DUOMO
An imposing cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore but also a majestic Florentine symbol or, better still, a marvel of grace and engineering. Built between 1296 and 1436, it is the first domed structure in Europe since roman times, thanks to Arnolfo di Cambio who accepted the prestigious commission to design this church, meant to show the rising of the economic and cultural wealth of Florence during medieval times. The red-roofed dome however, designed in 1433, was the work of the ground-breaking architect Brunelleschi whose achievement was to build it without scaffoldings. Climb its 463 steps to the top and enjoy a spectacular view all over the city and its surroundings. As you climb you can see how an inner shell provides a platform for the timbers that support the outer shell. You can also notice the 16th century marble pavement, laid out as a maze, and the Last Judgment frescoes by Vasari on the ceilings of the Dome. The neo-gothic marble façade was added between 1871-87.

BAPTISTRY
Marvellous as it is, it owes its main attraction to its doors. While Andrea Pisano executed the south portals in 1326, a competition for the east doors, a truly superb masterpiece, was launched in 1401 to mark Florence's deliverance from the plague and Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) was chosen from a list of seven leading artists, including Donatello and Brunelleschi. Michelangelo is said to have called them "Gates of Paradise". The doors portray scenes of the Old Testament with realism and poetry. Perspective, of which Ghiberti was a master, is used to create the illusion of spatial depth. The originals are in the Museo dell'Opera. Also, take time to see the glittering trecento mosaics, illustrating scenes from both the Old and the New Testaments done by Venetian craftsmen.

CAMPANILE DI GIOTTO
Giotto designed only the lower level of the bell-tower also knows as "Lily of Florence" while Pisano and Talenti continued the construction between 1334 and 1359 (the former adding niches with their statues). Its pink, green and white Tuscan marble walls are now decorated with copies of the original relief sculptures displayed in the Museo dell'Opera. At 85 m (276 ft) and 414 steps, the Campanile is 6 m (20 ft) shorter than the dome.

PALAZZO DEL BARGELLO
Built in 1255 as the city's town all, severe and uninviting on the outside, it is the oldest seat of government surviving in today's Florence. Around the 16th century it became the residence of the chief of police and a prison where executions took place until1786. It eventually became a museum in 1865. It houses a superb collection of Florentine renaissance sculptures with works by Michelangelo, the city's best Donatello collection including David in marble and bronze (the first nude since antiquity) and Giambologna's gravity-defying Flying Mercury.

PONTE VECCHIO
This three-arched Old Bridge is the oldest in Florence as it was built in 1345 and the only one to escape destruction during World War II. There have always been shops on the bridge, although the butchers, tanners and blacksmiths, here since the very beginning, were evicted by Duke Ferdinando I in 1593 because of the noise and stench they created and replaced by the more decorous goldsmiths. Part of the bridge is occupied by the Vasari's Corridor, built in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari, a court architect to the Medici dukes, and links Palazzo Vecchio with Palazzo Pitti passing through the Uffizi Gallery. Its purpose was to allow members of the Medici family to move among their several residences, admiring the painting along the corridor's walls, without having to mix with the crowd. On one end of the river Arno you can still see the Mannelli Tower, built to defend the bridge. The Mannelli family refused to demolish it to make way to the Vasari Corridor.

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA
The gloriously ornate green and white marble façade of this church dominates the square of the same name. It was built for the Dominicans between 1279 and 1357 and funded by the wealthy Rucellai family. Next to the church is a walled in cemetery, which continues along the façade and the wall beyond. Inside the church are finely decorated chapels built by prominent Florentine families. Among the treasures, Masaccio's Trinità (a masterpiece of perspective and portraiture), Ghirlandaio's life of the Virgin and Paolo Uccello excellent frescoes in the Chiostro Verde. On the interior of the building one may notice that the nave pillars are spaced closer at the east end to create the illusion of an exceptionally long church.

THE UFIZI GALLERY
Designed by Giorgio Vasari as administrative offices for Duke Cosimo I, the Galleria degli Uffizi was built between 1560-80, using iron reinforcement to create an almost continuous wall of glass on the upper storeys. It is not by chance that from 1581 Francesco I used this well-lit space to display the Medici family art treasures, becoming thus the greatest collection of Renaissance paintings and the oldest gallery in the world. The art collection is on the top floor with ancient Greek and Roman sculptures in the broad corridor around the inner part of the building. The paintings proceed along several rooms and in chronological order to reveal the development of Florentine art from Gothic to Renaissance and beyond. The queue to enter can last hours. Booking ahead is recommended specially during the high season and worth the nominal fee.

PALAZZO PITTI
It was begun in 1457 for the banker Luca Pitti though its huge scale was developed later into the present shape by the Medici who bought it when the building costs bankrupted Pitti's heirs, becoming a Medici's property in 1550. It was converted by Ammannati, providing the family and its heirs with a residence for more than 300 years. The wings were added in 1828 by the Duke of Lorraine, who ruled the city after the Medici. The palace houses five museums and the most spectacular is the Galleria Palatina which contains the highest concentration of Raffaello's paintings. Behind Palazzo Pitti extend the Boboli Gardens that were laid out for the Medici in 1550 by the architect Tribolo and opened to the public since 1766. Highlights include the statue of Bacchus that shows Pietro Barbino, Cosimo I's court dwarf, as the roman god of wine astride a turtle and the Limonaia, built in 1785 to protect rare and delicate plants, among which citrus trees, from winter frosts.

SANTA CROCE
This gothic church was started in 1294 although its pointed and marble façade dates from 1863 funded by Sir Francis Sloane, an English benefactor in love with the city. The whole complex was conceived by Arnolfo di Cambio and completed by Vasari who remodelled parts of it in 1560. Some notable personalities are buried here such as Alberti, Galileo, Ghiberti, Machiavelli, Giotto, Michelangelo and the composer Rossini. The frescoes in some of the family chapels, the sculptures and the harmony of the Cappella de'Pazzi attract the most tourists. This chapel was commissioned by the wealthy Pazzi family and designed by Brunelleschi, while Luca della Robbia was responsible for its wonderful polychrome terracotta decoration.