Florence

Florence remains inseparable from the idea of artistic awakening. Its churches, palaces, bridges and workshops preserve the scale of a city that changed how Europe imagined beauty, knowledge and human achievement.

Florence compresses artistic genius into a walkable urban form. Palaces, churches, bridges and workshops create a city where beauty feels measured, intellectual and deeply human.

Florence lies in a basin of the Arno, ringed by the hills of Fiesole and Bellosguardo. The historic centre, a UNESCO site since 1982, stretches from the Duomo — Brunelleschi’s dome still commanding the skyline — past Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi to the Ponte Vecchio. Across the river, the Oltrarno holds the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens and the workshops of Santo Spirito and San Frediano.

The Medici shaped the city for three centuries, commissioning chapels, palaces and collections that remain on view. Florence is also a city of making: leather, paper, gilding, jewellery and tailoring are still practised in small botteghe, and Pitti Uomo, held twice a year, confirms its place in men’s fashion. Beyond the old walls, the Chianti hills and their villas begin within half an hour.

April, May, September and October are the best months: mild, bright and ideal for walking. Easter Sunday brings the Scoppio del Carro, the explosion of a decorated cart before the Duomo; June the Calcio Storico, historic football played in costume in Piazza Santa Croce, its final falling on 24 June, the feast of San Giovanni, the city’s patron saint.

Summer is hot and crowded, with temperatures often in the mid-thirties in the enclosed valley, and the museums at their busiest. Autumn adds the grape and olive harvests in the surrounding hills, and November the new oil. Winter is cool and quiet, with short queues at the Uffizi and the Accademia, and January brings Pitti Uomo to the Fortezza da Basso.

Florence’s leading hotels divide between the centre, the river and the hills. Four Seasons Hotel Firenze occupies Palazzo della Gherardesca within the largest private garden in the city; The St. Regis Florence faces the Arno from Piazza Ognissanti; Hotel Savoy, a Rocco Forte hotel, stands on Piazza della Repubblica; and Hotel Lungarno looks across the river to the Ponte Vecchio. Above the city, Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, a former monastery at Fiesole, overlooks the Duomo.

LVXVRY books Four Seasons through Four Seasons Preferred Partner and The St. Regis through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For the Savoy, the Lungarno and Villa San Michele, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay, and can combine Florence with a villa or wine estate in Chianti.