Skirting the edges of unusual Florence
Under-explored narratives in the capital of Tuscany.
There’s much more to Florence than Renaissance art and Medici riches. At the same time, getting off the beaten path isn’t always what’s needed: sometimes you just need to look at the city’s major attractions, stories and streets with a magnifying glass. What do we mean, exactly? Within the city’s familiar, history textbook-friendly fabric, there are plenty of under-explored narratives: juicy gossip, sizzling romances, secret jealousies and not-so-secret feuds. You don’t have to go way too far to find them.
Hop on to a “Murder, Mystery & Wine: The Dark Side of Florence” tour to start getting acquainted with some of the city’s (allegedly) haunted spaces and swept-under-the-rug stories. Exploring the bohemian Oltrarno neighborhood with an expert guide, you’ll come across a series of spirits—and we don’t just mean those of Leonardo, Michelangelo and the like. If you love tall tales to make your spine shiver, this is the tour for you: to calm your nerves afterward, you’ll have the chance to enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine overlooking one of the city’s best views.
If you’re more into gossip than ghost stories, consider joining a “Secrets and Scandals: Florence Unveiled” tour. An adults-only experience, this tour definitely has a shock factor that will linger in your memory—namely, through the detailing of the dark and greedy acts and exchanges behind the events that gave rise to the Renaissance.
Similarly, a “Forbidden Florence” tour will focus on all those major temptations and scandals in the Tuscan capital through the centuries; for those of you who can’t get enough chatting, the tour ends over a Negroni cocktail (Florence’s signature drink) in one of the city’s historic cafes.
Get a broad sense of the city’s hidden stories in the catch-all tour “City of the Towers and the Renaissance: Guided Tour to Discover Florence’s Secrets.” Though you’ll be moving through some of the city’s most prominent museums and monuments—from the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Vecchio to Santa Croce and Brunelleschi’s dome—you’ll get to hear about under-discussed aspects of their history (all the while crossing loads of must-see sights off your list).
Palazzo Vecchio from new perspectives
If none of these more scandal and spook-focused tours seem like your cup of tea, but you’re still up for a slice of unusual Florence, consider exploring one of Florence’s most iconic monuments, Palazzo Vecchio, the centuries-strong seat of power, through a less-than-standard lens. The “Palazzo Vecchio and its Battlements” tour allows you to take a walk atop the building, as if you were patrolling and protecting the place in another time. This is just the tip of the iceberg, though: leading up to the moment on the roof (no pun intended), you’ll get to wind your way through sumptuous and lavish halls throughout the building, including the Hall of the 500, which you might recognize from the blockbuster movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s Inferno book.
That brings us to our next tour: an Inferno experience for the ages, unlocking the doors to all the secret and seductive destinations Robert Langdon and company explored in the book and mega-film.
Put your “to-do list” to rest and think about how to experience Florence in a way most travelers never do. All the preceding tours can help!
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