Florence Piazzale Michelangelo Self-Guided Audio Walk: Rose Garden, San Miniato and the City View

Your Experience

Florence was Italy's capital for six years, and it built itself a terrace to look back at the city. Much of it was finished after the capital had moved on to Rome, down to a balustrade of cast iron painted to look like stone. Start on the Ponte alle Grazie, rebuilt after 1944, then find two flood marks on San Niccolò's front and the gate tower Florence says was never cut down. Climb Poggi's ramps, a stage set of grottoes and fountains, to the free Rose Garden and Piazzale Michelangelo, with the dome, the towers and the bridges below. Climb on past a plain friars' church to San Miniato al Monte, its white and green marble crowned by the cloth merchants' eagle, where the monks sing vespers every evening. Nine stops, about 1.8 km and 75 minutes, at your own pace, in English. A climb of about 90 meters with many steps; buses 12 and 13 run to the Piazzale. Every stop is on free ground.