Basilica di Santa Maria del Santo Spirito — iLucarelli (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Ready-made walk · Florence

Oltrarno: Artisans and Hidden Gardens

7 stops · ~3 hr 10 min · 2.9 km

Local Life

Cross to the quieter side of the Arno, where artisans’ workshops, neighbourhood squares and church frescoes set the pace. Visit Santo Spirito and its lively piazza, the San Frediano quarter and the Brancacci Chapel, then finish by the vast private Torrigiani garden and the wax anatomies of La Specola.

The stops, in walking order

iLucarelli (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Stop 1: Basilica di Santa Maria del Santo Spirito
~15 min here
Santo Spirito is the church before you, a major Florentine basilica with a deliberately plain exterior opening onto its namesake square.
iJohn Samuel (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Stop 2: Piazza di Santo Spirito
~3 min here
Piazza di Santo Spirito is a lively public square in Florence’s Oltrarno, with the basilica of Santo Spirito forming its defining architectural backdrop.
isailko (CC BY 2.5)
Stop 3: La Specola
~1 hr here
La Specola is a natural history museum beside the Pitti Palace, and its most famous treasures are remarkably lifelike wax studies of human anatomy.
isailko (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Stop 4: Oltrarno
~3 min here
Oltrarno is the part of Florence beyond the Arno, and this district includes a substantial piece of the city’s historic centre.
iLuca Nebuloni (CC BY 2.0)
Stop 5: San Frediano
~3 min here
San Frediano is both a Florentine street and the quarter around it, known for the former workshops of artisans who worked across the Arno.
iUser:Oursana (Public domain)
Stop 6: Cappella Brancacci
~1 hr here
The Brancacci Chapel is the painted chapel within Santa Maria del Carmine, and its walls hold a celebrated cycle devoted to Saint Peter.
iSailko (CC BY 2.5)
Stop 7: Giardino Torrigiani
~3 min here
Giardino Torrigiani is a vast private garden attached to the Casino Torrigiani al Campuccio, within Florence’s historic centre.