Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
1
Palazzo Strozzi
ART GALLERY
This 15th-century
palazzo
(palace) is one of Florence's most impressive Renaissance man-
sions. It was built for wealthy merchant Filippo Strozzi, one of the Medicis' major politic-
al and commercial rivals, and now hosts blockbuster art exhibitions. The contemporary art
in its basement Strozzini gallery (free admission after 6pm Thu), stylish Le Renaissance
Café (
Click here
) and imposing internal courtyard are equally alluring.
(
www.palazzostrozzi.org
;
Via de' Tornabuoni; variable admission prices;
10am-8pm Tue-Sun, to 11pm Thu)
2
Chiesa e Museo di Orsanmichele
This unusual church with a Gothic tabernacle by Andrea Orcagna was created when the
arcades of a late-13th-century grain market were walled in and two storeys added during
the next century. Its exterior is exquisitely decorated with niches and tabernacles bearing
statues; these are copies - originals are in the church's light and airy upstairs museum,
which is open only on Monday.
(Via dell'Arte della Lana; admission free;
CHURCH, MUSEUM
church 10am-5pm, museum
10am-5pm Mon)
3
Museo Galileo
On the river next to the Uffizi is this state-of-the-art science museum, named after the
great Pisa-born scientist invited by the Medici court to Florence in 1610. A visit will un-
ravel a mesmerising curiosity box of astronomical and mathematical treasures collected by
the Medici and Lorraine dynasties.
(
SCIENCE MUSEUM
055 26 53 11;
www.museogalileo.it
; Piazza dei Giudici 1; adult/re-
duced/family €9/5.50/22;
9.30am-5.30pm Wed-Mon, to 12.30pm Tue)
4
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
MUSEUM
