Florence (Firenze) is a city and comune in Tuscany. Italy's national tourism site calls it the Tuscan capital and says its historic centre, enclosed within the ancient medieval walls, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1982.
Country
Italy
Type
City
Understand the place
Not only where to go, but what to eat, what things cost, what visitors get wrong, how accessible Florence is, which scams to recognize and what is genuinely worth your time.
The complete guide
Start with the parts of Florence that matter most to your trip, then move into the practical details.
Experiences & attractions
Attractions, experiences and places actually worth your time.
Eat like you understand the place
Signature dishes, local drinks, markets and eating well.
Where to stay & explore
Where to stay, wander and choose the right area for your trip.
Beyond the destination
Nearby places worth a day out from here.
Bring home the right things
What is genuinely worth buying and where to look.
After dark
What the evenings are like, and where to spend them.
Family travel
Family logistics, strollers, transport and practical planning.
When to go
When to visit and what the seasons really feel like.
Know before it happens
Common tourist traps and how to avoid them.
Money & budgeting
Budgets, payments and everyday prices.
Transport
Public transport, taxis, walking and common pitfalls.
Travel for more people
Mobility, transport and sensory accessibility.
Understand before you arrive
Local expectations, religion and visitor etiquette.
The details that matter
Connectivity, health, photography and useful local details.
Find your fit
Solo, women alone, older visitors, LGBTQ+, pets, remote work, budget and luxury.
Travel that holds up
Tourism pressure, supporting local people and animal welfare.
Traveler experiences
Traveler reviews will appear here after moderation.
Worth the drive
Distances are straight-line, not driving time — mountain roads in this region are often twice as long as the map suggests.
Historic site · Tuscany
Palazzo Vecchio, also called Palazzo della Signoria, is the medieval seat of Florence's government on Piazza della Signoria, still the address of the Comune di Firenze and partly open as a museum.
Gallery · Tuscany
The Uffizi Gallery is the art museum on the first and second floors of the sixteenth-century Uffizi building in Florence, with collections of paintings and ancient sculpture.
Museum · Tuscany
The Bargello National Museum is a museum of medieval and Renaissance art, chiefly sculpture, in the Palazzo del Bargello on Via del Proconsolo in central Florence.
Bridge · Tuscany
The Ponte Vecchio is a fourteenth-century bridge over the Arno in Florence, lined on both sides with shops.
Church · Tuscany
Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, is the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Florence, crowned by Brunelleschi's dome.
Church · Tuscany
The Basilica of Santa Croce is the Franciscan church on Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, holding the tombs and memorials of figures such as Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.
Explore deeper
6 guides
Florence and Venice each have a museum called the Accademia, and only Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia holds Michelangelo's David. Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia is a separate museum of Venetian painting; this explainer sets out what each holds and how to tell them apart.
Italian signs use duomo, cattedrale, basilica and chiesa for overlapping things, and one building can carry three of the names at once. This explainer gives each word's meaning from Treccani's dictionary and the Code of Canon Law, shows how Milan, Florence, Venice and Rome's Pantheon combine them, and explains why the word on the sign tells you less about a visit than the body that runs the building.
XTOUR plans Italy around city bases rather than regions: Rome, Florence, Venice, Verona, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Palermo, Genoa, Bolzano, Pisa and Siena. This guide says what each base is for, which major sites are in a city and which are only reached from one, and where XTOUR's more detailed guides take over.
Tuscany is one of Italy's twenty regions, not a city: Florence is its capital, and Pisa and Siena are separate towns inside it. This explainer sets out how Italy's regions, provinces, metropolitan cities and municipalities fit together, why the English and Italian names differ, and why XTOUR records cities rather than regions.
The Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens belong to one institution, the Gallerie degli Uffizi, but they are three different places with different things to see. This guide explains what each is, how the Vasari Corridor links them, and how the institution's own pages describe its combined ticket.
Florence, Pisa and Siena are three separate Tuscan towns, each with its own World Heritage listing and its own set of sites. This guide compares what is actually in each town, so a base can be chosen by the sites that matter rather than by the region's name.
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