THEMATIC ITINERARIES – Architecture in Florence

Architecture in Florence

Florentine architecture between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: a tour of discovery to discover the public and private mansions. It differs from the more classical itineraries and proposes to lead the visitor through well and less known sites, to discover Florentine architecture in a continuous countering exchange between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which will help you to identify its features and differences.

The tour starts in the medieval quarter, close to the Cathedral, in Piazza Santa Elisabetta, and its Pagliazza tower and the overhanging upper floors of the medieval houses, on your way to Dante’s house, allowing you to inspect the interesting structure of tower houses. Not far away, are public palaces built in the 1300s, such as the imposing and battlemented Bargello and Signoria palaces which were the headquarters of political power. After which, we shall make our way to Piazza Santa Trinita, where one finds interesting buildings of different eras, ranging from the 1300s to the 1500s. The battlements and fortified bulk of Palazzo Spini Feroni, now Ferragamo, and Palazzo Gianfigliazzi dominate the square. The distinctive 16th century architecture of Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni will show you how building styles changed over time. Your AGT guide will take you next to Palazzo Rucellai, which is off the main tourist circuits and introduces one to the intellectually cultured and refined renaissance concepts of Leon Battista Alberti – its façade is quite unique in Florence – after which one turns back towards Palazzo Strozzi with its splendid, rough-hewn, stone blocks. You will be able to enter its elegant, Etruscan columned courtyard with the grey stone elements thrown into relief against the white-washed walls. The tour ends at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, which is one of the first examples of renaissance architecture, that was to be adopted in most other mansions.