Best of Florence Private Tour with Uffizi Gallery

Your journey begins at the Duomo – the religious heart of Florence. The fascinating, multilayered history of the building will be revealed as you explore the remains of Santa Reparata, the 4th century cathedral buried beneath the 15th cathedral, and discover how the Duomo and its predecessor have always played an integral role in the city’s history. Our private tour of the Duomo will introduce you to the art of Brunelleschi, the headstrong architect who achieved his vision, against the odds. It was Brunelleschi who designed the cathedral’s extraordinary dome, an astonishing feat of engineering that dominates the city skyline.

The distinctive octagonal building nearby is the Baptistery; here a competition to deisgn a new set of doors attracted the most talented artists in Florence, including a young Brunelleschi. The winning entry was however Lorenzo Ghiberti, whose astonishingly exquisite bronze doors took 21 years to complete – so beautiful were they that Michelangelo himself dubbed them the “Gates of Paradise”.

The city’s powerful mercantile past is today a distant memory, but the history of Florence’s guilds is an essential part of the city’s rich tapestry of palaces, churches and piazzas, which you’ll explore on your exclusive Florence tour. The guilds were keen to promote their self-image in Florence and beyond by commissioning lavish artistic projects such as the statues that ornament the façade of Orsanmichele, including Donatello’s remarkable St. George. This burgeoning merchant class also built grand new residences to show off their wealth, as you’ll see when you visit Palazzo Davanzati. In contrast to the heavily fortified medieval buildings that surround it the palazzo is light and spacious, reflecting the new priorities of the powerful family that lived there. As you walk through the streets and admire these beautiful buildings, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss Florentine society with your personal guide, and learn why Florence was once one of the most important cities in Europe.

No family, of course, could match the Medicis for power or wealth, and we return to their story with a tour of Piazza della Signoria. It oversaw some of Florence’s greatest controversies, such as the execution of the apocalyptic preacher Savonarola in 1498, and is dominated by the imposing 13th century Palazzo Vecchio, which you’ll visit with your personal guide. Traditionally the seat of the city’s magistrates, the Medicis took up residence here in the middle of the 16th century, a forceful statement of their total dominion over the city.

A visit to Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio is an opportunity to learn about political intrigue and networks of power while admiring some of the most beautiful parts of the city. Piazza della Signoria resembles an open-air art gallery, with a replica of Michelangelo’s David and Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa, as well as countless other statues. The interior of Palazzo Vecchio is one of the surprises of our Florence private tour, with many sumptuously decorated rooms containing masterpieces by Vasari, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio and Bronzino, among others. Palazzo Vecchio also offers impressive panoramic views of the city centre, including the Duomo and the surrounding rooftops.

It is also to the Medicis that we owe the Uffizi Gallery, the world’s greatest museum of Renaissance art. Originally built to house the magistrates after their eviction from Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi soon became a showcase for the family’s fantastic art collection. On your Uffizi tour the fascinating story of Renaissance art will be revealed through its finest masterpieces, from the pioneering works of Giotto and Masaccio to the superlative mythological canvasses of Sandro Botticelli. You will learn of the humanist philosophies that dominated the intellectual climate of the Medici court, and discover the lives and works of the three greatest geniuses of the High Renaissance – Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael and Michelangelo would leave for Rome at the height of their powers, drawn by the patronage of a series of fabulously wealthy popes intent on glorifying the Eternal City. The political pre-eminence of Florence on the Italian stage was at an end.