Museo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo
Livorno
Livorno's Natural History Museum is beloved of school groups and families. The highlight of the permanent collection is a 20m-long whale skeleton called…
Must-see attractions in Tuscany
Pistoia
Sister gallery to Palazzo de' Rossi on the same street, this palazzo is a fine example of 15th-century Tuscan architecture thanks to leading Florentine…
Elba
This 17th-century church-turned-theatre was one of the grandest, most elaborate churches in Portoferraio when it was constructed in 1618. The Chiesa del…
Southern Tuscany
One of the greatest painters of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio, died in Porto Ercole on 18 July 1610 after a tempestuous and short life…
Museo della Battaglia e di Anghiari
Eastern Tuscany
Dedicated to the historical event that Anghiari is best remembered for, this small museum has exhibits about the two-hour battle between the armies of…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
A mooch around this frescoed Renaissance palazzo is tantamount to a fascinating peek behind of the scenes of a noble family of 18th-century bankers,…
Palazzo della Fraternità dei Laici
Arezzo
Construction of this palazzo commenced in 1375 in the Gothic style and finished in the late 1550s after the onset of the Renaissance. Delve into its small…
Casa Santuario di Santa Caterina
Siena
St Catherine once lived here with her parents and 24 siblings (locals joke her mother must have been a saint too). Now a pilgrimage site overseen by nuns…
Eastern Tuscany
This fortress crowning Poppi was built in the 13th century by Count Simone da Battifolle, head of the Guidi family. Inside, there's a fairy-tale courtyard…
Siena
This 16th-century gate replaced its medieval predecessor, which was the major northern entrance through Siena's medieval city walls. The structure has…
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
Exquisite amber carvings, ivory miniatures, glittering tiaras and headpieces, silver pillboxes and various other gems and jewels are displayed in this…
Siena
The largest medieval fountain in Siena, Fontebranda was built in the 13th century and features three wide Gothic arches, crenellations and water jets in…
Volterra
The grassy ranks of seating and towering columns of Italy's finest and best-preserved Roman theatre makes this a particularly evocative archaeological…
Val d'Orcia
Look out for this Romanesque church at the western edge of Pienza. It dates from the 10th century, when Pienza was called Corsignano, and boasts a strange…
Southern Tuscany
Grosseto's late-13th-century duomo has a distinctive Sienese character and a particularly beautiful rose window above the main entrance. Much of the…
Pistoia
Modern art from 1900 to 1945 is the focus of seasonal exhibitions at Palazzo de' Rossi, an elegant palazzo built for the wealthy Rossi family…
Chiesa di Santa Maria Madre delle Grazie
Eastern Tuscany
This 16th-century church was built by members of the Fraternity of Death (men who cared for plague sufferers). Inside, the Madonna delle Grazie (1555) is…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
The splendid 13th-century Palazzo Spini-Feroni has been home to the Ferragamo fashion empire since 1938. Anyone with even the faintest tendency towards…
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Set a little bit back off Piazza della Santissima Annunziata is Florence's archaeology museum. Its rich collection of finds, including most of the Medici…
Oltrarno
Composed of three elliptical arches of the utmost elegance – the first of their kind ever used in bridge construction – Ponte Santa Trinità was designed…
Eastern Tuscany
Built in the 1460s but given a baroque makeover two centuries later, this little church has a Matteo di Giovanni triptych over its altar that is…
Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo
Southern Tuscany
Construction of Pitigliano's duomo commenced in the late 13th century; the campanile was added a century later and the facade and interior were given…
Arezzo
Ivan Bruschi, a wealthy antiques dealer, restored 13th-century Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo in the 1960s. After his death, the palazzo (mansion) became…
Volterra
Volterra's 13th-century town hall is the oldest seat of local government in Tuscany. The staircase bears a fresco of the Crucifixion by Pier Francesco…
Synagogue & Jewish Museum of Florence
San Lorenzo & San Marco
Built between 1874 and 1882, just after the Jewish community in Italy had gained full emancipation after centuries of persecution, this vast Moorish…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
Recently restored thanks to a €1.5-million investment by Florentine fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo, Ammannati's monumental fountain is impossible to…
Fiesole
From Fiesole's central square, a 400m walk along Via Giovanni Dupré brings you to this quaint house-museum where the eponymous avant-garde 20th-century…
Southern Tuscany
At this geothermal park 21km north of Massa Marittima, steam has been transformed into power by vapour turbines since 1916, supplying power to one million…
Eastern Tuscany
Pop a €1 coin in the slot to illuminate Rosso Fiorentino's masterpiece Deposition of Christ (1528), behind the altar in 16th-century Chiesa di San Lorenzo…
Chianti
In the small village of Pievasciata, near the Parco Sculture del Chianti, the streets are home to an ever-growing number of site-specific contemporary…
Volterra
Forming one side of Volterra's central square, the Palazzo Pretorio was the seat of the local mayor. From it sprouts one of the town's oldest towers, the…
Southern Tuscany
Enlarged by the ruling Orsinis in the 16th century, this 13th-century castle later became the residence of the local bishop and is now a museum. Its rooms…
Siena
Built by order of Cosimo de' Medici in 1563, this fortified brick castle was decommissioned as a military barracks in the late 18th century and converted…
Elba
Just south of Poggio, the SP37 winds to a well-signed picnic site at the foot of Monte Perone (630m). To the left (east) you can wander up the mountain to…
Museo Civico e Diocesano d'Arte Sacra
Montalcino
Occupying the former convent of the neighbouring Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, this collection of religious art from the town and surrounding region includes a…
Santa Maria Novella
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,…
Livorno
Built for the Medicis between 1590 and 1604, this hulk of a red-brick fort in Piccola Venezia is a pale shade of its 17th-century magnificent self…
Oltrarno
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…
Museo della Comunità di Montalcino e del Brunello
Val d'Orcia
Located 4km southeast of Montalcino on the Fattoria dei Barbi wine estate (one of the oldest in the region), this Brunello-focused museum has exhibits…
Museo di Storia Naturale – Zoologia La Specola
Boboli & San Miniato al Monte
One of several sections of Florence's natural history museum dating from 1775, La Specola showcases 5000-odd animals (out of an unbelievable depository of…
