The Florence of Merchants between Major Arts and Minor Arts

Our tour begins at Piazza Santa Maria Novella, and we will head towards Via de’ Tornabuoni, where the palaces of ancient Florentine families frame the most beautiful fashion street in the world! Along the way, we will encounter wine windows, some still in operation! We will stroll through the guild districts where the major and minor arts traded, engaged in politics, and commissioned prestigious artists to build monuments, churches, and palaces to celebrate their power and wealth. We will pass through Piazza della Signoria, where for centuries the people exercised power taken by force from the aristocrats. We will pass under the Torre della Castagna, the first seat of the priors near Dante's house, and arrive at Piazza Duomo with Giotto's Campanile, the Baptistery of San Giovanni, and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with Brunelleschi's dome. We will continue to the San Lorenzo district, dear to the Medici family, who built the palace here that cost them their exile and in whose basilica the remains of the family members rest. We will end the tour with a visit to the open-air market of San Lorenzo and part ways at the central market where we can enjoy typical Florentine dishes from the lampredotto sandwich to the Florentine steak (1 kg Chianina steak) washed down with a glass of Chianti.