Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance and one of the most recognisable cities on the planet. From Brunelleschi’s dome to the medieval Ponte Vecchio, it has enough landmarks to fill several visits.
So which buildings, monuments and churches should make the cut if you only have a few days?
Based on multiple visits to this city, here is my curated list of Florence’s best-known landmarks. Walk in the footsteps of Michelangelo and the Medici and see the best of Italy’s art and history along the way.
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Famous Florence Landmarks in a Nutshell (+ Map)
Short on time? Here’s my full list, grouped into three categories.
Famous Florence churches
Historical Florence landmarks
Piazzas and gardens
If a map helps you picture it all, here’s one showing every landmark below. Click the image, here, for an interactive version.
Most of these landmarks sit on the north bank of the Arno, many clustered around the Duomo. A few, notably Piazzale Michelangelo, San Miniato, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, are across the river in the Oltrarno.
Sightseeing in Florence means a lot of walking. You shouldn’t need public transport except to reach San Miniato and Piazzale Michelangelo.
Famous Churches in Florence
Religion shaped Renaissance life, socially and politically. Florence’s churches commissioned extraordinary works of art, and the buildings themselves are architectural masterpieces.
This first group of landmarks reflects that.
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo)
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, simply known as the Duomo, is ground zero of the Italian Renaissance. Its dome is the visual and geographic centre of Florence. If you get lost, just look upwards.
The façade is an explosion of pink, green and white Tuscan marble, but Brunelleschi’s dome is the building’s real claim to fame.
Visiting the cathedral is free, though the queues are long. It’s safe to say that it is more impressive on the outside than inside.
Basilica of Santa Croce
The 14th-century Santa Croce houses the tombs of some of Florence’s greatest names, including Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini. This Franciscan church is also home to a fresco cycle byGiotto, one of the first Renaissance painters, and its Pazzi Chapel was designed by Brunelleschi.
Its busy façade looks out onto Piazza Santa Croce, lined with shops and bars, and there is a famous leather school at its rear.
Orsanmichele
Orsanmichele is where the Renaissance really began, though it’s easy to walk straight past it.
It started life as a grain market, then became a church for Florence’s guilds and merchants. In the late 14th century, those guilds commissioned statues to fill its fourteen exterior niches.
Most of the niches now hold copies, with the originals in the church’s small museum. It’s still worth circling the building to take them in.
Basilica of Santa Maria Novella
This 13th-century Dominican church is an artistic feast. There’s a masterclass in perspective in Masaccio’s early Renaissance work The Trinity, crucifixes by Giotto and Brunelleschi, and art-filled side chapels. The basilica also has a series of peaceful cloisters and a small museum.
The star of the show is the museum’s Spanish Chapel, its walls covered in frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto.
Basilica di San Lorenzo
Built on the site of Florence’s first Christian church, San Lorenzo is the final resting place of the Medici family’s principal members.
The list of those who worked on it reads like a Renaissance Who’s Who. Brunelleschi designed the building, Donatello worked on the bronze pulpits, and Michelangelo designed the Laurentian Medici Library.
The Medici Chapels, which house Michelangelo’s tomb sculptures, are part of the complex on a separate ticket.
Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine
Located in the heart of the Oltrarno, this is one of my favourite churches in Florence.
Masaccio was the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance, and his fresco cycle here is unsurpassed. Seeing his Expulsion from Eden, and the anguish on the faces of Adam and Eve, is worth the airfare alone.
San Miniato al Monte
I love the legend behind this church. St Minias was beheaded on the banks of the Arno in 250 AD, then picked up his own head and walked to this hilltop, where he died and was buried.
This is the oldest church in Florence and has an art-filled sacristy and a ceiling of glazed terracotta panels. But many people visit San Miniato for its views over the city of Florence.
Historical Landmarks in Florence
Florence is a living open-air museum, and its history has earned it a place on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. From former palazzi turned world-class museums to an iconic bell tower, these landmarks are among the best places to visit in Florence. Many are tied to the Medici family, who ruled the city, and Tuscany, in their heyday.
Giotto’s Tower (Campanile)
Rising above the historic centre of Florence like a giant exclamation mark, the views from this 270-foot bell tower are magnificent. It’s a long, steep climb, but worth it.
Designed by Giotto, this showpiece of Florentine Gothic architecture is embellished with statues and rich sculptural decorations and clad in polychromic marble. Although the first stone was laid in 1334, the Campanile wasn’t completed until 1359.
The Baptistery of St. John
Consecrated in 1128, the Baptistery of St. John is beautiful inside and out.
The competition to design its bronze doors effectively kick-started the Renaissance. Gleaming copies of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s winning entry now face the Duomo, and he also designed the doors on the Baptistery’s northern side.
Step inside for the medieval mosaic ceiling, tiled with scenes from Genesis, the life of Christ, St John the Baptist and the Last Judgement.
Bargello Museum
Entries from the winner (Ghiberti) and runner-up (Brunelleschi) in the Baptistery doors competition are among the highlights here. Housed in a rustic former palazzo, its collection includes some of the best sculptures in Florence, spanning 150+ years of the city’s artistic heyday.
Other must-see statues include Michelangelo’s debauched Bacchus and noble Brutus, and Donatello’s St. George from Orsanmichele. Think of the Bargello as the sculptural equivalent of the Uffizi Galleries.
Uffizi Galleries
The Uffizi barely needs an introduction. It holds the world’s greatest collection of Italian art, from Giotto’s early attempts at realism to Caravaggio’s Medusa, with works by Raphael, Titian, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci along the way.
Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence
Visitors flock to Florence’s Accademia Gallery to inspect Michelangelo’s buff biblical shepherd from all angles. But there is more to the Accademia than David.
It is also home to the great master’s unfinished figures, known as The Prisoners or Slaves. Sculpted from the best blocks of marble from Carrara’s quarries, they look like they are trying to liberate themselves from the stone. Michelangelo’s chisel marks are still clearly visible.
Convent of San Marco
One block north of the Accademia, this former monastery holds the finest collection of frescoes by the early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico (1395 to 1455). Trained in the medieval style, he adopted Renaissance techniques, mixing Christian symbolism with a new realism.
Don’t miss Savonarola’s cell upstairs. More on him below
Medici-Riccardi Palace
Step inside the home of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449 – 1492) for its tiny Chapel of the Magi. This former library is famous for The Journey of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli and a flamboyant Baroque ceiling fresco.
The palace belonged to the Medici from the mid-15th century, before passing to the Riccardi family in the 1700s. There’s also a small courtyard garden, scented with lime blossom.
Savonarola’s Plaque
The Medici’s fall from grace, temporary as it turned out, came courtesy of a charismatic monk called Girolamo Savonarola (1452 to 1498). This puritanical fanatic turned Florence into a theocracy, denouncing Renaissance humanist culture and staging the so-called bonfires of the vanities.
It couldn’t last. Savonarola made many powerful enemies and was burned on a platform erected in Piazza della Signoria. This bronze plaque marks the spot today.
Palazzo Vecchio
With its sky-scraping medieval tower, Palazzo Vecchio is the main landmark in Florence’s most famous square, Piazza della Signoria.
In Renaissance times, it was the Town Hall until Cosimo I de Medici (1519 – 1574) turned it into a lavish personal palace.You have to pay to see Cosimo’s apartments, but the ground-floor courtyard is free.
For my money, the views from the top of the 300-foot tower are among the best in the city.
Pitti Palace
On the south side of the Arno River is the humble pile that Cosimo liked to call home.
Purchased in 1550, the Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti) quickly became the new symbol of the Medici’s power over Tuscany. And it worked; Cosimo became Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Visit for the Palatine Gallery which displays some of Raphael’s Madonnas and Titian’s portraits, amongst the best artworks in Florence.
Ponte Vecchio
Butchers’ shops once lined Florence’s most famous bridge, using the Arno as a handy waste disposal system. When the Medici built the Vasari Corridor over the top, connecting Pitti Palace with Palazzo Vecchio, gold and silver shops took their place.
Today the Ponte Vecchio is one of Florence’s most photographed landmarks, and it’s at its best lit up at night.
Mercato Centrale
Florence’s huge Central Market (Mercato Centrale) was built during the reunification of Italy around 1865. This iron-and-glass covered market is a temple to food.
Piazzas and Gardens
Florence’s famous landmarks aren’t limited to buildings and monuments. The city also has a handful of excellent squares and gardens that are landmarks in their own right.
Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria has been Florence’s political and social heart since the 14th century, and it’s instantly recognisable.
This wide, w-shaped square still make me catch my breath every time I visit. Dominated by the towering Palazzo Vecchio and a fake David standing guard, the sense of history here is almost tangible.
To the left of the palace is the Fountain of Neptune, showing the Roman god of the sea surrounded by nymphs, tritons and dolphins. The figure on horseback beside him is Cosimo I, styled to look almost like Neptune himself.
Loggia dei Lanzi
This is Florence’s free open-air gallery.
Set beside the Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria, the Loggia was originally a space where ordinary Florentines could speak their mind. The Medici later turned it into an outdoor sculpture gallery, valuing good art over free speech.
This covered platform is now home to some of the best statues in Florence, including Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine Women and Perseus by Benevenuto Cellini.
Piazza Santissima Annunziata
With its harmonious lines and symmetry, and surrounded on three sides by graceful porticoes, Piazza Santissima Annunziata is the most Renaissance square in Florence. Although it does not appear on many Florence itineraries, this piazza was the heart of the city for many years.
The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata and the foundling hospital (Spedale degli Innocenti) face a bronze equestrian statue of Ferdinando I, a Medici grand duke. From the open side of the piazza, there is a timeless view along the street to the red dome of the cathedral.
Piazza della Repubblica
Florence’s history goes back further than the medieval and Renaissance periods. The city began life in the 1st century BC as a Roman military colony, and Piazza della Repubblica was the heart of Roman Florence.
The Column of Abundance marks the spot where the two main Roman roads once crossed. It’s all that’s left of Roman Florence today.
Piazzale Michelangelo
Hike uphill to Piazzale Michelangelo in the Oltrarno for panoramic views across the River Arno and Florence’s historic centre. There’s a good café with an outside terrace and the second fake David keeping watch.
To make the most of the walk up, I’d combine this with San Miniato Church, and Pitti Palace or Boboli Gardens if you have time.
Boboli Gardens
Rising behind the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens are a peaceful escape from Florence’s crowds. Home to ancient oaks, sculptures and fountains, they set the template for the gardens of European royal palaces to come, Versailles included.
Just add the soundtrack of birdsong and church bells.
On your way out, don’t miss the Buontalenti Grotto near the entrance to the Vasari Corridor. Its outer chamber is packed with stalactites, stalagmites and shells, arranged to look like a scene from nature.
Final Thoughts & Tips
And that’s the list.
Florence is one of the best places to visit in Tuscany, and it’s an excellent destination for solo travellers in Italy, even if you’re travelling alone for the first time.
It has the best Renaissance art in the world, full stop. In a single day you can look Michelangelo’s David in the eye, climb Brunelleschi’s dome and stand in front of Botticellis at the Uffizi.
Most visitors head for the same four sites: the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Duomo and Giotto’s Tower. Book ahead for all of them, or you’ll either queue for hours or miss out entirely.
Whichever landmarks you choose, you can’t go far wrong. Together, they tell the story of the birthplace of the modern world, and one of the greatest cities on the planet.
Plan your visit to other Italian cities: Famous Landmarks in Rome: 25 Must-See Sites | Venice Landmarks Guide: 20 Famous Sites Worth Visiting
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman is a Renaissance fan girl and has been travelling the globe for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.