We start our tour with the Cathedral, also known as the Duomo, the building that has come to represent Florence itself. The third-largest church in the world, it is impressively decorated with polychrome marble, but the main focus of our visit is the most important architectural element of the cathedral, the dome designed by Brunelleschi. Your guided tour will then continue with the Baptistry, one of the most ancient religious buildings in the city. The beauty of the Baptistry’s gilded doors inspired Michelangelo to call them “the Gates of Paradise.”
 Your experienced guide will then take you to the Accademia museum to view some of Michelangelo’s key works. Here we can admire the Prisoners, the sculptures he created for the monument to Pope Julius II, and the touching Pietà (his second). We will also discuss his unfinished works, the so-called “non-finito.” Our attention will then turn to Michelangelo’s David, masterpiece and symbol of the Florentine Renaissance, completed in 1504 when he was only 29 years old. (No standing in line, we make the reservations for you!)
We proceed through the medieval streets of Florence to reach the city’s oldest bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, built in 1345 and the only bridge in Florence to survive the German mines during the Second World War. The bridge is now world-famous for its jewellers and the medieval atmosphere of its little shops.


Your walk now moves to Piazza Signoria, the political heart of the city. The Signoria Palace, started in 1299 and finished at the end of the 1500s, boasts finely frescoed state apartments and continues to be used as the city hall today.
The impressive arcade decorating one side of the square, the Loggia, is a veritable open-air museum, housing original sculpture dating from Roman times to the late Renaissance.
Our city tour of Florence ends in the church of Santa Croce, the second-largest Franciscan church after Assisi and home to works by Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Vasari and Canova. We can also see the tombs of such great figures as Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Machiavelli and Rossini.



Details:

- Duration: 3 hrs
- The cost of the tour is E 180
- Admission fees: E 14 Academy

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