No place on earth can you take deeper into the heart and soul of the Renaissance than Florence, where it all began.
This city - its humanist thinkers, painters, sculptors, craftsmen, architects, and the aristocracy whose patronage supported and nurtured the artistic genius and gave it the freedom to create - pulled Italy and subsequently Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the age of enlightenment.
Everywhere you look, you'll find the very best examples of this exciting rebirth, but the highest single concentration is in and around Piazza del Duomo.
Dominating the skyline is Brunelleschi's great dome. Rising beside it is Giotto's marble-faced tower. Below is the baptistery with Ghiberti's masterpieces, the incomparable bronze doors of the Gates of Paradise.
