Florence

Florence's defining monument is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo — a vast Gothic church sheathed in green, white and pink marble, crowned by Filippo Brunelleschi's extraordinary dome. Raised between 1420 and 1436 without external scaffolding, using a self-supporting double shell and a herringbone brickwork that Brunelleschi devised himself, it was the largest dome built since antiquity and remains the largest masonry dome in the world; climbing its more than 460 steps, past Vasari's 'Last Judgement' frescoes inside the cupola, rewards you with a panorama over the whole city. Beside the cathedral stand Giotto's elegant marble Campanile (bell tower), which can also be climbed, and the octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni, famous for its gilded bronze doors — Lorenzo Ghiberti's 'Gates of Paradise', whose original panels are displayed (with Donatello's 'Mary Magdalene' and Michelangelo's 'Bandini Pietà') in the superb Museo dell'Opera del Duomo across the square. The monuments share a single combined ticket, and timed entry to the dome climb books up early, so reserve ahead. Together they tell the story of a city that turned its civic pride and wealth into one of the boldest building projects of the age.

Florence is where the Renaissance began, and its galleries hold its greatest works. The Galleria degli Uffizi, built by Vasari as the Medici administrative offices and bequeathed to the city by the last Medici heir, is one of the world's supreme art museums: room after room of Botticelli (the 'Birth of Venus' and 'Primavera'), Giotto and the early masters, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo's 'Doni Tondo', Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and more, with corridor views over the Arno. A short walk north, the Galleria dell'Accademia is home to Michelangelo's 'David' — the original marble colossus, drawing crowds beneath its purpose-built tribune, with his unfinished 'Prisoners' lining the approach. The Bargello, in a medieval palace, holds the finest Renaissance sculpture, including Donatello's bronze 'David' and works by Michelangelo and Cellini. Florence's churches are galleries in themselves: Masaccio's revolutionary frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel, Fra Angelico's serene cells at the convent of San Marco, the Medici Chapels and Michelangelo-designed library at San Lorenzo, and the Giotto and Masaccio works of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella. With so much to see, booking the major museums online in advance is essential, especially the Uffizi and Accademia.

The civic stage of Florence is Piazza della Signoria, an open-air sculpture gallery in front of the crenellated Palazzo Vecchio, the medieval town hall whose tower still rises over the city and whose frescoed halls (the Salone dei Cinquecento) can be visited. A copy of Michelangelo's 'David' stands where the original once did, beside Ammannati's Neptune fountain and, under the arches of the Loggia dei Lanzi, masterpieces like Cellini's bronze 'Perseus' and Giambologna's 'Rape of the Sabine Women', free to all. From here the famous Ponte Vecchio — the only Florentine bridge to survive the Second World War, lined since the 16th century with goldsmiths' and jewellers' shops and topped by the elevated Vasari Corridor that linked the Medici palaces — carries you across the Arno to the Oltrarno, the 'other side'. This left-bank quarter is the city's most characterful: the artisan workshops of leather, gilding and restoration, the relaxed Piazza Santo Spirito with its Brunelleschi church, the vast Pitti Palace with its museums and the green Boboli Gardens climbing the hillside behind. Above it all, the terrace of Piazzale Michelangelo offers the classic postcard view of Florence at sunset, with the Romanesque church of San Miniato al Monte just beyond.

Florence is the doorway to Tuscan cooking, one of Italy's most loved cuisines, built on superb ingredients simply handled. The signature dish is the bistecca alla fiorentina, a thick T-bone steak from Chianina cattle, grilled rare over coals and served by weight; alongside it come the hearty peasant classics — ribollita (a twice-cooked bread-and-vegetable soup), pappa al pomodoro, crostini di fegatini (chicken-liver toasts), pici and pappardelle with wild-boar ragù, and the unsalted Tuscan bread. Florentine street food has its own icons in the lampredotto and tripe sandwiches sold from market stalls, the flat schiacciata bread, and the city's claim to the invention of gelato; browse and graze at the Mercato Centrale in San Lorenzo or the Sant'Ambrogio market. To drink there is Chianti and the great Tuscan reds, finished with cantucci almond biscuits dipped in sweet Vin Santo. Florence is also the perfect base for Tuscany: fast and regional trains and easy roads reach Pisa and its Leaning Tower, walled Lucca, Gothic Siena and the towers of San Gimignano, and the vineyards and hill towns of Chianti spread immediately to the south — making the city both a destination and the hub of one of Europe's most beautiful regions.