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Oltrarno

Literally the ‘other side of the Arno’, this achingly hip ’hood is traditionally home to Florence's artisans and its old-world, bohemian streets are sprinkled with botteghe (workshops), independent boutiques and hybrid forms of both. It embraces the area south of the river and west of Ponte Vecchio; its backbone is Borgo San Jacopo, clad with shops and a twinset of 12th-century towers, Torre dei Marsili and Torre de' Belfredelli. Cuisine – prepared using artisanal ingredients, of course – is a real strength here, with bags of fashionable restaurants and drinks to entice.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Oltrarno.

  • Gardens

    Giardino Torrigiani

    Astonishing. Behind the unassuming facades of Via de' Serragli lies a vast, secret garden – Europe’s largest privately owned green space within a historic centre, owned by the Torrigiani Malaspina and Torrigiani di Santa Cristina families. It’s possible to visit this well-kept and loved leafy retreat in the engaging company of the charismatic Marquis Vanni Torrigiani Malaspina and his wife, Susanna. Tours (in English or Italian) are intimate and offer a rare glimpse into a very different and privileged Florentine world.

  • Bridge

    Ponte Vecchio

    Dating from 1345, iconic Ponte Vecchio was the only Florentine bridge to survive destruction at the hands of retreating German forces in 1944. Above jewellery shops on the eastern side, the Corridoio Vasariano is a 16th-century passageway between the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti that runs around, rather than through, the medieval Torre dei Mannelli at the bridge's southern end.

  • Chapel

    Cappella Brancacci

    Fire in the 18th century practically destroyed 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, but it spared its magnificent chapel frescoes – a treasure of paintings by Masolino da Panicale, Masaccio and Filippino Lippi commissioned by rich merchant Felice Brancacci upon his return from Egypt in 1423. The chapel entrance is right of the main church entrance. Only 30 people can visit at a time, limited to 30 minutes in high season; pricier weekend tickets include admission to the Fondazione Salvatore Romano.

  • Museum

    Fondazione Salvatore Romano

    For a change of pace from the Renaissance, head to this Gothic-style former refectory safeguarding an imposing wall fresco by Andrea Orcagna depicting the Last Supper and the Crucifixion (c 1370), one of the largest 14th-century paintings to survive. The museum itself displays a collection of rare 11th-century Romanesque sculpture, paintings and antique furniture donated to the city by art collector and antiquarian Salvatore Romano (1875–1955). Tickets are sold at Cappella Brancacci; one ticket covers admission to both sights.

  • Church

    Basilica di Santo Spirito

    The facade of this Brunelleschi church, smart on Florence's most shabby-chic piazza, makes a striking backdrop to open-air concerts in summer. Inside, the basilica's length is lined with 38 semicircular chapels (covered with a plain wall in the 1960s), and a colonnade of grey pietra forte Corinthian columns injects monumental grandeur. Artworks to look for include Domenico di Zanobi's Madonna of the Relief (1485) in the Cappella Velutti, in which the Madonna wards off a little red devil with a club.

  • Tower

    Torre de' Belfredelli

    This eye-catching stone medieval tower is the tallest, and probably best preserved, in Florence. It was built for the wealthy Belfredelli family in the 13th century and is today capped with the modern addition of a roof and enviable two-bedroom apartment that can be rented; search for 'Luxury Medieval Tower Apartment' on www.airbnb.com.

  • Bridge

    Ponte Santa Trinità

    Composed of three elliptical arches of the utmost elegance – the first of their kind ever used in bridge construction – Ponte Santa Trinità was designed in the 1560s by Ammannati, though its arches, reminiscent of the tombs in Cappelle Medicee, have led some to suspect Michelangelo’s hand. Destroyed by Nazi bombs in 1944, it was reconstructed from the original stones retrieved from the Arno.

  • Museum

    Casa Guidi

    It was on the ground floor of 15th-century Palazzo Guidi, across from Palazzo Pitti, that Robert and Elizabeth Browning rented an apartment in 1847, a year after their marriage. Robert wrote Men and Women in the apartment they called home for 14 years and poet Elizabeth both gave birth to their only child here and died here.

  • Tower

    Torre dei Marsili

    Looming large above Ponte Vecchio is this rectangular, five-storey stone tower, built by the Marsili family as a status symbol in the 12th century. The Della Robbia terracotta on the facade was made for the tower's 19th-century owner, goldsmith Giuseppe Sorbi, who had his workshop inside.