Editing Florence (section)

=== Monuments, museums and religious buildings ===
{{See also|List of churches in Florence|Theatres in Florence}}
[[File:Firenze, piazza san giovanni e piazza del duomo durante il lockdown (2020).jpg|thumb|Baptistry, cathedral and campanile]]
[[File:Galeri.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Piazzale degli Uffizi]]

Florence contains several palaces and buildings from various eras. The {{lang|it|Palazzo Vecchio|italic=no}} is the [[City and town halls|town hall]] of Florence and also an art museum. This large [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] [[Battlement|crenellated]] fortress-palace overlooks the [[Piazza della Signoria]] with its copy of Michelangelo's David statue as well as the gallery of statues in the adjacent [[Loggia dei Lanzi]]. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', after the [[Signoria of Florence]], the ruling body of the [[Republic of Florence]], it was also given several other names: ''Palazzo del Popolo'', ''Palazzo dei Priori'', and ''Palazzo Ducale'', in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history. The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke's residence was moved across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti. It is linked to the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti through the [[Corridoio Vasariano]].

[[Palazzo Medici, now called Medici Riccardi]], designed by [[Michelozzo|Michelozzo di Bartolomeo]] for [[Cosimo de' Medici|Cosimo il Vecchio]], of the Medici family, is another major edifice, and was built between 1445 and 1460. It was well known for its stone masonry that includes [[Rustication (architecture)|rustication]] and [[ashlar]]. Today it is the head office of the Metropolitan City of Florence and hosts museums and the [[Biblioteca Riccardiana|Riccardiana Library]]. The [[Palazzo Strozzi]], an example of civil architecture with its rusticated stone, was inspired by the Medici palace, but with more harmonious proportions. Today the palace is used for international expositions like the annual antique show (founded as the Biennale dell'Antiquariato in 1959), fashion shows and other cultural and artistic events. Here also is the seat of the Istituto Nazionale del Rinascimento and the noted [[Gabinetto Vieusseux]], with the library and reading room.<br />
There are several other notable places, including the [[Palazzo Rucellai]], designed by [[Leon Battista Alberti]] between 1446 and 1451 and executed, at least in part, by [[Bernardo Rossellino]]; the [[Palazzo Davanzati]], which houses the museum of the Old Florentine House; the [[Palazzo Spini Feroni]], on [[Piazza Santa Trinità]], a historic 13th-century private palace, owned since the 1920s by shoe-designer [[Salvatore Ferragamo]]; as well as various others, including the Palazzo Borghese, the [[Palazzo di Bianca Cappello]], the [[Palazzo Antinori]], and the [[Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali (Florence)|Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali]], designed in the [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Neo-Renaissance]] style in 1871.

[[File:Palazzo Pitti Gartenfassade Florenz.jpg|thumb|[[Palazzo Pitti]] on [[Boboli Gardens]]' side]]

Florence contains numerous museums and art galleries where some of the world's most important works of art are held. The city is one of the best preserved Renaissance centres of art and architecture in the world and has a high concentration of art, architecture and culture.<ref name="travelguide.affordabletours.com">{{cite web |last=Miner |first=Jennifer |url=http://travelguide.affordabletours.com/search/Article/guide/19/ |title=Florence Art Tours, Florence Museums, Florence Architecture |publisher=Travelguide.affordabletours.com |date=2 September 2008 |access-date=22 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129061226/http://travelguide.affordabletours.com/search/Article/guide/19 |archive-date=29 January 2010}}</ref> In the ranking list of the 15 most visited Italian art museums, two-thirds are represented by Florentine museums.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://static.touring.it/store/document/21_file.pdf |title=Touring Club Italiano – Dossier Musei 2009 |access-date=12 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418091007/http://static.touring.it/store/document/21_file.pdf |archive-date=18 April 2012}}</ref> The [[Uffizi]] is one of these, having a very large collection of international and especially Florentine art. The gallery is articulated in many halls, catalogued by schools and chronological order. Engendered by the Medici family's artistic collections through the centuries, it houses works of art by various painters and artists. The [[Vasari Corridor]] is another gallery, built connecting the {{lang|it|Palazzo Vecchio|italic=no}} with the Pitti Palace passing by the Uffizi and over the Ponte Vecchio. The [[Galleria dell'Accademia]] houses a [[Michelangelo]] collection, including the original statue of ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]].'' It has a collection of Russian [[icons]] and works by various artists and painters. Other museums and galleries include the [[Bargello]], which concentrates on sculpture works by artists including [[Donatello]], [[Giambologna]] and Michelangelo; the Palazzo Pitti, containing part of the Medici family's former private collection. In addition to the Medici collection, the palace's galleries contain many Renaissance works, including several by [[Raphael]] and [[Titian]], large collections of costumes, ceremonial carriages, silver, porcelain and a [[Palazzo Pitti#Gallery of Modern Art|gallery of modern art]] dating from the 18th century. Adjoining the palace are the [[Boboli Gardens]], elaborately landscaped and with numerous sculptures.

[[File:Façade cathédrale Florence.jpg|thumb|The façade of the Cathedral]]

There are several different churches and religious buildings in Florence. The cathedral is [[Florence Cathedral|Santa Maria del Fiore]]. The [[Florence Baptistry|San Giovanni Baptistery]] located in front of the cathedral, is decorated by numerous artists, notably by [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]] with the ''Gates of Paradise''. Other churches in Florence include the [[Basilica of Santa Maria Novella]], located in Santa Maria Novella square (across from the [[Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station]]) which contains works by [[Masaccio]], [[Paolo Uccello]], [[Filippino Lippi]] and [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]]; the [[Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence|Basilica of Santa Croce]], the principal Franciscan church in the city, which is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about {{convert|800|m|ft|-2|abbr=off}} southeast of the Duomo, and is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Rossini, thus it is known also as the "Temple of the Italian Glories" (''{{lang|it|Tempio dell'Itale Glorie}}''); the [[Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence|Basilica of San Lorenzo]], which is one of the largest churches in the city, situated at the centre of Florence's main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III; [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]], in the Oltrarno quarter, facing the square with the same name; [[Orsanmichele]], whose building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele, then demolished; [[Santissima Annunziata, Florence|Santissima Annunziata]], a Roman Catholic basilica and the mother church of the [[Servite order]]; [[Ognissanti, Florence|Ognissanti]], which was founded by the lay order of the [[Umiliati]], and is among the first examples of [[Baroque architecture]] built in the city; the [[Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence|Santa Maria del Carmine]], in the Oltrarno district of Florence, which is the location of the [[Brancacci Chapel]], housing outstanding Renaissance frescoes by [[Masaccio]] and [[Masolino da Panicale]], later finished by [[Filippino Lippi]]; the [[Medici Chapel (Michelangelo)|Medici Chapel]] with statues by Michelangelo, in the [[Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence|San Lorenzo]]; as well as several others, including [[Santa Trinità]], [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]], [[Santa Felicita, Florence|Santa Felicita]], [[Badia Fiorentina]], [[San Gaetano, Florence|San Gaetano]], [[San Miniato al Monte]], [[Florence Charterhouse]], and [[Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence|Santa Maria del Carmine]]. The city additionally contains the Orthodox Russian church of Nativity, and the [[Great Synagogue of Florence]], built in the 19th century.

Florence contains various theatres and cinemas. The Odeon Cinema of the Palazzo dello Strozzino is one of the oldest cinemas in the city. Established from 1920 to 1922<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cinehall.it/pagine/odeon.asp |title=Gruppo Cine Hall |publisher=Cinehall.it |access-date=19 May 2010}}</ref> in a wing of the Palazzo dello Strozzino, it used to be called the ''Cinema Teatro Savoia'' (Savoy Cinema-Theatre), yet was later called ''Odeon''. The [[Teatro della Pergola]], located in the centre of the city on the eponymous street, is an [[opera house]] built in the 17th century. Another theatre is the [[Teatro Comunale Florence|Teatro Comunale]] (or ''Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino''), originally built as the open-air amphitheatre, the ''Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele'', which was inaugurated on 17 May 1862 with a production of [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]]'s ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]'' and which seated 6,000 people. There are several other theatres, such as the Saloncino Castinelli, the Teatro Puccini, the Teatro Verdi, the Teatro Goldoni and the Teatro Niccolini.