Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
shopping strip of Via de' Tornabuoni, prime terrain to don suitable dress and walk, chat and smooch in the chic
company of Renaissance palaces and Italian fashion houses. Locals call the street the 'Salotto di Firenze'
(Florence's Drawing Room).
10
Chiesa di Santa Margherita
CHURCH
Dante fans will like to know that it was in this tiny 11th-century church, in the poet's old
stomping ground, that he is said to have first espied his muse, Beatrice Portinari. And it is
here that he ended up marrying Gemma Donati, to whom he had been promised.
(Via Santa
Margherita 4)
Understand
Florentine Artists
In many respects, the history of Florentine art is also the history of Western art. Browse through any text on the
subject and you'll quickly develop an understanding of how influential the Italian Renaissance, which kicked off
and reached its greatest flowering here, has been over the past 500 years. Indeed, it's no exaggeration to say that
architecture, painting and sculpture rely on its technical innovations and take inspiration from its humanist sub-
ject matter to this very day.
Of the many artists who trained, worked and lived in the city, the most famous are Giotto di Bondone (c
1266-1337), Donatello (c 1386-1466), Fra' Angelico (c 1395-1455), Masaccio (1401-28), Filippo Lippi (c
1406-69), Benozzo Gozzoli (c 1421-97), Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-94) and
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564).
The city is full of artistic masterpieces - in fact, Florence itself is often described as the world's biggest and
most spectacular museum. It's impossible to see everything in one trip, but the
Uffizi Gallery
should be every
visitor's first stop. Its peerless collection contains major works by every Renaissance artist of note, with Botti-
celli's
Primavera
,
Birth of Venus
,
Cestello Annunciation
and
Adoration of the Magi
being four of the gallery's
best-loved works (Michelangelo's
Tondo Doni
is another).
Sculptures abound - most notably Michelangelo's
David
in the
Galleria dell'Accademia
- but the greatest
and most significant concentration of works can be found in the
Museo del Bargello
, home to Donatello's two
versions of
David
(one marble, the other bronze) and a number of works by Michelangelo.
Frescoing was an important artistic technique in the Renaissance, and Florentine churches are rich repositories
of these murals painted on freshly laid lime plaster. Head to
Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
to see Ghir-
