Private Cruise Excursion from Livorno or La Spezia To Florence By Car

Explore the world's greatest collection of Renaissance art at the Uffizi

The Uffizi gallery is of course one of the highlights of our tour, and here we will encounter many of the artists who made the city famous. The masterpieces of Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio dramatically thrust us into the world of the Renaissance, and in their forms we will come to understand the era's radically evolving relationship between man and God. We will explore the development of three-dimensional perspective and the rediscovery of the classical world, and meet the artists and patrons who gave the world around them such extraordinary visual expression.

Ponte Vecchio, perhaps the city's most iconic landmark. A bridge has crossed the river Arno here at its narrowest point since at least the 10th century, and the current version dates from 1345. Long renowned for its picturesque charm, it was the only bridge to survive the Nazi retreat from Florence unscathed. For centuries butchers and fishmongers sold their goods here, and were only replaced by the current goldsmiths and jewellers in the 16th century at the command of Medici nobles. It is a place where the many histories of Florence collide, where merchants, tradesmen, artists and aristocrats all rub shoulders together. Join us as we tread in their footsteps through the streets of one of the world's most magical cities.

In the museum of the Accademia we will come face-to-face some of Michelangelo's finest sculptures. Most famous of all is of course his magisterial David, who towers above us with a haughty grandeur. It is perhaps the greatest expression of idealized classical beauty ever carved, and was taken by his contemporaries as proof that his chisel was guided by the hand of God himself. We will also admire his series of unfinished Slaves, disquieting figures locked in an eternal torment as they try to free themselves from their marble prisons.

The 14th century basilica of Santa Croce is one of the most impressive medieval monuments in the city. Inside we will admire the frescoes of Giotto recounting the life of St. Francis, a wooden crucifix by Donatello, and Brunelleschi's marvellous Pazzi chapel, a masterpiece of Renaissance proportion. We will pause to pay homage at the tombs of some of Italy's most famous sons including Dante, Machiavelli, and above all Michelangelo. Though the great sculptor died in Rome, he was spirited back to the city of his birth in the dead of night so that he could be mourned by the entire populace.

Piazza della Signoria was the political heart of the Renaissance city, and here the fluctuating fortunes of the Florentine Republic is writ large in the shadow of the imposing Palazzo Vecchio. This great building was the seat of the city magistrates, safeguards of Florence's democratic autonomy. We will explore the powerful Medici family's ever increasing influence in their affairs, until they eventually became de-facto rulers of the city. This piazza was also the site of the apocalyptic sermons of the preacher Savonarola, who was burned at the stake here in 1498.