Italy · Tuscany's capital
Florence is where the modern world began to imagine itself. In a single compact city, the Medici fortune and a generation of geniuses, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo and Michelangelo among them, gave us the Renaissance, and five centuries later their work still fills the streets, churches and galleries.
The skyline is ruled by Brunelleschi's terracotta dome, an engineering marvel that crowns the marble cathedral, while a few minutes away the Uffizi Gallery holds the greatest single hoard of Renaissance painting anywhere. Cross the Arno on the medieval Ponte Vecchio, still lined with goldsmiths, and stand before Michelangelo's David in the Accademia, a flawless giant carved from a single block.
Best of all, Florence is small enough to explore on foot, its masterpieces minutes apart. We secure your timed entries to the Uffizi and the Accademia, book the dome climb, and leave room to wander up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the classic view at sunset.
