Example trip
The perfect architecture tour of Florence
A walk through churches, courtyards, civic squares and palace façades, distinguishing interior visits from exterior stops.
Add the places to My trip to shape the itinerary around your dates.
Day 1
From Santa Maria Novella to Palazzo Pitti
Begin with a visit to Santa Maria Novella. Afterwards, a short walk brings you to Piazza del Duomo, which joins Piazza San Giovanni around the cathedral and Baptistery to form the city’s religious centre. Next, visit Medici Riccardi Palace before a short stroll to Piazza della Signoria. A short stroll takes you to Piazza Pitti and Pitti Palace. You’ll spend about 30 minutes walking across the day.
Visit notes
You’ll explore Florence’s architecture, starting with the church and cloisters of Santa Maria Novella before walking to Piazza del Duomo to see the cathedral, bell tower and Baptistery from outside. At Palazzo Medici Riccardi, step into the courtyard and visit the Magi Chapel before continuing to Piazza della Signoria. Take a proper lunch break along the way, then cross the river towards Pitti. You’ll finish outside the palace, with time to look at its façade and the shape of the square.
Times and practical details
Outline for the day
Visits, walking and breaks: 7 hr 30 min
An outline, with travel and lunch. Allowances are rounded up to quarter hours; walks may be shorter.
- From your accommodation to Santa Maria Novella Museum and Monumental Cloisters
- Santa Maria Novella Museum and Monumental Cloisters1 hr 30 min
- Walk to Piazza del Duomo15 min
- Piazza del Duomo45 min
- Walk to Medici Riccardi Palace15 min
- Medici Riccardi Palace1 hr 15 min
- Walk to Piazza della Signoria15 min
- Piazza della Signoria30 min
- Lunch break1 hr 15 min
- Walk to Piazza Pitti and Pitti Palace15 min
- Piazza Pitti and Pitti Palace30 min
- From Piazza Pitti and Pitti Palace back to your accommodation
- Time for queues and entry checks
- 45 min
Start with Santa Maria Novella’s façade, church and cloisters, then walk towards the Duomo to compare the cathedral, bell tower and Baptistery from outside. A dome climb or the complete cathedral museum is not part of this short exterior stop.
Continue north to Palazzo Medici Riccardi for the courtyard and palace rooms, then south to Piazza della Signoria. Look at how the civic palace and Loggia frame the public square. Take a proper lunch break before crossing the river towards Pitti.
At Pitti, this route studies the façade and square rather than touring all the collections. If you want the Palatina’s interiors, replace the Medici palace visit with about 2 hours in the Palatina; do not count that as a 30-minute façade stop. Santa Maria Novella’s church access and the Medici palace’s Wednesday closure can change the sequence.
Places in this trip
Landmark
Piazza del Duomo
The city’s religious centre consists of the Cathedral and Baptistery complex and the two squares around them, Piazza del Duomo and Piazza San Giovanni. In Roman and early medieval Florence this area lay at the edge of the settlement. From the eleventh century, as the city expanded, it became a focal point. The decisive moment came in the late thirteenth century, when Florence decided to rebuild the Cathedral of Santa Reparata on a larger scale befitting its growing power. Piazza del Duomo, Firenze
Landmark
Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria took shape in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with the construction of the Palazzo dei Priori, renamed Palazzo Vecchio in the sixteenth century. It immediately became the city’s political centre and a space for civic life. The symbolic building, still home to Florence’s municipal government, offers several museum routes: the monumental apartments, the archaeological area with the remains of the Roman theatre, and the Tower of Arnolfo with its splendid panorama. Piazza della Signoria, FirenzeLandmark
Piazza Pitti and Pitti Palace
Piazza de’ Pitti, almost entirely dominated by the palace’s imposing rusticated façade, is one of the Oltrarno’s most beautiful squares and has been pedestrianised in recent years. Besides the Boboli Gardens, the Pitti complex contains five museums: the Palatine Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Treasury of the Grand Dukes, Museum of Fashion and Costume, and Porcelain Museum. Piazza de' Pitti, 50125 Firenze FI, ItaliaThese are starting ideas. Visit lengths, opening times, tickets and travel still need to fit your dates and needs.
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