When in Italy  ›  Florence Attractions Map

Florence Attractions Map

Every major Florence sight, plotted by area — each with the best-rated tours and skip-the-line tickets. Open an area to light up its sights on the map.

Where to start? Here for the Renaissance — the Uffizi and Michelangelo’s David. Love architecture? The dome and the baptistery. After atmosphere & food? The Oltrarno and the central market.

Tap an area in the list below (or a coloured pin) — that area’s sights enlarge on the map, the rest stay as dots. Click any pin for its top tour, or “◉ map” on a sight to locate it. Prices & ratings via Viator.

The lay of the land

Florence is small — the trick is the order you do it in

Florence is the rare great city you can cross on foot in twenty minutes, which is exactly why people exhaust themselves zig-zagging it. Almost everything sits inside the medieval centre, and three things — the Duomo’s dome, the Uffizi and the Accademia’s David — are timed-entry and sell out, so the whole trip really turns on booking those three slots and grouping the rest around them.

This map splits Florence into six areas, each an easy half-day. The Duomo quarter is the cathedral complex on one ticket; Signoria & the Uffizi is the civic and artistic heart; David & the Medici ties the Accademia, the Medici church and the central food market together; Oltrarno across the river is the Pitti, the Boboli gardens and the artisans; Piazzale Michelangelo is the sunset view; and Santa Croce holds the tombs of the great Florentines.

Open any area below to light up its sights on the map and pull the best-rated tours and skip-the-line tickets for each.

The whole religious centre of Florence stands on one square. The Duomo — Santa Maria del Fiore — is crowned by Brunelleschi’s dome, completed in 1436 and still the largest brick dome ever raised; you can climb its 463 steps past Vasari’s frescoes. Beside it, Giotto’s bell tower is an easier climb with arguably the better view, and the octagonal Baptistery hides Ghiberti’s gilded doors, which Michelangelo reportedly said were fit to be the ‘Gates of Paradise’. One combined Duomo ticket covers the climbs, baptistery and museum — book a timed dome slot well ahead.

Piazza della Signoria has been Florence’s political stage for 700 years, an open-air gallery where a replica David still guards the door of Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi shelters Cellini’s Perseus for free. A few steps south, the Uffizi holds the greatest collection of Renaissance painting anywhere — Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael. It is timed-entry and sells out; a skip-the-line ticket is the single best booking in Florence. The Ponte Vecchio, the goldsmiths’ bridge and the only one the Germans spared in 1944, is two minutes on.

A free open-air loggia of Renaissance and Roman statues beside Palazzo Vecchio.

43 tours & tickets · showing top 0

Travellers also search loggia dei lanzi tickets

This is the Michelangelo and Medici quarter. The Accademia exists for one thing — the original David, carved 1501–1504 — though his unfinished Prisoners are the quiet revelation; like the Uffizi it’s timed-entry, so book ahead. Around the Medici church of San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapels, with Michelangelo’s sculpted tombs, sprawls the Mercato Centrale, Florence’s great covered food market — produce below, a buzzing food hall above. Florence is a food city as much as an art one; for the cooking classes and tastings behind it, see our guide to Italian food tours.

Cross the river and the crowds thin. The Pitti Palace, the Medici grand dukes’ residence from 1549, now packs five museums — the Palatine Gallery’s floor-to-ceiling Raphaels and Titians are the highlight — and the sculpted Boboli Gardens climb the hill behind it. The surrounding Oltrarno is the artisans’ quarter: leather workshops, gilders and the trattorias where Florentines actually eat.

The Pitti’s picture gallery, hung floor-to-ceiling with Raphael and Titian.

20 tours & tickets · showing top 2

Pitti Palace and Palatine Gallery: A Royal Art and History Tour4.5★ (43) · from $81Check availability →Treasures of the Pitti: Discover the Palatine Gallery Florence5.0★ (1) · from $81Check availability →

Travellers also search pitti palace palatine gallery · pitti palace palatine gallery map

Everyone comes up to Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset for the postcard panorama — the whole city, the dome and the river in one frame, watched over by a bronze David. Keep climbing a few minutes more to San Miniato al Monte, a Romanesque jewel whose green-and-white marble facade and hilltop quiet most visitors miss.

Santa Croce is where Florence buries its greatest: Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli all lie in the Franciscan basilica. The route there crosses the cafe-lined Piazza della Repubblica and passes Palazzo Strozzi, the city’s grandest private palace and big-exhibition venue, while Santa Maria Novella guards Masaccio’s ground-breaking Trinity by the station. For an un-touristy lunch, the Sant’Ambrogio market is the locals’ alternative to the Mercato Centrale.

Putting it together

How to plan your days in Florence

Book the three timed sites first. The dome climb, the Uffizi and the Accademia are the only real bottlenecks in Florence, and all three are timed-entry that sell out days ahead in season. Reserve those slots, then build each day around the area they sit in; everything else is walk-up.

A classic two days. Day one, the Duomo quarter and a dome climb, then Signoria and the Uffizi, ending on the Ponte Vecchio at dusk. Day two, the Accademia first thing, the Mercato Centrale for lunch, the Pitti and Oltrarno in the afternoon, and up to Piazzale Michelangelo for sunset.

Beyond the city. Florence is the gateway to Tuscany — once you’ve done the centre, it’s the base for day trips into the Tuscan countryside, and for the region’s wine, food and cooking classes.

Quick answers

Do I need to book Florence’s attractions in advance?

Yes for the three timed-entry sites — the Duomo dome climb, the Uffizi Galleries and the Accademia (David). They sell out days ahead in high season. The churches, squares, markets and the Ponte Vecchio you can do on the day.

How many days do you need in Florence?

Two days covers the six areas comfortably — the Duomo and Uffizi on day one, the Accademia, Oltrarno and Piazzale Michelangelo on day two. A third day frees you up for a Tuscan day trip.

What’s the difference between the Uffizi and the Accademia?

The Uffizi is the vast Renaissance picture gallery (Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael); the Accademia is mainly one masterpiece — Michelangelo’s David — plus his unfinished sculptures. Most people do both, each on a timed ticket.

Is the Duomo dome climb worth it?

If you can manage 463 steps and aren’t claustrophobic, yes — you pass Vasari’s ceiling frescoes up close and emerge at the best view in Florence. If not, Giotto’s bell tower next door is a gentler climb with the dome in the picture.

How these are chosen. Each sight shows the highest-rated, most-reviewed Florence tours and tickets that visit it, pulled live from Viator.

Independent travel guide. Tours are booked on Viator; we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Ratings and prices were current at the last update and can change.  ← Back to When in Italy