Fine art and architecture in Florence are world-form and timeless. The urban center hit the jackpot in medieval and Renaissance times when painters, sculptors and architects bejeweled churches, palaces and squares with a wealth of masterpieces.

Centuries on, reams remain – to an overwhelming extent for nearly visitors. To catch the major highlights, follow our listing and plan ahead.

Florence's skyline is as magical today as it has been for centuries. Image by Benson Kua. CC BY-SA 2.0

Florence's skyline is as magical today as it has been for centuries. Image by Benson Kua. CC By-SA 2.0

Brunelleschi's Dome

The peppery red-brick dome of Florence's duomo (cathedral) is the metropolis'south most spectacular structure. Admire it from Piazzale Michelangelo to completely swoon. Then climb right up into its guts to sympathise why Filippo Brunelleschi's iconic cupola (1420–36) is one of the greatest architectural achievements of all time. Brunelleschi rested inner and outer concentric domes on the pulsate of the cathedral, allowing artisans to lay iv million bricks from the ground up a wooden support frame. The final leg of the climb – upward a somewhat hazardous flight of stairs scaling the curve of the inner dome – rewards with an unforgettable 360-degree city panorama.

Botticelli at the Uffizi

Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli (c 1444–1510) charmed the socks off the Medici, who deputed several works past the early Renaissance artist, many of which are on display at the unmissable Galleria degli Uffizi. Purchase tickets for the museum in advance online (firenzemusei.it) and go far smart at the start or end of the day to get the best (crowd-free) view of his Primavera (Jump; c 1478) and Birth of Venus (c 1484) in room 10-fourteen. Discover the pastel, fresco-like appearance of Venus – painted with a mixture of yolk and light tempura – compared to Primavera's dark strong colours.

Botticelli's Birth of Venus is just one of the masterpieces on display at the Uffizi Museum. Image by GraphicaArtis / Getty Images

Botticelli'due south Nativity of Venus is merely one of many masterpieces on display at the Uffizi Museum. Paradigm past GraphicaArtis / Getty Images

Michelangelo's David

The world's most famous statue was commissioned in 1501 to stand high upwards in the apse of Florence cathedral (the large head and hands would take appeared perfectly proportioned from below). But the biblical warrior ended up in front end of Palazzo Vecchio until 1873 when he became the Galleria dell'Accademia's megastar. Snag advance tickets online (firenzemusei.it) to cut waiting fourth dimension, and be sure to contemplate Michelangelo'south iconic masterpiece from all angles: from the left, David'southward facial expression is Zen and boy-similar; from the right it is cold and charged, all set up to slay the mighty giant Goliath.

Hidden Michelangelos

David features on everything from souvenir boxer shorts to kitchen aprons, but the unsung stars of Florence'south sensational Michelangelo show are his funerary sculptures hidden in the depths of the ostentatious Cappelle Medicee. Visit in the morning and allow time to linger over hauntingly beautiful Dawn and Dusk (1526–31) on the sarcophagus of Lorenzo de' Medici, and Nighttime and 24-hour interval on the sarcophagus of son Giuliano. Detect the mask, owl and poppies entwined within female Night, and observe how muscular her body is – a reflection of the male models Michelangelo always used.

The sculptures Night and Day adorn the tomb of XXXX. Image by Nicola Williams / Lonely Planet

The sculptures Night and Solar day adorn the tomb of Giuliano Medici. Image by Nicola Williams / Lonely Planet

Fra Angelico at Museo di San Marco

Artists are more likely to be sinners than saints. Not Fra Angelico (c 1395–1455), a Tuscan friar, gifted painter and saint whose securely devotional frescoes mirrored Renaissance humanism. The wonderfully uncrowded Museo di San Marco is the place to view his work (only open up mornings so plan accordingly). In 1440 and 1441 Fra Angelico busy the monastic cells of 44 fellow friars with frescoes – some spiritual, some meditative, some downright frightening. Spot Jesus squashing a nasty looking devil in Archbishop St Antonino'south cell. At the pinnacle of the stairs his most famous work, the haunting Proclamation (c 1440), commands all eyes.

Vasarian Corridor

A palace both sides of the River Arno was not enough for the Medici. To avoid rain or having the hoi polloi watch them waltz between sumptuous pads, they built a covered walkway linking the ii in 1565. The Corridoio Vasariano runs from Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, across Ponte Vecchio and through Chiesa di Santa Felicità – peek at the individual balcony used by the Medici to nourish mass – to Palazzo Pitti.

To explore within the corridor, strung with the Medici collection of self-portraits, reserve a guided tour with Florence Town or Caf Tour & Travel. Spot Andrea del Sarto (the oldest), Rubens, Rembrandt and Canova.

Most visitors crossing the Ponte Vecchio are unaware of the semi-secret Vasarian Corridor that runs over the bridge. Image by Michael Gottschalk / photothek.net / Getty Images

Nigh visitors crossing the Ponte Vecchio are unaware of the semi-hush-hush Vasarian Corridor that runs over the bridge. Epitome past Michael Gottschalk / photothek.net / Getty Images

Frescoes in Chiesa Santa Trinità

Frescoes were the Facebook of medieval Florence. Gen up on the news, views and social commentary of the twenty-four hour period with the evocative wall paintings decorating side chapels in Chiesa Santa Trinità. Those by Sienese painter Lorenzo Monaco in Cappella Bartholini Salimbeni evoke the hot topical debate of the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception. Fine art lovers annotation: the paintings, dating from 1420, are ane of the few remaining examples of International Gothic frescoes in Italy.

The Early on Renaissance in Cappella Brancacci

Burn down in the 18th century all just destroyed 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria del Cherry – but spared the masterpiece frescoes in its Cappella Brancacci. The vivid story strip illustrates the life of St Peter (the guy in the orangish gown). It was begun by Masolino da Panicale and his pupil Masaccio in 1428, finished by Filippino Lippi in the 1480s and stuck up two fingers to Gothic art. Human beings, including beggars and the sick, boss the scene, plunging viewers into the early Renaissance'south shock naturalism.

Chapel visits are by guided tour (20 minutes, every twenty minutes); only 30 people are allowed in at a time. Reserve tickets in advance in high season.

The frescoes XXXX. Image by Nicola Williams / Lonely Planet

The frescoes in the Branacci Chapel depict scenes from the life of St Peter. Image past Nicola Williams / Alone Planet

Ghiberti'south Gates of Paradise

Exist dazzled by 1 of Italia'due south greatest early Renaissance fine art works – yeah, a pair of doors – at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Crafted in the 15th century for the eastern archway to the baptistery, the filthy black Gates of Paradise (1425–52) were removed for restoration in 1990 – a job that took more than than two decades. The 16m tall, bronze gilded doors today shimmer as their goldsmith creator, Lorenzo Ghiberti (c 1378–1455), intended. Study the story of Adam and Eve cast in bronze on ten foursquare panels on the doors and understand why it took Ghiberti 27 years to complete this exquisite masterpiece.

Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise. Image by Lucas Schifres / Getty Images

Ghiberti'due south Gates of Paradise show the extraordinary skill of this 15th century Florentine craftsman. Image by Lucas Schifres / Getty Images

Piero della Francesca'southward Duke and Duchess of Urbino

The warts-and-all portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Tuscan painter Piero della Francesca (c 1420–1492) is an Uffizi crowd-puller. The humanist portraits glow with the mastery of light and skilled synthesis of grade and colour which made this Renaissance pioneer from eastern Tuscany so famous. His crooked-nosed duke is portrayed from the left side because his right middle was lost jousting. The duchess is deathly-white to show the portrait is posthumous. Surprised by their diminutive size? The double-sided portraits originally slotted into a portable, hinged frame that folded like a volume.