Florence has a problem with its own fame. The queues for the Uffizi, the crowds around the Duomo, the tour groups moving in tight formations down every major street - it can all make you feel like you’re consuming a city rather than actually being in it. Silvia, a local who’s spent years navigating Florence away from the guidebooks, built her tour around a different idea - skip the performance, find the real thing.
It starts at the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, one of the oldest pharmacies in the world, founded by Dominican monks in the 13th century. It still sells perfumes, herbal remedies and soaps made to centuries-old recipes, and the interior alone - frescoed ceilings, apothecary shelves, an almost reverent quiet is worth the visit before you’ve bought a single thing.
From there, the Piazza del Duomo is unavoidable and rightly so. The cathedral is overwhelming up close in the best possible way, all white, green and pink marble. Giotto’s Tower beside it is worth the climb for the views, and Brunelleschi’s dome, engineered without scaffolding in the 15th century, a feat that still baffles architects today is the kind of thing you stare at and can’t quite believe. Look for the white marble disc set into the pavement behind the cathedral - on the summer solstice, a beam of light falls through a small hole in the lantern above and hits it exactly. A sundial the size of a building, hiding in plain sight.
Find the best views of the Duomo
The Biblioteca delle Oblate is the kind of place tourists walk past without a second glance. It’s a public library inside a former convent, and the rooftop terrace has one of the best views of the Duomo in the city - quiet, free, and almost never crowded. Nearby, Bottega Cecilia Falciai is a small artisan workshop where traditional Florentine crafts are still made by hand, the kind of place Silvia visits because it represents exactly what Florence is at its core - skill, patience, and an absolute refusal to cut corners.
The walk down to the Arno takes you past hidden alleyways and the kind of details, a carved doorway, a faded fresco on a corner building that you only notice when you’re not rushing. Ponte Vecchio crosses the river lined with jewellers as it has been since the 16th century, and the Fontana del Porcellino nearby has its own legend - rub the boar’s nose, let a coin fall through the grate, and you’ll return to Florence one day. Given what the city is like, it’s not a bad bet to take.
Florence was featured on Tourizzy by Silvia, a local from Florence.
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