Florence attractions

Florence's sights are unusually concentrated even by Italian standards: the cathedral, the Signoria, the Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio all sit within a few hundred metres of one another, and the whole World Heritage area covers just over five square kilometres. That makes a walking itinerary almost automatic — and makes the timing of it the only real decision.

Group what is ticketed and book it early in the day: the Duomo complex and the Uffizi both reward the first slot and punish the mid-morning arrival. Leave what is free and open — the squares, the bridges, the Oltrarno streets, the climb to San Miniato — for the hours when the ticketed places are at their worst. The Medici Chapels and Dante's House take a fraction of the crowd the headline sights do.