Florence is a city that needs no introduction. Despite its historical and cultural heritage, it is a city on a human scale, due to its urban layout that allows you to admire it on foot, without any effort. The charming town center, declared by UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, is enclosed within its medieval walls and represents a treasure trove of Renaissance art: the signatures of the most important artists of the Renaissance period are all here, engraved in the marbles, paintings and stones. It is not by choice that Florence is also called the "City of Art" par excellence! Cimabue, Giotto, Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Della Robbia, Filippino Lippi, Beato Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo: high-powered names that, with their artistic genius and their masterpieces, made eternal the centuries-old Florentine civilization.
If you stay in Florence, even for a short period, should not miss: the Gothic style Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence's Duomo, with the bell tower designed by Giotto, Brunelleschi's magnificent dome, symbol of the city, and the Baptistery of San Giovanni; Piazza della Signoria, Florence's political heart, Palazzo della Signoria (or Palazzo Vecchio) and the Loggia della Signoria (or Loggia dei Lanzi). The Uffizi, a building designed by Vasari in the XVI century, one of the richest and most important museums in the world; Ponte Vecchio with its craft shops and goldsmiths. The Boboli Garden and the Belvedere Fortress, two of the most beautiful sights of the city, the quarter of San Frediano and Santo Spirito, Palazzo Pitti, the Church of Santa Maria Novella, the Church of San Miniato and the Church of Santa Croce. Florence's museums and monuments are really numerous and a week would not be enough to admire all them!
Florence's charm also extends itself to the surrounding countryside and to all those towns that followed its ups and downs, the glories and disasters: villas, palaces, castles and fortresses, built by the Florentine nobility, became places of "otium" where to find solace from the toils of politics and public life.
Finally Florence (and Tuscany) is also famous worldwide for its gastronomy: a cuisine prepared with simple ingredients and natural flavors, whose added value is given by the high quality of the raw materials and great care to treat them.