Florence - off the beaten track
Favourite sights of the city
Florence is full of marvellous sights. Not all of them are in the guidebooks. So here are a few of the lesser known sights that we happen to like at Podtours.
- There's the 'ghost' of a church facade (once San Salvador) built into the archbishop's palace, just one block away from the cathedral in Piazza del Olio.
- The Romanesque facade of Santo Stefano, just a few steps away from the Ponte Vecchio, in its own little square.
- The view from San Miniato al Monte. This is a marvellous Romanesque church, well worth a visit anyway. It has a zodiac pavement in marble inlay, and a lovely facade. It's all uphill to get there - but when you do, the view back across the city is wonderful. Go at sunrise or sunset for the best light.
- Santa Felicità, over the river in Oltrarno, has two claims to fame. One is the corridor between the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi, which runs right through the church, giving the Medici and their servants a private passage between the two houses. The other is Pontormo's very strange painting of the Deposition, full of strange colours and weird distortions. Pontormo is said to have lived as a recluse, filling his house with the bodies of dead animals and even the occasional corpse as subjects for his painting - and there is, indeed, something very odd about his art.
- The antico Noe coffee bar, in a vaulted passage just at the end of Borgo degli Albizzi where the Piazza San Piero Maggiore opens out. Some of the best (and cheapest) sandwiches in Florence!
- Santo Spirito, a marvellous Brunelleschi church with most of its original altars and altar fronts. Few of them are great art but it's a fantastic view into the world of the Renaissance.
- The old pharmacy of Santa Maria Novella. Founded in 1612, it's hardly changed since! Just round the corner from the church at 16, via della Scala. Nice soaps, vinegar, and herbal remedies of all kinds - an unusual present to take home.
- And if your friends call you Imelda Marcos - there's a Salvatore Ferragamo shoe museum at Via Tornabuoni 2. Safer than shopping!