Siena
The highlight of this repository of artworks that formerly adorned the duomo is undoubtedly Duccio (di Buoninsegna)'s striking Maestà (1308–11), which was…
Must-see attractions in Tuscany
Santa Maria Novella
Built in Gothic style and later given a mannerist facade, this 14th-century church shelters some of the city's finest frescoes. Right of the main altar,…
Northwestern Tuscany
A couple of kilometres from the seafront is 'Carnival City', aka 16 gargantuan hangars that serve as workshops and garage space for the fantastic floats,…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
This 15th-century Renaissance mansion was built for wealthy merchant Filippo Strozzi, one of the Medici's major political and commercial rivals. Today it…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Should you notice something gone awry with street signs in Oltrarno – on a No Entry sign, a tiny black figure stealthily sneaking away with the white bar…
Santa Maria Novella
Deconsecrated in the 19th century, Chiesa di San Pancrazio is home to this small art museum displaying sculptures by Pistoia-born sculptor Marino Marini …
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Once part of a sprawling Benedictine monastery, this cenacolo (refectory) harbours arguably the city’s most remarkable Last Supper scene. Painted by…
Santa Maria Novella
Take a break from Renaissance art with this pioneering urban street-art gallery. Exhibitions showcase the work of local street artists, including street…
Oltrarno
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…
Arezzo
This lopsided and steeply sloping piazza is overlooked at its upper end by the porticoes of the Palazzo delle Logge Vasariane, completed in 1573…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
Renaissance palaces and Italian fashion houses border Via de' Tornabuoni, the city's most expensive shopping strip. Named after a Florentine noble family …
Lucca
Abandoned for decades, this grandiose building was built as stables in 1876 for the adjoining 'Prato del Marchese' – the nickname given to today's…
Siena
The baptistry is lined with 15th-century frescoes and centres around a hexagonal marble font by Jacopo della Quercia, decorated with bronze panels…
Northwestern Tuscany
Next to Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, a steep path known as Via della Rocca leads up to the remnants of Pietrasanta's ancient fortifications. The crenellated…
Pisa
Home to some fascinating frescoes, this museum safeguards several sinopie (preliminary sketches), drawn by the artists in red earth pigment on the walls…
Chiesa e Convento di San Francesco
Fiesole
Make your way up steep walled Via San Francesco and be blown away by the staggeringly beautiful panorama of Florence that unfolds from the terrace…
Pistoia
Scale the sky-high, red-brick campanile (bell tower) of the Cattedrale di San Zeno for a wonderful bird's-eye view of Pistoia's iconic cathedral square…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
The hub of local life since the 13th century, Florentines flock here to meet friends and chat over early-evening aperitivi (predinner drinks) at historic…
Chianti
The ancestral estate of the aristocratic Ricasoli family dates from the 11th century and is the oldest winery in Italy. Currently home to the 32nd baron,…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Cosimo the Elder entrusted Michelozzo with the design of the family's town house in 1444. The result was this palace, a blueprint that influenced the…
Sacro Eremo e Monastero di Camaldoli
Eastern Tuscany
Hidden in the dense forest of the national park are the Benedictine hermitage and monastery of Camaldoli, founded between 1024 and 1025 by St Romualdo and…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Forte di Belvedere is a rambling fort designed by Bernardo Buontalenti for Grand Duke Ferdinando I at the end of the 16th century. From the massive…
Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico
Siena
St Catherine was welcomed into the Dominican fold within this huge and austere 13th-century basilica. Inside, the Cappella di Santa Caterina (halfway down…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
On the Arno river next to the Uffizi in 12th-century Palazzo Castellani – look for the sundial telling the time on the pavement outside – is this state-of…
Santa Maria Novella
Florence's largest park is dotted with playgrounds and is a great place to let the little 'uns loose. Families take over at weekends and the park is a…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
Elegantly housed in 14th-century Palazzo della Mercanzia, Gucci Garden is an all-out whimsical ode to the Florentine fashion giant. The practically…
Pisa
This inspiring repository of medieval masterpieces sits in a 13th-century Benedictine convent on the Arno's northern waterfront boulevard. The museum's…
Santa Croce
Opera buffs will adore this museum celebrating more than seven decades of work by the late, internationally renowned, Florence-born film director Franco…
Pisa
Facing the river is this magnificently restored 14th-century building with a striking dusty-blue facade. Inside, its over-the-top 19th-century interior…
Siena
Few buildings have pedigrees as splendid as this 13th-century palace. Home of the Piccolomini family (of which Pope Pius II was the most prominent member)…
Florence
Anglo-Italian, Florence-born Frederick Stibbert (1838–1906) was one of the grand 19th-century wheeler-dealers on the European antiquities market and…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
What makes Piazza della Signoria so utterly gorgeous is its wealth of fountains and statues, climaxing with this 14th-century loggia where works such as…
Museo delle Tavolette di Biccherne
Siena
Housed in the Renaissance-era Palazzo Piccolomini, Siena's State Archive isn't a usual stop on the standard tourist itinerary, but it provides ample…
Montepulciano
Montepulciano's main street – called in stages Via di Gracciano, Via di Voltaia, Via dell'Opio and Via Poliziano – climbs up the eastern ridge of the town…
Northwestern Tuscany
Prato's 12th-century cathedral safeguards magnificent frescoes by Filippo Lippi behind the altar and Agnolo's beautiful fresco cycle of the Legend of the…
Northwestern Tuscany
Here's an interesting fact for you: the Barilla company makes as much pasta in 20 minutes as this family-run factory makes in a year – Martelli Pasta…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
Inside the duomo a stairway near the main entrance in the nave leads down to the gift shop and crypt where excavations between 1965 and 1974 unearthed…
Basilica di San Miniato al Monte
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Five minutes' walk uphill from Piazzale Michelangelo is this wonderful Romanesque church, dedicated to St Minius, an early-Christian martyr in Florence…
Livorno
No trip to Livorno is complete without a stroll along this seafront terrace with its dramatic black-and-white chessboard-style pavement. When it was built…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Raphaels and Rubens vie for centre stage in the enviable collection of 16th- to 18th-century art amassed by the Medici and Lorraine dukes in Palazzo Pitti…
