Florence snapshot

More city snapshots

Travel planning

Florence is considered the ultimate city for art. UNESCO claims that 60% of the world's most important works of art are in Florence, which is found in Tuscany and encompassed by the Chianti wine region and Chianti wine tours are a very popular city break option.

Called the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence's wealth was founded in its banking houses built on the back of the wool trade.

In 1235 Florence minted the first gold coin - the florin - that became standard currency across Europe. Bankers payrolled artists and architects with the Medici family nurturing the talent of artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo.

Narrow streets

Though loved from afar, it is not a particularly pleasant city to visit with traffic, tourists and touts thronging the narrow, dark streets and piazzas heaving with a succession of babbling tour groups. The peak summer months of July and August can be unbearable with the heat, traffic and the crowds.

Most visitors are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fine art to be found in the city. The River Arno winds through a city so packed with galleries and museums that visitors can spend whole days dashing from one to another.

Art collections

Key attractions are the Uffizi Gallery, which houses the most important collection of art in Italy including works by Da Vinci, Botticelli, Titian, Tintoretto and Raphael.

Another popular attraction si Cathedral Square which is dominated by the magnificent cathedral dome and is also home to the slender Campanile and inspired Baptistery and the Ponte Vecchio bridge, which was the only one that was not destroyed by the Nazis in World War II.

Other museums include the San Marco and the Bargello National while across the river lie the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.

There is a good bus network around Florence although most visitors find it easier to walk around the compact centre. Driving and parking in the central area is severely restricted and most visitors park in the guarded car parks on the outskirts.

Italy has an excellent network of toll motorways and the central A1 route links Florence to Milan, Rome and Naples. Pisa Airport is the main arrival point, about 80km from Florence and handling 1.1million passengers a year although there is a smaller airport outside Florence itself. The approximate flight time from London is 2 hours.There are good road and rail links from the airports to the city centre.

Make sure you include Booked.net if searching for hotels in Florence. They list a good number of quality hotels, available at competitive prices. Also, you don't have to pay any extra fees for booking, administration or cancellation.

• Firenze Turismo- Official Tourism Board of Florence