Piazza della Repubblica: Self-Guided Audio Tours

This tour is for those who want to learn more about Florence and experience the taste of Tuscany. You will find out where the best gelaterias are hidden, where to get the best Florentine steak, what is the best olive oil and Chianti to choose from, and much more! Begin your tour at Piazza Santa Maria Novella where you will find one of the city's earliest landmarks – an incredible Dominican church. There you will learn who created the life's elixir and how you can purchase it now. Then experience local trippa and lampredotto street food as you stroll around the historic San Lorenzo Market. You will see the fabulous courtyard of Medicci-Ricardi palace, where Catherina lived. It is there where you will discover the fascinating stories about her food habits and how she stole Florentine recipes for the French court. Discover why Florentines eat pastries according to the season and why the only off-season dessert is a holy treat on your walk through Piazza Della Signoria – a home to the magnificent Neptune Fountain. Then from the Ponto Vecchio you will enjoy the best view of Florence and learn how it became the mecca of jewelers from the nasty butchy market. As opposed to other excursions, this tour will not give you boring lectures about those places, but rather tell you about who and what ate there. Remember: it is essential to try the local cuisine in order to truly understand the city!

This guide will accompany you on a journey into the past to discover the ancient magnificence of the Roman Florentia. The tour was carefully planned to allow you to retrace the principal phases of the discovery and the most important findings of the Roman city. Florence hides the memory of its past splendors: the defensive walls, the aqueduct, the theatre and amphitheater, the forum, the remains of paleo-Christian churches. At first, you will learn about one of the Romans’ preferred spots – the Forum and the Capitolium that were situated on the Piazza della Repubblica. Then you'll walk around the one-of-a-kind Pagliazza Tower that rests on the wall of a circular bath of the Roman Florentia and has a unique and fascinating history. On the pavement of Via del Proconsolo, you will see the traces of excavations, where once the remains of the Roman walls were discovered. And from there, the tour will bring you to the Palazzo della Signoria and Palazzo Gondi where once stood the Theater of Florentia and the Thermae Maximae – one of the major structures in the whole Roman Florence. Feel like a real archaeologist and embark on a journey in search of traces of ancient culture in the most amazing city on Earth!