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Describing Florence's places of interest means describing the city's history. The historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is an open-air museum where you can admire the facades of the awe-inspiring basilicas and cathedrals that form its unmistakable skyline, and see the lavish palaces that tell the story of the different periods of the city's history: from the birthplace of the Renaissance to the capital of Italy, all the way through to the first half of the twentieth century when Florence became a hub for the avant-garde.

When you visit Florence's museums and see the works housed in them, you are not just delving into the history of a city and its treasures. Rather, you are acknowledging the cultural imaginary that has contributed to the creation of Western civilisation as we know it, laying the foundations for the aesthetic, educational, scientific, culinary, political and artistic principles that surround us today.

Thanks to the foresight of the last representative of the House of Medici, Anna Maria Luisa, who ensured that the fall of a dynasty did not bring about the death of Florence's culture, the city now preserves its heritage in a vast network of museums, where a constant process of restoration, preservation and renovation aims to establish Florence as the art and history capital of the world.

The inestimable historical and artistic value of the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia Gallery, the Bargello National Museum, Palazzo Pitti and the Medici Chapels sits alongside buildings that examine more recent history, such as the Museo Novecento and the temporary exhibitions at Forte di Belvedere and Palazzo Strozzi. The choices on offer range from Palazzo Vecchio, a museum and still the centre of administrative power even today, to the more recent scientific, academic and fashion museums.

Listing the great artists and masterpieces housed in the museums that preserve Florence's immense heritage would perhaps be redundant given their fame. However, admiring this vast treasure trove certainly is not - this heritage belongs not only to Florence, but to humanity as a whole. It is our history, preserved and accessible to all.

Moreover to fully appreciate the artistic richness of Florence, one must also look beyond the city centre: the area “outside the walls” has a lot of original "jewels": Museo del Cenacolo di san Salvi; Museo Stibbert; Parco di Villa il Ventaglio; the Medici Villas of Petraia and Castello, the Villa La Quiete and that of Poggio Imperiale.

The surroundings made of verdant hills spotted with parish churches and villas hides a lot of unknown masterpieces.

The territory has an incredible legacy; the Medici and various affluent merchant families left many traces of their presence there over the centuries, and there is an abundance of religious art.