare and
historical musical instruments, the entrance is from the Hall of the Colossus.
It includes the unique tenor viola and other stringed instruments by Anto-
nio Stradivari (1644-1737), regarded as the finest stringed instruments ever
created. A recent auction revealed how Stradivari’s instruments are still very
much valued, going for up to US$3.5 million.

OPENING HOURS:

8:15am-6:30pm Tuesday-Sunday.

CLOSING DAYS: Mondays, January 1, May 1,

Christmas Day.

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 02 - Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery, originally the state ‘offices’ built for Cosimo I, evolved into
Top 10 things to do in Florence

a gallery to display art works in the Medici family’s collection. It now houses
thousands of paintings from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries col-
lected by or gifted to the Medici and their successors.

The top floor corridor, dating from 1580, was designed to be a statue gallery,
where many of the numerous ancient sculptures in the Medici’s collection
at the Pitti Palace were transferred.

The corridor from the 1580’s is still lined with the Medici’s classical sculptu-
res, a collection begun by Lorenzo the Magnificent for his San Marco garden
to be studied by budding young artists, such as Michelangelo. The Uffizi
collection concentrates largely on painting from the Gothic Middle Ages
through the Renaissance to the Baroque period and is displayed in chrono-
logical order.

Some of the highlights you may wish to see at the Uffizi are: Giotto’s Mae-
stà, Sandro Botticelli’s Venus and Primavera, Leonardo da Vinci’s Baptism
of Christ and Annunciation, Michelangelo’s Tondo Doni, Raphael’s Pope
Leo X and Madonna of the Goldfinch, Titian’s Venus of Urbino, Caravaggio’s
unforgettable Medusa, the Sacrifice of Isaac and Bacchus.

OPENING HOURS:

8:15am-6:30pm Tuesday-Sunday.

CLOSING DAYS: Mondays, January 1, May 1,

Christmas Day.

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 03 - Ponte vecchio and
Vasari Corridor
The Ponte Vecchio bridge is the oldest and shortest of the six bridges of the
Top 10 things to do in Florence

city. It is also the main bridge as it leads people to the heart of the city, con-
necting the Pitti Palace to Piazza Repubblica and Piazza Duomo.

Shops began appearing on the Ponte Vecchio by the 13th century. The first
of the shops belonged to tanners and purse makers, whose leather works
required the convenience of the supply of water, but also caused a terrible
smell as skins were left to soak in urine. By the beginning of the 1400’s, it
was mainly the butchers – also for the supply of water, which they relied
on to wash away their animal carcasses and bloody scraps – who occupied
the shops on the bridge, contributing, if not causing most of the wretched
stench around the area. It is no wonder the Dukes later decided to jazz up
the place by only allowing goldsmiths over butchers and tanners to occupy
the bridge!

In the mid-16th century Giorgio Vasari was commissioned to build the en-
closed passageway or corridor for the Grand Duke Cosimo I and family. It
allowed them to pass from their palace on the Oltrarno, the Palazzo Pitti,
through the Uffizi (then, offices of the government) to the Palazzo Vecchio
by an elegant, covered walkway. It was also the perfect way for the Duke to
avoid mingling with the commoners and to protect himself from potential
enemies, while allowing for the opportunity secretly to spy on his subjects
below in the streets. You can see this walkway with its little round and squa-
re windows artfully incorporated into the rooftops of the medieval shops of
the Ponte Vecchio.

The Vasari Corridor, as it became known, also passed through the church
of Santa Felicita and a special opening allowed the Medici family to attend
Mass on a balcony still visible to visitors today.

INFO

Lovers leave padlocks attached to fixtures on

the bridge, throwing the keys into the water to
seal their love forever. But watch you don’t get
tempted to do the same - it is greatly frowned
upon and the fines are now quite heavy!

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 04 - Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence and one of the most important
Top 10 things to do in Florence

public areas in the city and Italy itself. Originally known as Palazzo della Si-
gnoria, named after the Signoria, the ruling body of Florence’s Republic at
the time, this is also where the piazza gets its name from. The Signoria con-
sisted of a group of nine men, known as priori, who were chosen from the
guilds of the city to rule Florence.

The interior of the Palazzo Vecchio is now largely filled with the renovations,
painting and sculpture that the Medici family of the 16th century left us
from their time here, Grand Duke Cosimo I (1519-1574) being the major pa-
tron of the arts. Cosimo married the seventeen-year-old Spanish Eleonora di
Toledo (1522-1562) in 1539.. Around this time Cosimo had Vasari and other
artists transform Palazzo Vecchio, especially the main hall, known as the
Hall of Five Hundred, taking into account the new role of the Palazzo as go-
vernment seat and as a part time residence for the new family. This is also
when the name of the Palazzo changed from Palazzo della Signoria to Pa-
lazzo Vecchio, “the old palace.” Not long after this, Cosimo then had Vasari
add on an enclosed passageway to connect the Palazzo Vecchio to the new
family palace, snaking its way across the city at rooftop level, known now as
the Vasari Corridor.

The main façade, the oldest part of the building, is finished in the typical
Florentine pietra forte stone, crowned by a Guelf-style crenellated gallery
supported by round-arched brackets. Beneath some of them we can still
see the embrasures that were used to pour boiling oil or throw rocks at at-
tackers. Each arch is decorated with the coats of arms of the Florentine Re-
public. The one with the red lily on white, is the symbol of the city.

Note that the tower is not in the center of the façade. The reason for this
is that it was erected over the base of a pre-existing tower-house, known
as “della Vacca.” The tower is crowned with Ghibelline style swallow-tailed
crenellation. Inside the tower are two small cells, where important prisoners
were held.

One small, hidden detail can be found on the right corner of the façade of
the palazzo. There is a roughly carved profile on a stone, popularly attributed
to Michelangelo. While there are many different legends, one of the favori-
tes tells that Michelangelo, challenged to a bet, carved the portrait of a man
condemned to the gallows without looking, with his hands behind his back!

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 OPENING HOURS:

April-September daily 9am-11pm except Thur-

sday 9am-2pm.
Top 10 things to do in Florence

Winter months daily 9am-7pm except Thur-

sday 9am-2pm.

Extended opening for public holidays except

closed Christmas Day.

The tower can be climbed April-September

daily 9am-9pm (except Thursday 9am-2pm).
During the winter months (October - March)
the tower can be climbed daily from 10am -
5pm (except Thursday: 9am - 2pm).

ADMISSION:
Museum or Tower and Battlements only € 10.00,
Museum + Tower and Battlements € 14.00
Concessions available.

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 05 - The Duomo, the Baptistery
and Giotto Bell Tower
Florence’s baptistery is dedicated to St John the Baptist, the city’s beloved
Top 10 things to do in Florence

Patron Saint. Even in the Middle Ages, they had his image on their coin, the
fiorino, the first minted coin in Europe to be accepted as stable international
currency. St John the Baptist’s Day, June 24th, is still celebrated with many
Florentines taking the day off, shops closing, and celebrations in the form of
fireworks and the calcio storico (a historic football game), all in honor of St
John the Baptist.

The current Romanesque style baptistery, sitting opposite the Duomo of

Santa Maria del Fiore, was constructed between 1059 and 1128, built, accor-
ding to legend, with marble brought from the recently conquered town of
Fiesole together with other ancient Roman structures. The building is nowa-
days most famous for Lorenzo Ghiberti’s eastern gold-gilded doors, better
known as “The Gate of Paradise”, nicknamed by Michelangelo later in the
same century who thought they were so beautiful they could be the gates
to Heaven.

The Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, more commonly referred to as simply
the Duomo (which means “cathedral” or literally “house of God”, not “dome”,
as many English-speakers like to believe!), is one of the most impressive bu-
ildings in Italy. It took about 200 years to complete, spanning the middle-a-
ges and the Renaissance, taking influences from each era. The characteristic
coloured marbles of the façade are all regional materials, the white marble
is from Carrara, the green from Prato and the pink from Maremma, along
the Tuscan coast.

The interior of the Duomo is decidedly stark compared to many other ca-
thedrals, the walls being mostly bare, lending a feeling of great space.
The real masterpiece of the entire cathedral is its dome made by Filippo
Brunelleschi. The largest dome ever built in bricks and masonry, is still to-
day the defining glory of Florence’s Renaissance past and it influenced all
architecture that was ever made afterwards.

For the best understanding of the dome and the best views in the entire
city, climb up the 463 steps to the top of the dome and get a birds-eye view
of the interior of the Duomo, a close up look at Vasari’s frescoes and re-li-
ve Brunelleschi’s construction of the Duomo by climbing between the two
shells of the dome, up to the top.

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 Another climb that will reward you with a fantastic view over Florence and
the surrounding hills – with the added bonus of a close up view of the Duo-
mo’s famed dome on the way - is Giotto’s Bell Tower. All the works of art on
the bell tower, including the sculptures of the prophets by Donatello, are
Top 10 things to do in Florence

now copies, the originals having been moved in the 1960’s to the Museo
dell’Opera del Duomo.

Climbing the Dome

OPENING HOURS:

Monday-Friday 8:30am–7pm;
Saturday 8:30am–5:30pm;
Sundays 1:00pm-4:00pm

CLOSING DAYS: Sundays and religious holi-

days and January 1.

Baptistery
OPENING TIMES:
Cathedral Monday-Saturday 8:15am-7pm,
OPENING TIMES: except 1st Saturday of the month 8:30am-
2pm;
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
10am-5pm; Sundays and public holidays 8:30am-2pm.

Thursday 10am–5pm in summer, 10am- CLOSING DAYS: January 1, Easter Sunday,

4pm in winter; September 8, Christmas Day.

Saturday 10am–4:45pm;
Sundays and religious holidays 1:30pm-
4:45pm;
Museum of the Opera di Santa
Maria del Fiore
January 1, Easter Day and Christmas Day OPENING TIMES:
3.30pm-4.45pm.
Monday-Saturday 9am-7:00pm.
CLOSING DAYS: January 6.
CLOSING DAYS: January 1, Easter Day, Sep-
tember 8th, and Christmas Day.
Climbing Giotto’s Bell Tower
OPENING HOURS:

Daily 8:30am–7:30pm.

CLOSING DAYS: January 1, Easter Sunday,

September 8th, Christmas Day.

Page 9
 06 - Piazzale Michelangelo and
San Miniato Church
Piazzale Michelangelo is one of the best and most famous lookouts for a
Top 10 things to do in Florence

stunning view of Florence, day or night, and best of all it is free! It just takes
a little legwork and there are a few easy ways to get there.

One is a lovely walk along the south side of the river upstream towards the
Torre San Niccolò, an old tower of the now destroyed medieval city walls
which you can see jutting out over the rooftops from afar. Here, you are di-
rectly underneath the piazza, simply follow the looping ramps up to the top
of the hill. Another nice walk is from the Porta San Miniato gateway, acces-
sible from Via San Niccolò.

The other way up to the piazza, for those who are saving their energy, is to
take the local bus number 12 or 13. Find them at the train station, near the
taxi stand, either one will take you all the way up to Piazza Michelangelo for
the cost of €1.20 a single ride (tickets must be purchased in advance at a
tabaccheria, tobacconist).

From the piazza, a five minute stroll up past the church of San Salvato-
re will take you to the unique and beautiful monastery of San Miniato al
Monte. With absolutely the best view of the city, San Miniato al Monte is a
stunning example of original Tuscan Romanesque architecture dating from
1013. The monks still make honey, tisanes and liqueurs to sell to visitors and
it is also possible to visit the church while the monks sing Gregorian chant
at 5.30pm.

In the grounds surrounding the church there is a beautiful monumental

cemetery laid out in the mid-1800’s and protected by the old defensive
walls of the church designed by Michelangelo during the Siege of Florence
in 1529-30.

A wonderful panoramic walk from San Miniato back to the center of Floren-
ce can be enjoyed by turning left (with the church behind you) onto Viale
Galileo, the tree lined boulevard. As the road winds along and you enjoy the
shade of the trees there are the most splendid views of Florence until you
reach Via di San Leonardo on your right. Taking this charming narrow street,
look for the plaque on the wall of the first villa on your left that says Tchaiko-
vsky lived here in 1878. Continuing along past beautiful villas and the tiny
eleventh century church of San Leonardo in Arcetri you will come to the For-
te Belvedere and the 13th century Porta San Giorgio. Here you can either go
through the arch of the old city gate and straight down the hill to arrive at
the Ponte Vecchio, or you can follow the old city wall to the right and back
to the area of San Niccolò, below the Piazzale Michelangelo.

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 The walk from Porta San Miniato to the chur-
ch of San Miniato and back through Via San
Leonardo to the starting point is approximately
4km or 2.5 miles and will take around 1.5 – 2
Top 10 things to do in Florence

hours as a stroll.

San Miniato Church

OPENING HOURS:
daily 9:30am-1:00pm and from 3pm to 7pm;
Sundays 3pm-7pm.

ADMISSION: Free

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 07 - Piazza Santa Croce &
Santa Croce Church
Piazza Santa Croce is one of Florence’s largest and most loved squares,
Top 10 things to do in Florence

often the host of various events, such as sports, concerts and food festivals.
Even today, Piazza Santa Croce is still known for one of Florence’s most fa-
mous and unique events, the calcio storico, or literally, historic football, held
in June. The square is filled with sand, bleachers are built and for three we-
ekends in June the city celebrates its Renaissance heritage through this
crazy sport with twenty seven players on each side. A bit more brutal than
rugby, think of this as a mixture between bare-knuckle boxing, a costume
party and football.

The Franciscan Basilica of Santa Croce is one of Florence’s largest and

most beautiful churches. Building began in 1294 and was paid for by some
of the city’s wealthiest families. The church was finally consecrated in 1442,
however the facade remained a rough stone exterior for another 400 years
until 1858 when its current neo-Gothic facade by Jewish architect Niccolò
Matas was finally created using the traditional and local green, pink and
white marble.

Santa Croce is apparently where the French author Stendhal in 1817 first
experienced and penned the illness now known as the “Stendhal syndro-
me” that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting and even hallucinations
when exposed to too much beautiful art. It is fitting, as Santa Croce’s be-
autiful interior is filled with some of the city’s greatest treasures. It is also
where some of Florence’s most illustrious citizens are buried: Michelangelo
who died in 1564, Galileo in 1642, Renaissance man Giorgio Vasari in 1574,
Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti 1455, political philosopher Niccolò
Machiavelli 1527 and Barber of Seville composer Rossini 1868. There is also
a monument to the poet Dante Alighieri who died in 1321 but is actually
buried in Ravenna.

Aside from visiting the famous tombs, there are many important artworks
to marvel over as well, including Agnolo Bronzino’s mannerist masterpiece,
the Pietà, and Donatello’s delicate relief sculpture depicting the Annuncia-
tion in pietra serena. The highlight of the interior, though, is Giotto’s emotive
fresco cycle of the life of Saint Francis on the main transept.

In the cloister you can find the Pazzi family chapel, the greatest rivals of the
Medici family. Look out for the Pazzi coat of arms depicting two dolphins –
you won’t see it much in the rest of the city, as the Medici tore them down.
The beautiful ceramic rondels decorating the chapel are by Luca della Rob-
bia in his family’s characteristic glazed terracotta.

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 The Museum of the works of Santa Croce is housed in what used to be
the old refectory of the monks. Here you can witness the devastation of the
infamous flood of Florence in 1966 through black and white photographs.
Santa Croce was arguably the area most damaged by the flood, which was
Top 10 things to do in Florence

blanketed under 20 feet (6 meters) of mud, water, oil and pollution. In fact,
you can still see the stain left behind by the flood on the walls of the church
interior. The incredible seven hundred year old medieval crucifix by Cima-
bue, Giotto’s master, was one of the worst damaged.

OPENING HOURS:

9:30am-5:30pm Monday-Saturday;

2pm-5:30pm on Sundays and religious holi-

days, except closed January 1, Easter Day, June
13, October 4 and Christmas Day.

Closed when historic football matches take

place in the piazza.

ADMISSION: € 8.00 (includes Museum of

Santa Croce). Concessions available.

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 08 - Pitti Palace, the Palatine
Gallery and Boboli Garden
As an historical palace and museum, the Pitti Palace is a unique place to
Top 10 things to do in Florence

visit as you are literally walking through the rooms and lives of the royal fa-
milies that lived here. It is also a great option if you do not have much time,
as you can see so many wonderful things in the one place – the gardens,
beautiful views, the palace, history and famous Renaissance artworks.

THE PALATINE GALLERY AND THE ROYAL APARTMENTS:

The Palatine Gallery is where you go to see the wonderful collection of High
Renaissance and Early Baroque painting (16th-17th century). Some of art hi-
story’s most famous painters are represented here from Filippo Lippi, San-
dro Botticelli, Raphael, Titian and Rubens, to Van Dyck and Caravaggio,
with over five hundred paintings covering the walls. Unlike any modern gal-
lery, the priceless paintings hang (still in salon style as was popular in the
19th century) in rooms covered with frescoes and full of luxurious furnishin-
gs. The gallery also spills into the Royal Apartments, a set of fourteen rooms
taking up the right wing of the palace where they remain an important hi-
storical record of the sumptuous palace and its inhabitants from the Medici
to the House of Lorraine to Napoleon to the Savoy.

THE MODERN ART GALLERY:

The thirty rooms that make up the Modern Art Gallery’s collection of ar-
tworks from the 18th century to the 1920’s are organised in chronological
order, still decorated with the original touches of the period of the Lorrai-
nes’ residence. Beginning with Neoclassical works, such as Antonio Cano-
va’s sculpture, Calliope, and Giovanni Duprè’s Abel, you will work your way
to the 19th century where the most characteristic part of the collection is
kept: the Macchiaioli paintings.

THE SILVER MUSEUM:

These rooms are also unofficially known as the Medici’s treasury, because it
is not simply a collection of priceless silver items as you might think but it
also has Lorenzo the Magnificent’s collection of cameos, gemstones and an-
cient vases as well as his death mask. For lovers of frescoes and fine details,
the Silver Gallery’s seventeenth century rooms themselves are a highlight.

THE COSTUME GALLERY:

This elegant gallery has a collection of costumes and fashion from the 16th
century to the present, with some of today’s most famous fashion designers
included. It is Italy’s only historical fashion museum with a rich collection of
clothing, shoes, and accessories from throughout the centuries plus a 20th
century costume jewellery collection.

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 THE BOBOLI & BARDINI GARDENS:
The magnificent Boboli gardens are laid out in eleven acres of grand and
formal avenues, with beautiful mature trees, lawns and meadows, statues,
fountains and grottoes. The Roman style amphitheatre was used for theatre
Top 10 things to do in Florence

and opera, holding many famous performances such as Jacopo Peri’s Daf-
ne and Euridice.

At the top of the gardens, overlooking the countryside is the Porcelain Mu-
seum, opened in 1973, housing a collection of precious porcelain from all
over Europe, many of the items were gifts from other European rulers to the
Medici.

Together with this ticket, you also have access to the beautifully restored
Bardini garden and terrace. It has a glorious view over Florence; the garden
is laid out over the hill between the Boboli gardens and the Piazzale Miche-
langelo.

The Boboli & Bardini Gardens,

Silver Museum, Porcelain Museum,
Costume Gallery
OPENING DAYS:
daily except first and last Monday of the
month.

From November-February 8:15am-4:30pm;

March 8:15am-5:30pm;

April, May, September, October 8:15am-

The Palace is split into several galleries, 6:30pm
with separate and cumulative tickets
available. June-August, 8:15am-6:50pm.

Palatine Gallery and Modern ADMISSION: € 7,00. together in one ticket.

Concessions aviable.
Art Gallery
OPENING TIMES:
Tuesday-Sunday 8:15am-6:30pm.

ADMISSION: € 8,50 together in one ti-

cket.
Concessions aviable.

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 09 - Bargello Museum
The Bargello is a wonderful medieval museum for a peek into the begin-
Top 10 things to do in Florence

nings of Renaissance sculpture. This is where you can experience the early
masterpieces that were being created by young Renaissance artists like Do-
natello, Ghiberti and Michelangelo.

Constructed in the 13th century, the Bargello was initially used as the seat of
the Podestà, the highest magistrate of the Florence city council, making it
Florence’s oldest public building. Eventually, the Palazzo Vecchio took over
as the main government seat and the Bargello was made the city prison.
Witness to countless sieges, tortures and executions during this part of its
dark history, 300 years later it made its transformation from fortress, bar-
racks and prison finally to museum, where it now houses some of the most
important early Renaissance sculptures.

On the ground floor you will find the gallery that holds some of Michelan-
gelo’s most famous early works, such as the elegant Bacchus, the Roman
god of wine, and his Pitti Tondo, a wonderful example of relief sculpture. Mi-
chelangelo’s later unfinished bust of Brutus (1539), and of the David-Apollo
(1530-32) are also held here.

Upstairs you will find some of Donatello’s most famous original works such
as the Marzocco lion, symbol of Florence that was replaced by a copy in its
original spot in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, Saint George, and David.

Commissioned by Cosimo the Elder probably around 1430-1440, Donatel-

lo’s bronze sculpture of David was at one point the centrepiece of the ar-
caded courtyard in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. Notable for being the first
free standing nude since antiquity, Donatello’s alluring David stands out in
contrast to other sculptures of the same subject for its nakedness.

Along with these early Renaissance pieces are two sublime and often over-
looked works of art: the tiles depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac by Lorenzo
Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, two of the most influential men of the
Renaissance.

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 OPENING HOURS:
8:15am-1:30pm daily except closed for the se-
cond and fourth Monday of each month and
the first, third and fifth Sunday of each month.
Top 10 things to do in Florence

During temporary exhibitions (usually May-Sep-

tember) the museum is open 8:15am-4:30pm.

CLOSING DAYS: New Year’s Day, May 1 and

Christmas Day.

ADMISSION:
€ 4.00 - Higher price when temporary exhibi-
tions are held. Concessions available.

Page 17
 10 - Medici Chapels
The Medici Chapels is reached through the back of the Basilica of San Lo-
Top 10 things to do in Florence

renzo complex, where the entrance first opens onto a crypt that houses the
tombs of the members of the older Medici family. The two staircases lead to
the Chapel of the Princes on the floor above.

The Chapel of the Princes was designed to show the prestige and power
of the Medici Grand Dukes. The grand room is topped by a frescoed dome,
and decorated in pietre dure, which is made by exceptionally skillful inlaying
of selected tones of coloured marble and stone, using the most precious
and long-lasting materials: marble, granite, jasper, alabaster, lapis lazuli, and
even coral and mother of pearl to adorn their mausoleum.

The octagonal chapel has six niches dedicated to the funeral monument
of each Grand Duke, identifiable by their name inscribed in letters of se-
mi-precious stones above. The monumental tombs were to be completed
by a bronze statue of each Duke, but only two of these were actually carried
out.

Leaving the Chapel of the Princes through the corridor one reaches the se-
cond half of the complex of the Medici Chapels, where to find the tombs
of the members of the House of Medici. The New Sacristy is the genius of
Michelangelo. It is a unique, monumental masterpiece of the artist in terms
of architecture as well as sculpture.

There is a great difference in atmosphere and style from the Chapel of the
Princes, holding the monuments of the Medici dukes and the New Sacri-
sty by Michelangelo, with the monuments of the earlier, “unofficial” Medici
rulers of the Renaissance. The former is ostentatious, grand, over-the-top
with intensely decorated details and over life size sarcophagi and statues.
The latter is elegant, subdued and understated, with use of the serene grey
stones and white marble. These details really personify the figures whose
memories they hold, and give a great idea as to how they were seen and
known by the public.

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 OPENING HOURS:
Summer 8:15am–4:30pm.
Winter 8:15am-1.30pm.

CLOSING DAYS: Christmas Day, January 1 and

Top 10 things to do in Florence

May 1, second and fourth Sunday and first, third

and fifth Monday of each month.

ADMISSION:
€ 6.00 Concessions available. Higher price when
exhibitions are held.

The entrance of the Medici chapels is not via the

main entrance of the San Lorenzo church but
actually at the back of the church, in Piazza di
Madonna degli Aldobrandini.

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 TOP 5
RESTAURANTS AND GELATO
Top 10 things to do in Florence

1 - ALL’ANTICO VINAIO
via dei Neri, 65red

Average: 5 (8 votes)

CHEAP

One of the few genuine Florentine fast food places left in the city.

2 - DA NERBONE
Via dell’Ariento - Mercato Centrale

Average: 4.8 (5 votes)

VERY CHEAP
Looking for an authentic market lunch?

3 - OSTERIA VINI E VECCHI SAPORI

Via dei Magazzini 3

Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHEAP
Get there early to be sure of a table.

4 - TRATTORIA ARMANDO
Borgo Ognissanti 140red

Average: 4.5 (2 votes)

EXPENSIVE
Dine with the opera stars in this elegant, family run establishment.

5 - GELATERIA DEI NERI

via dei Neri, 9 red

Average: 5 (2 votes)

VERY CHEAP
Named after the street where you find it, this ice cream shop is worth
seeking out!

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