Continuing along the Via de’ Calzaiuoli you then come to the Piazza della Signoria square with Palazzo Vecchio, which is Florence’s administrative heart, Neptune’s Fountain which Florentines affectionately call “the white one,” and the Gothic faces on the Loggia della Signoria, also called the Loggia dei Lanzi for having given shelter to Cosimo Lanzichenecchi, which has many stunning sculptures including Cellini’s Perseus and Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines.

The Uffizi Gallery, rightly considered one of the world’s most famous museums, contains some of the most famous masterpieces of all times. Designed by Giorgio Vasari and built by the Granduke Francesco I, it was embellished by the Medicis who were great art lovers. Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli are just some of the great masters whose works you can admire in the Uffizi. The Ponte Vecchio Bridge spans the slow-flowing Arno river, and is one of the most beautiful monuments Florence with its stunning central arches.

The Vasari Corridor, designed and built by Vasari as a covered passageway between the Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti, snakes above the artisan jewellery shops on the Ponte Vecchio, which is also known as the Golden Bridge. The Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti, which was designed by Brunelleschi for the Florentine banker Luca Pitti, and later became the seat of the Grandukes of Tuscany and the courts of Lorraine and Savoia, has many rooms named after mythical figure and contains works by such great artists as Titian, Raphael, Giorgione, Botticelli, Tintoretto, Filippino Lippi, Andrea del Sarto, Perugino and Ghirlandaio.

The Modern Art Gallery has many neoclassical and romantic works although it is chiefly famous for works by the Macchiaioli painters including Giovanni Boldini, Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega and Telemaco Signorini . The Silver Museum has one of the world’s most stunning collections and is in the summer apartments of the Grand Dukes, while the Costume Gallery has an interesting collection of costumes going from the 18th century to 1970.

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