Renaissance masterpieces in free churches, the Arno at sunset, and the Oltrarno workshops that welcome visitors.
Plan your Italy trip →Florence Cathedral (Duomo): Entry is free (the dome climb and baptistery cost extra). The marble facade, the interior, and simply standing in the piazza looking up at Brunelleschi's dome — free and overwhelming.
Piazza della Signoria: An open-air sculpture museum. Neptune Fountain, the Loggia dei Lanzi with Cellini's Perseus and Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women. Copy of Michelangelo's David. All free, all extraordinary.
San Miniato al Monte: Romanesque church above Piazzale Michelangelo. Gregorian chant vespers at 5:30pm (free). The view from the cemetery terrace beats the piazzale below. Fewer people, better perspective.
Oltrarno artisan workshops: Cross the Arno and wander the Santo Spirito and San Frediano neighborhoods. Leather workers, gilders, bookbinders, instrument makers — many have open doors and welcome visitors to watch them work. Free, fascinating, and vanishing.
Ponte Vecchio: Walk across the medieval bridge with goldsmiths' shops. Free to cross, free to window-shop, free to photograph the Arno and the Vasari Corridor above.
Brancacci Chapel (partially free): The church of Santa Maria del Carmine is free. The Brancacci Chapel (Masaccio's frescoes) charges €10 but the church itself has works worth seeing.
Piazzale Michelangelo is famous. But San Miniato al Monte (5 minutes above the piazzale) has the same view with 90% fewer people, plus the church and cemetery. Go at sunset.