VanDam Maps

• SKU: VD_SS_FLORENCE_24

• VanDam's newly revised 2024 StreetSmart® Florence maps all top attractions including museums, architecture, galleries, historic sites, hotels, palazzos and more at an immensely legible scale of 1:6,500, complete with 3-D building illustrations. The map is so legible you can read it from three feet away. Its information design has earned VanDam maps a place in the MoMA Collection.

  The map is film-laminated and easily fits into shirt pocket or purse. Dimensions: 9" x 4" closed, 9" by 24" open. CONTENTS: Florence Street Map 1:10,500; Florence Centro Storico Map 1: 6,500; Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi Map 1:3,000; Florence Metropolitan Area Map 1:85,000

  Florence is a walkers' paradise. StreetSmart® Florence makes sure you get around town on foot with confidence and ease. We select the best walks and direct you in six self-guided tours:

  The "Renaissance Walk" leads you from Brunelleschi's Duomo to the Uffizi galleries along Via dei Calzaiuoli through Piazza della Repubblica and on to Piazza della Signoria, the very heart of the city. To explore the Uffizi follow the 3D detail on the back cover to see whose work is on which floor. To explore the bohemian quarter across the Arno River with boutiques and antiques shopping (Via Maggio) let the "Oltrarno Walk" guide you to Santo Spirito - Osteria Santo Spirito serves truffle and cheese gnocchi right next door - and Palazzo Pitti - a vast complex of renaissance architecture fit for a Medici but built for a Pitti - leads to the marvelous Boboli Gardens, not to be missed - before returning you to the famed Ponte Vecchio built in 1345 in the Italian medieval vernacular style.

  The "David Walk" takes you to the San Marco neighborhood right into Galleria dell'Accademia to ponder and admire the abs, buttocks and curves of what is arguably humanity's sexiest naked man: David by Michelangelo. If the head and right hand look slightly out of proportion that's intentional. Reflect on the process of how to turn marble into translucent skin and become art over a campari tonic on the terrace at Loggiato di Serviti, the romantic hotel next door. Within a block in either direction are the Archeology Museum, the Museo San Marco, and within a minute the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a workshop and global leader in the field of art restoration.

  For spectacular and memorable sunset views from the hills overlooking the Arno and the City choose The "Piazzale Michelangelo Walk." It ascends from Santa Felicita up Costa di San Giorgio passing Galileo's House, the Bardini complex - museum, studio and gardens ? through Porta San Giorgio and continues along the city wall on Belvedere to Via del Monte alle Croci. Make a right and head up to Piazzale Michelangelo. Handily, there is a restroom before you scale the heights. Return to the city on Viale Michelangelino to Piazza Ferucci for a change of scenery. The "Centro Storico Walk" takes you on a stroll from the frescoes of Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella down Via Brunelleschi crossing Piazza della Repubblica with stops at Palazzo Strozzi, Mercato Nouvo and the Ponte Vecchio as its finale. The "Medici and Markets Walk" wends its way from Piazza dell'Unita Italiana through the San Lorenzo neighborhood to its eponymous church, the Medici chapel and the Laurentian library into bustling Mercato Centrale. Grab lunch in the food court upstairs savoring Florentine delicacies such as lampredotto, porchetta and trippa. Finish it off with luscious gelato artigianale: Fig and/or basilico (basil) and pinolo (pine nut) are local favorites. One way to understand the contributions this medieval European city, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, has made, is to ponder these names: Botticelli, Brunelleschi, Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri, Leonardo Da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Giotto, Gucci, Guicciardini, Medici, Pitti, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Masaccio Savanorola and many more.

  Some of the things not to be missed: Galleria dell'Academia for the David sculpture by Michelangelo, the Duomo, engineered by Brunelleschi, the Uffizi Gallery sporting 'The Birth of Venus' by Botticelli, Palazzo Vecchio, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, Museo del Bargello for an encounter with Michelangelo, Galleria Palantina in the Palazzo Pitti for new decorating ideas, Museo di San Marco to ponder the ideas of Fra Angelico and Savanorola, the Dominican monks who lived here, and the frescoes of Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella. A fashion capital, Florence offers fabulous shoes and bags at significantly lower prices. Our hotel index is organized by neighborhood and cost to help you make informed decisions about budget and location.

  StreetSmart® Florence snuggly fits into a shirt pocket or purse. So get a StreetSmart Florence and gain instant Florentine StreetSmarts plus a memorable souvenir to boot!

• Type: Folded Map
• Subtype: City Maps
• Language: English, German, Italian
• Publication Date: 2024-06-01
• Scale: Scales differ
• Regions Covered: Europe, Western Europe
• Countries Covered: Italy
• ISBN: 9781932527070
• MPN: 43
• Folded Size: 3.94" (W) x 9.06" (H)
• Unfolded Size: 9.06" (W) x 24.02" (H)
• Weight: 1.3 oz