From the old prisons of the Medici in the Bargello we make our way to the Franciscan church of Santa Croce, and Brunelleschi's marvellous Pazzi Chapel, which embodies the values of the early Renaissance - calm, simplicity and reason. And let's not forget the â??ghost of the Roman amphitheatre...
In our Florence East podtourâ?¢ we visit the two centres of the Renaissance city - the sacred centre with the baptisteryFlorentine sun and cathedral, and the centre of government, Piazza della Signoria. We see Ghiberti's fine bronze gates on the baptistery and Giotto's campanile, two fine paintings of Renaissance mercenaries, and the public statue gallery in the Loggia dei Lanzi.
On the way we duck and dive through narrow medieval streets, find a bronze pig that can fly (at least according...
In our Florence West podtour� we visit the west of the city, from Piazza Santa Trinità to gothic church of Santa Maria Novella, and finally to Michelangelo's Medici mausoleum - visiting Renaissance palaces on the way. We spend quite a lot of time looking at frescoes by Ghirlandaio - perhaps not the greatest, but certainly the most approachable of the Renaissance artists - and we also see much of the work of Leon Battista Alberti, one of the earliest architects to use the new Renaissance style...