What To Do in Florence in 48 hours

Few Steps away from N4U Guest House, our Bed and Breakfast and the train station Santa Maria Novella, a masterpiece of 20th-century rationalist architecture, stands the basilica after which it is named.  Santa Maria Novella is the 13th-century church of the Dominican Order, with a fine façade in green and white marble. The Gothic interior is very beautiful, with numerous frescoes and masterpieces of Renaissance art. Attached to it is the museum of the same name.

Through narrow, picturesque alleys you reach Via Tornabuoni, the most fashionable shopping street in Florence, which backs the great Palazzo Strozzi. Commissioned by Benedetto da Maiano to Filippo Strozzi, it is one of the outstanding Renaissance buildings in the city. Its many fine rooms play host to a succession of art exhibitions, while the ample courtyard of the Palace is always open. Going on our way to Piazza della Repubblica we find ourselves in what was the heart of Florence in Roman times, though the present piazza is the result of 19th-century town planning. Returning to Piazza del Duomo and crossing it, straight ahead in Via Martelli you will soon find on your left another great Renaissance building, Palazzo Medici Riccardi. Cosimo “il Vecchio” de’ Medici commissioned it from Michelozzo in the mid-15th century. In fact the Medici left their mark on this whole area of the city. This Palazzo, which is the seat of the Province of Florence, is also a museum with splendidly decorated rooms and the wonderful Chapel frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli. If you have no time for a visit you should at least take a look at the courtyard.