- Category
- Orientation
- Duration
- 2 hours
- Location
- Florence
- Offers unique introduction to Florence
- Explore the city center during lively twilight hours with a local
- Florence Duomo, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza della Signoria, and Ponte Vecchio
This tour is intended as an orientation walk. We will not go into too much depth on any one topic or structure, especially spaces like the Duomo or Uffizi that are featured in other Context walks. Instead, the purpose of the Florence Night Tour is to give us a sense of the city, and to let us feel its pulse. We’ll likely visit the Piazza SS. Annunziata, an integral public space in the Florence city center, to look at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, a historic building designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. We may also stroll down the shop- and cafe-filled Via dei Servi to check out the exterior of Brunelleschi's later masterpiece, the Duomo, where we’ll learn about the importance of the cathedral and nearby Baptistery in Florentine art and civic history.
From here, our course will depend on the interests of the group and the specialty of the guide. We may move deeper into the center, perhaps to Piazza Signoria, the government center of Renaissance Florence, or to Piazza Repubblica, which is filled with fire-breathers, jugglers, and some of the most famous cafes in Florence. Or perhaps we'll take our time, stopping for a glass of wine or gelato and enjoying the atmosphere of the city. We may end up talking about anything from fashion or coffee to the Medicis or Michelangelo, depending on our mood. Either way, we will take our time to develop a thoughtful experience that, hopefully, will help us understand this most fascinating city, and leave us well prepared for future exploration.
Note: To visit the Florence Cathedral take a look at our in-depth Duomo Tour, which includes the Baptistry and Duomo museum. For the Uffizi, try our Uffizi Tour.
FAQ
Elizabeth recently received her MA in Florentine Renaissance art from Syracuse University in Florence. Her interests include women's history and women artists, particularly by women in convents. In addition to leading walks, she also lectures at various universities and institutions in Florence.
Diane holds a PhD in interdisciplinary studies in architecture from the University of British Columbia and is a visiting scholar at the Faculty of Architecture at the Sapienza University of Rome. A former research fellow at the British School at Rome, she has been appointed as a heritage expert to numerous committees both in Italy and internationally on the conservation and restoration of architecture and urban heritage. One of her main research sites is Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, and the continued influence of the architecture of the Emperor Hadrian on Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Borromini, Bernini, and contemporary architects. Diane teaches architecture and urban history in Rome, including a specialized seminar on Michelangelo. Additionally, she was the founding curator of the international architectural collection of drawings, prints, and rare manuscripts for the Canadian Centre for Architecture. She was also an advisor to the Getty funded Architectural Drawings Advisory Committee (ADAG), at the Center for the Advanced Studies of the Visual Arts, Washington, D.C.
Lucia grew up in Rome, where she graduated in 2001 with a thesis on Roman fresco decoration, after which she took part in an internship at the Louvre. In Florence since 2003, she expanded her passion for drawings, thanks to a student's grant at the Longhi Foundation of Art History. She has also continued building on her knowledge of minor arts with a Master's program at the University of Florence and an additional license in wood restoration. In the last few years, Lucia has been strongly interested in the movement of artworks for temporary exhibitions. She has also worked as Chief Curator at the Czech Center Museum in Houston (US) for 9 months, cataloging the collection and collaborating with all museum's cultural activities and promotions.
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