Santa Maria del Carmine

Italian language and cultural school for foreigners. The structure and the contents of the programmes for the levels are based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The school also organises a programme of cultural activities and excursions to complement the language classes and enable the students to come into contact with the Italian culture and practice Italian in the field.

The original Pitti was a banker; the palace has housed royalty but became best known for its Medici family treasures. It's now divided into four museums (same ticket): ground floor is the Treasury of the Grand Dukes; first floor houses the Palatine Gallery and the Royal and Imperial Apartments, second floor is the Modern Art Gallery and the Museum of Costume and Fashion. The Boboli gardens are just behind the palazzo.

Elaborately landscaped and with many interesting sculptures, behind the Pitti Palace. Wonderful city views. Don't miss the Bardini gardens. Entrance to that is included in the combination ticket price for the Boboli, and it's a short walk from the Boboli Gardens. There are great views of the Duomo from the Bardini gardens.

Contains frescoes of the Annunciation and a painting of the Deposition of Christ by the brilliant and weird mannerist painter, Pontormo. They are to be found in the Barbadori Chapel, which is to your immediate right when entering the church.

The oldest and most celebrated bridge over the Arno, and the only Florentine bridge to survive World War II. The design is distinctive: it's a three-arched bridge supporting a parade of shops supporting another bridge. It dates to 1345 (hence Ponte Vecchio, "old bridge"), with earlier bridges being swept away by floods, rebuilt and swept away again. At street level it's a pedestrianised cobbled arch. It's lined by shops, which were butchers until Renaissance times then - in an insight as dramatic as the discovery of perspective in painting - they realised that goldsmiths' shops paid higher rents and didn't stink; so from then to this day it's just been overpriced jewellery shops and market stalls. Above these is the higher bridge, the Vasari Corridor, a private walkway added in 1565 so that the Medici Dukes could move between Palazzo Vecchio (Town Hall) and Palazzo Pitti (their blingy residence) without mixing with common folk. On the south bank, the Corridor nowadays continues as a gallery of the Uffizi, and there is sometimes talk of extending this over the bridge, or otherwise making the space accessible. Nothing's come of this so far, so the common folk will have to continue admiring the scene from street level.

A beautiful church with great artwork, including a Trinity by Masaccio that is being restored as of April 2024 but can still be seen from the scaffold for an additional charge of €1.50 and a great series of frescoes by Ghirlandaio behind the altar. Also, the museum near the Chiostro Verde, outside the church to its left (follow the signs in the church), contains gently restored frescoes of Old Testament scenes by Paolo Uccello which are quite unusual in style and well worth seeing. Off of another cloister is the wonderful Spanish Chapel which is covered in huge, impressive 14th-century frescoes. Also don't miss the Cappella Strozzi di Mantova, up a flight of stairs at the end of the left transept, with dramatic frescoes of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory by Nardo di Cione. The gift shop is in the Sacristy, which also contains paintings and other artwork. Allotting 1 1/2-2 hours to see everything would be reasonable.