One Day in Florence: The No-BS Walking Route

Pre-book your ticket for 8:15am — the gallery opens at 8:15am Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays) and the line triples by 9. Walk straight past the 'Museum of Musical Instruments' paintings and the Hall of the Prisoners (unfinished Michelangelo slaves — worth a glance on the way out). The David is at the end of the tribune hall, placed there intentionally so you see him grow as you approach. Michelangelo carved the 5.17-meter statue from a massive marble block that two other sculptors had already rejected and abandoned. Spend 20 minutes here, not 5.

Walk south from the Accademia through the San Lorenzo street market stalls. Look, photograph, soak in the energy — but do not buy leather here. Most of it is Chinese-made vinyl with a 'Made in Italy' sticker slapped on at the final stage. If you want real Florentine leather, visit a workshop in Oltrarno this afternoon. The Basilica di San Lorenzo itself is worth a quick external look (Brunelleschi designed it) but skip the interior unless you have extra time.

You need a pre-booked timed entry for the dome climb — get this sorted weeks in advance at duomo.firenze.it. The 463 steps have no elevator and the passage narrows to shoulder-width between the inner and outer shells. Claustrophobes: sit this one out and visit the Baptistery instead. The frescoes painted on the interior of the dome by Vasari and Zuccari are terrifying — a Last Judgment where sinners are being eaten alive. At the top, the panorama over Florence's terracotta rooftops is worth every gasping step. The Baptistery across the piazza (same combo ticket) is worth entering for its spectacular 13th-century gold mosaic ceiling. Ghiberti's famous Gates of Paradise (east doors) are replicas — the originals are in the Opera del Duomo Museum — but Andrea Pisano's south doors (1336) are still the originals.