Florence in a Day Walking Tour
The only way to see the Best of Florence in a single day!
Our Florence in a Day tour is designed to bring you all the major highlights of Florence, its museums and churces, in a single day. This is the tour for you if you have only one day in which to see as much of Florence as possible.
Just see what we cover:
Duomo - Piazza della Repubblica - Santa Maria del Fiore - Baptistery - Gates of Paradise - Dante's District
Church of Santa Croce - Michelangelo's Tomb - Piazza della Signoria - Ponte Vecchio -
Porcellino Market
Uffizi Gallery with the paintings of Raphael, Botticelli, Titian and others
Accademia Gallery, with Michelangelo's David
This is the most inclusive and in-depth day-tour available in Florence.
| Tour Time: |
9am |
Tour Type: |
Walking |
|
| Tour Duration: |
8 hours |
Min-Max Group size:4-12 * |
Average group size: 6 |
|
* We require a minimum of 4 people for group tours. If there are only 2 or 3 people present, an additional fee of €30 per person is added, to cover our costs.
Click here to see our
Meeting Point Information
Tour Fees
| Adults €150 |
Students/Seniors €140 |
Children 7-17 €120 |
Children under 7 Free |
Private Tour Fees
For private tours, the fee is the same as group tours fees, plus the following private guide fees, according to your group size:
| 1-3 people €300 |
4-8 people €200 |
9-10 people €100 |
11-12 people No extra charge |
All tickets included in tour fees, and we skip all public lines at entrance sites.
Tour Description - Morning
We begin our Florence in a Day tour at the Santa Maria Novella church at 9am.
It was in 1252 when the “fiorino” was first minted by the city of Florence: a gold coin that was to become the most widely used currency in Europe.
That was the beginning of an era of flourishing and wealth that would transform Florence into a beautiful medieval town, and then into the “Cradle of the Renaissance”.
On this tour, your guide will lead you through the most significant Medieval areas and buildings, starting from the elegant church of Santa Maria Novella, with its back to the homonymous train station.
Built by the Dominicans at the end of the thirteenth century, the church and the monastery became an important religious and cultural centre, where famous artists left their works, some of the most interesting you can see in Florence.
The stunning white-and-green façade designed by Leon Battista Alberti, Giotto's crucifix, Masaccio's Trinity, Ghirlandaio's frescoes...milestones in the history of art.
A short walk will take you to Piazza della Repubblica, the oldest site in Florence despite its modern aspect. Chosen by the Romans as the place of foundation for the ancient city of Florentia, it has undergone many changes and now, with its coffee shops and fancy stores, it's the city's “sitting room”.
You can't miss the Duomo, or Santa Maria del Fiore, the fourth largest church in the world, a breathtaking Cathedral totally covered with colourful marbles.
This wonder was built between 1296 and 1470, when the huge Brunelleschi's dome was completed. It is flanked by Giotto's bell tower and faced by the Baptistery, embellished with the shining “Gate of Paradise”.
After visiting the Duomo, your guide will take you through “Dante's district”, an area still preserving its charm, where old tower-houses and narrow streets testify to a history of fights among rival families. That's where Dante Alighieri was born and lived 'till he was exiled from Florence. The great poet, most famous for his Divine Comedy, still permeates the air with his indomitable spirit.
After a stop at one of the best 'gelaterie' in Florence...you will be ready to continue the tour towards the church of Santa Croce, the Franciscan basilica built at the end of the thirteenth century. The Franciscans taught the poor people living in that area the leather manufacturing, starting a tradition that endures to this day.
Santa Croce is the burial place of many illustrious Italian and foreign people: first of all Michelangelo, who died in Rome but was taken back to Florence after his death; Galileo Galilei, Niccolò Machiavelli, Vittorio Alfieri, Gioacchino Rossini and many others rest in peace inside this marvellous Gothic church.
Your next destination will be Piazza della Signoria, an open-air gallery of statues dominated by the imposing government building, Palazzo della Signoria, also known as Palazzo Vecchio. Neptune, Hercules, Perseus and - of course! - David will stand in front of you showing their eternal beauty.
A short walk across the Uffizi Square and you will get to the river Arno, on which the famous Ponte Vecchio is suspended: a street bordered with buildings, all of them shining jewelry stores. Did you know that before the goldsmiths it was the butchers who had their stores on the bridge?
From the Ponte Vecchio your guide will lead you back to Piazza della Repubblica, where the morning tour ends.
Tour Description - Afternoon
After lunch, the afternoon portion of our tour begins at the Uffizi Gallery, at 2pm.
The Uffizi Gallery, in a wonderful location by the river Arno, houses an amazing collection of paintings, including Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Michelangelo’s Tondo Doni.
Opened in 1581, it is one of the oldest museums in Europe, set up by the Medici family on the top floor of a building that was used for the administrative offices of the city (“uffizi” stands for “offices”). Passing the entrance to the gallery, you will feel like one of their guests, invited to enjoy these wonders carefully explained by your tour guide.
The Academy Gallery, born as a collection of models for the students of the Academy of Fine Arts, is now famous as the house of one of Michelangelo’s most loved works, David.
Walking along the ‘gallery of slaves’, bordered by some of his unfinished sculptures, you will get in front of that imposing and hypnotising statue, that you will never get tired of looking at.
David and Goliath, the young boy from the Bible portrayed as a proud and self-confident hero. He was the symbol of Florence and of a new era, one of the most celebrated works of all time.
After the tour of the Uffizi Gallery, you will walk along Via dei Calzaiuoli with your guide, getting to Piazza del Duomo for a brief explanation of the Cathedral and the Baptistery. The visit of the Academy Gallery will complete the tour.
Tour Details
Book Now
If you would like to book a Florence in a Day Tour with us, please fill out the form on
our booking page and
it will email us your request.
Tour Availability:
| January - December |
| Saturday |
If booking for tours this week, please see availabile dates for this tour on our Last-Minute page.
If you are not able to join the group tour on Saturday, or if you do not feel like touring for the whole day, you can take the tours on separate days by booking our Medieval Florence and
Renaissance Florence tours ...
Booking
& Availability
What Our Clients Say
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“Our tour guide was outstanding. His knowledge of Rome and history was impressive.
He had a natural ability to communicate this wealth of knowledge in a way
that was easy to grasp and enjoyable. I look forward to visiting Rome again
in the future and highly recommend your company to everyone.
Thank you for a wonderful day in Rome full of amazing memories!”
– Shauna, USA
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“We had a great tour and we were very impressed and overwhelmed with the guide’s
abundance of knowledge! He was great and made it wonderful because we learned so much!
The group size was small which was very nice.
I will definitely recommend your company to others traveling to Rome!
Thank you.” - Kim, U.S.
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“Tour with Ferdinando was wonderful. Everything we expected and more.
It was singlely the best decision we made when planning our trip!
Ferdinando was very knowledgable and we enjoyed spending the day with him.”
– Kristy, USA
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“All three of our guides' level of historical, archeological and artistic expertise
is to be highly commended. I cannot say enough positive words about all three tours.”
- Wendy, Connecticut.
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“Your 3 tours made our time in Rome really worthwhile.
The sunset one with Ferdinando was great; he was so helpful and informative.
The Vatican tour with Tizi was equally good
and we could not get over how much of a difference it made to the holiday.
Thanks too for the easy to understand directions and meeting places,
we had absolutely no problems at all.
You are all wonderful……..” – Jenny, Slough
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“We had a wonderful tour and Ferdinando was a great guide!
He was wonderful with the children (ages 7 and 4) as well as us adults.
We highly recommend him to others!
Thank you for helping us have a truly wonderful experience in Rome!
Also, a special hello and thank you to Ferdinando!!
We still talk about him!”
- Susan, USA.