Florence, Feast for the Senses

Florence is perhaps the best-known and best-loved city in Italy, clustered along the banks of the Arno and surrounded by rolling hills clad in vines and olive trees, studded with historic buildings with magnificent art treasures. The men of virtue who ruled Florence and Tuscany during the important times of the Renaissance profoundly influenced our culture and civilisation and bequeathed a legacy of great masterpieces. Fine works of art are also displayed in the numerous churches and commemorate famous Florentines such as Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo and, of course, the rich merchant family of the Medici. The ‘reign’ of this remarkable family lasted 300 years, graduating as they did from Dukes to Grand Dukes and the papacy.

It was under Cosimo and Lorenzo ‘il Magnifico’ that Florence became a leading centre of arts and sciences. The accumulated great works of art were displayed in the Uffizi; Italy’s greatest art gallery and built as a palace for Duke Cosimo in the 16th century. Its treasures include works by Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Titian, Giotto, Raphael, Rubens, Van Dyck, Caravaggio and Rembrandt. The Pitti Palace primarily displays 16th and 17th-century treasures, whilst the Accademia houses many of Michelangelo’s sculptures. The Bargello, the 13th-century town hall, is now a national museum of the finest Renaissance sculpture and pieces of decorative art. Other notable sights include the house of Dante, the Dominican Monastery of San Marco with Fra Angelico’s frescoes, the Piazzale Michelangelo with its wonderful views of the city and above and the church of San Minato al Monte. Florence became a favourite haunt of the British in the 19th century attracting Shelley, Keats and the Brownings, whose Florentine home, the Casa Guidi, is now open to visitors; Elizabeth Barrett Browning is buried in the English cemetery. Florence is a city which rewards in-depth exploration and this arrangement is truly a feast for the senses.