I share P_M's enthusiasm for all those places (noting, bye the bye, that many of those wonderful tombs in Santa Croce don't have anybody's bones in them), but I am afraid he is talking about a really fun day for a world-class sprinter who doesn't eat lunch or take coffee breaks.

If I had only one day to spend in Florence, the very first thing I would be to resolve to shoot whoever arranged my schedule.

After that, I would try to get some grasp of what made this the most important city in Europe for 250 years and more, despite the fact that it was never the capital of a country, much less an empire, never had any military might to speak of, and almost never, ever won a battle.

To do that - other than by reading a dozen or so good books - I would try to read the meaning of some of the art and architecture - because art and architecture are (or, at least, can be) metaphors - the physical representations of ideas.

And the ideas that were developed in Florence, starting in the 14th century, are the ideas that have driven Western civilization for the past 700 years.

The only way even to begin to do that in very short visit - one, or two days - is to categorize the town into three kinds of places:

1) Places you can just walk around and look at from the outside;

2) Places you can just stick your head in to take a quick look at;

3) Places you really should spend some time in.

In a one-day visit, I would

1) Start at the Duomo, walk around it a bit, look at the copies of the wonderful, homey plaques on the Bell Tower, showing people at work in Florence in the late Middle Ages, look at all three of the wonderful sets of doors on the Baptistery, and stick my head into the Baptistery to see the wonderful 13th century mosaics on the ceiling and the sublime tomb of the antipope John XXIII.

2) Walk down the Via dei Calzaioli to Orsanmichele, walk around it, looking at the statues in the niches - and especially at the base of the copy of Donatello's St. George, to see the very first use of mathematical perspective in "Modern" art (by which I mean not classical art.) Note the face of St. George and compare that with the face of Satan on the ceiling of the Baptistery, which was created less than 100 years before.

3) Continue along the Via dei Calzaioli to the Piazza della Signoria. Spend some time just soaking up this square and the stories it tells. Just to give a couple of examples of those stories - the tower of the town hall is off-center - that's because it was built on the site of a palace owned by one of the families that lost out in one of the civil wars in town, and they built the "new" tower on top of the tower that had been there.

Look at the ferocious sculpture in the square. The two portraits of Duke Cosimo I - one on horseback, the other in the center of a silly fountain. Also look at Benvenuto Cellini's unappetizing portrait of Perseus and the Head of Medusa; Giambologna's "Rape of the Sabines"; Donatello's "Judith and Holofernes"; the modest brass plaque, almost in the center of the square, marking the exact spot where Savonarola was burned at the stake. Then, of course, there's the very modest copy of Michelangelo's David.

No other square in Europe is anything like this - because of the sculpture. This square is a cockpit - it's the place where Florentines come to fight amongst themselves and where they come to rally round when they think their town is threatened from outside.

4) Go into the Palazzo - for 700 years, the heart and soul of Florence. This was the first great "civic" building - meaning of the people, not the church or a monarch - to have been built in Europe in over 1,000 years. (The entrance is now on the left side, as you face the building.) You will have to pay for admission.

Go through the public parts of the building, soaking up the grandeur in the town hall of this modest city, which never had a population of much over 60,000 from 1348 (when the plague first struck) until the early 19th century. Of all the wonderful things in the building, I think the thing that I enjoy most is the map room, which is a great work of art, but is also a window into the centrality of Florence in the Age of Discovery. Remember it was a map by the Florentine Paulo Toscanelli that Columbus took with him on his first trip to the New World.

5) After the Signoria, I would walk back on the Via dei Calzaioli towards the Duomo and turn right into the Via de' Tavolini. On the left side, you will come to the Cantinetta dei Verrazzano at number 18/r - a terrific place for a light lunch Tuscan style.

6) After lunch, I go a couple of blocks south from the Via de' Tavolini to the Via della Condotta, turn left, and follow to the Piazza Santa Croce.

At most I would stick my head into Santa Croce, I would not bother going inside. Instead, I would go next door - on the right as you face the (late 19th century) facade of the church, and I would go into Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel - one of the earliest Renaissance buildings, and what Mary McCarthy describes as "the music of the universe heard in a very small space". Take a few minutes' rest. Just sit there, and soak up the tranquility and rationality of the place.

7) After the Pazzi Chapel, I would make my weary way back to the center of town, to the Via Tornabuoni, past the Palazzo Antinori, to San Lorenzo.

8) I would go into the church, with the idea in mind of how it was very much the intellectual antecedent of Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" - the self-portrait (?) showing Leonardo standing with arms and legs akimbo and defining the circle and the square - "Man is the Measure of All Things". Go to the "Old Sacristy" to the left of the altar, to enjoy masterworks by Brunelleschi, Donatello, Andrea della Robbia, et al.

If you can, go into the cloister, to the left of the facade of San Lorenzo, to enjoy the tranquility of the cloister itself and to see, if you can, the Laurentian and the stupendous staircase leading to it, by Michelangelo.

8) Wander around the right side of the church, through the delightfully kitchy market, to the Via del Giglio, head off to your right to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella, noting the wonderful combination 13th century - 15th century - medieval/Renaissance facade. If you have a minute - and the energy - stick your head inside.

9) Go to Sostanza (at about 7-7:30), in the Via Porcellana, just a couple of blocks from Santa Maria Novella, for a classic Florentine beef-steak dinner - or, if you must, have their stupendous chicken breasts (trust me!).

Enjoy

Wow Cassakaela,

There is a lot here.

It just goes to show there is so much to do in Florence there is hardly time to do it all.

With so much to do, you'll need a snack. I Fratellini is a little hole in the wall we always stop at when on a hectic day in Florence. Here's our trip video:

tripadvisor.com/ProfileGallery-i18590839.html

I might add to these extensive itinerary that Donatello's Mary Magdalene inside the Duomo Museum, or Opera di S. Maria del Fiore di Firenze, is worth checking out.

Buon Viaggio.

Donatello's Mary Magdalene, in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, is one of the most expressive sculptures I've ever seen. There's also a Pietà by Michelangelo, rather different from the one in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. And there are some fascinating exhibits about the construction of the Duomo and its dome, and about how the Duomo looked at different points in time. I was surprised to learn that its present appearance is quite recent.

For a one day visit would it be worth it to see the Uffizi or the Accademia or just soak in what was stated above? Thanks

I suggest you take the Artviva Walking Tour of Florence and the Uffizi Tour. We did both and they were great!!! We only had 1 day in Florence and the walking tour is 3 hours and covered much of what was suggested by other posters. Then, we did the Uffizi tour with them - approx. 1 1/2 hours. The tour guides all speak English and have terrific stories to accompany the historical information as you visit each site..

Their website is www.artviva.com