Architectural, Cultural sights in Florence
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A
Palazzo Nonfinito
Bernardo Buontalenti started work on this residence for the Strozzi family in 1593. He and others completed the Palladian-style 1st floor and courtyard but the upper floors were never completely finished, hence the building's name. Buontalenti's window designs and other details constitute a mannerist touch that takes the building beyond the classicist rigour of the Renaissance. The obscure Museo dell'Antropologia e Etnologia is housed here.
It contains all sorts of oddments, ranging from ancient crania to arms, boats and other objects from various indigenous peoples around the world. The fusty displays are sorted roughly by regions (Africa, America, Asia, India and Oceani…
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B
Casa Rodolfo Siviero
This shady mansion on the Arno was until 1999 the house of the family of Rodolfo Siviero, an art collector of eclectic taste and, during and after WWII, a key figure in the recovery of art stolen from Florence by the Nazis. The collection is a hodgepodge, ranging from Renaissance church furniture to Roman busts, from Etruscan objects to paintings by Giorgio de Chirico, a personal friend who on the back of one work wrote that the painting was a gift but that Siviero had to pay for the frame!
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C
Poggio Imperiale
From Porta Romana a straight boulevard, Viale del Poggio Imperiale, leads directly to this once-grand Medici residence, the 'Imperial Hill'. The neoclassical appearance is due to changes wrought in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now home to a high school and girls boarding school. If you turn up alone you will probably be able to wander around this somewhat neglected site.
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D
Arte dei Giudici e dei Notai
Dating to the 14th century, with Roman foundations, this building was once home to the judges and lawyers' guild. One of the city's premier restaurants, Alle Murate, is lodged beneath wonderfully restored frescoes. By day you can visit the place as a monument, possibly combining with a light lunch. By night you can dine beneath the ceiling frescoes in romantic style.
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E
Casa Galleria
An unexpected sight in moody medieval Florence is this Art Nouveau townhouse, built by Giovanni Micheluzzi in 1911 in a rare moment of original 20th-century Florentine architecture. The striking and curvaceous façade is liberally laced with glass and iron - one of the few buildings of its genre in Florence that hasn't been pulled down.
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F
Casa Guidi
Welcome to chez Browning. Robert and Elizabeth Barrett rented rooms in 1847 and lived and scribbled here for many years. Elizabeth died here in 1861. The house, run by Eton College and the Landmark Trust, has been restored in 19th-century style and some of the furnishings belonged to the poetic couple. If you like it enough you can stay.
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G
Palazzo Antinori
One of Florence's most beautiful 'small' palazzi, this golden abode was built in 1465 for Giovanni Boni, a very rich member of the Money Changing Guild, but was taken over by the Antinori wine-making dynasty in the 16th century. Over 100 palazzi were built in the 15th century, when mercantile Florence was at its peak.
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H
Loggia del Bigallo
This graceful 14th-century marble loggia, opposite the Battistero, was built for the Misericordia charity and served as a lost-and-found office for children; the poor mites who weren't collected within three days were sent on to foster homes. The confraternity has a small museum across the road behind the ambulances.
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