Secret Florence: 9 Places the Uffizi and Duomo Won't Tell You
Near-empty cenacles, sixteenth-century botanical gardens, cloisters with masterpieces and no lines. Beyond its two most famous landmarks, Florence is a city that waits for you calmly. Here's where.
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In Florence you can visit three masterpieces in an hour without seeing another soul. All you have to do is stop chasing the Uffizi and the Dome and turn the corner. These nine places are, each of them, worth an afternoon of attention. Taken together, they are the Florence that Florentines themselves frequent.
1. The Chiostro dello Scalzo, a masterpiece in grisaille
A small cloister tucked into Via Cavour, open only a few days a week, with frescoes by Andrea del Sarto in black and white (grisaille) telling the life of John the Baptist. Free entry, usually five visitors at most. One of the most concentrated and silent places in Florence.
2. The Giardino dei Semplici and the cloisters of San Marco
The Giardino dei Semplici is the oldest botanical garden in the world after Padua and Pisa (founded in 1545 by the Medici), a stone's throw from the Accademia where everyone queues for the David. Next door, the cloisters of the San Marco complex are silent and green. Here Florence takes a breath.
Giardino dei Semplici and the cloisters of San Marco →
3. The Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia, a Last Supper without lines
On Via Ventisette Aprile, a former refectory holds a Last Supper frescoed by Andrea del Castagno in 1447. An absolute masterpiece of the early Renaissance, painted nearly fifty years before Leonardo's Last Supper in Milan. Free entry, closed in the afternoons, almost always half empty. If Ghirlandaio's Cenacolo di Ognissanti is better known, this one hits harder.
4. The Chiostro dei Voti at the Santissima Annunziata
Piazza Santissima Annunziata is one of the most harmonious Renaissance squares in Italy, with Brunelleschi's Spedale degli Innocenti. But inside the church of the Annunziata itself lies the Chiostro dei Voti, frescoed by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino. Any one of those four names would make the fortune of a small museum. Here they are all together, and there is no one.
5. Casa Buonarroti, Michelangelo's most personal archive
On Via Ghibellina, the Buonarroti family house preserves Michelangelo's two youthful reliefs, the Madonna della Scala and the Battle of the Centaurs. A small museum, uncrowded, where you trace how one of the most famous sculptors on Earth came into being. Eight euros, an hour and a half.
6. The Moorish Synagogue of Florence
The Synagogue of Florence is one of the most beautiful in Europe: late nineteenth-century Moorish style, oxidized copper-green dome, interiors decorated with Arab-Andalusian geometric motifs. It stands in the Santa Croce quarter, well off the main circuit. Paid entry with a guided visit: never any lines.
7. The Rifredi district, industrial Liberty-era Florence
Rifredi isn't in the guidebooks. It is a working-class district that modernized between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with Liberty villas, iron-and-glass workshops, a monumental hospital, and a historic thoroughfare (Via Reginaldo Giuliani) that looks like Turin. If you want to understand the Florence of 1900 without postcards, an afternoon here is worth more than two museums.
8. Giardino Torrigiani, the largest private garden in any European historic center
Nearly seven hectares of nineteenth-century romantic parkland between Porta Romana and Piazza Tasso, hidden behind a blind wall no one imagines. It can be visited only by reservation, guided by the owning family, in small groups, a couple of times a month. Not a place for a hit-and-run traveler, but for those who really want to look at Firenze from within.
9. The Cenacolo di Fuligno, the refectory of Perugino
Via Faenza, a former convent of the Franciscan Tertiaries of Foligno: a Last Supper by Pietro Perugino. Open three days a week in reduced hours, free of charge, usually empty. You come for the master of Raphael and leave remembering that Florence is still capable of surprises.
How to combine them in two days
Day one: Chiostro dello Scalzo → Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia → San Marco → Giardino dei Semplici. Day two: Casa Buonarroti → Chiostro dei Voti → Synagogue → Cenacolo di Fuligno. An afternoon in Rifredi works as a "bonus chapter."
Is Florence worth visiting without seeing the Uffizi?
Yes, if you have already seen Florence once or if you are allergic to lines. The art of Florence beyond the Uffizi is vaster than what's inside: cenacles, cloisters, oratories, synagogues, chapels. If it is your first visit, alternate a famous block (Uffizi + Duomo) with a secret afternoon so you don't leave Florence exhausted.
Does the Firenze Card cover these places?
It covers the Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia, the Chiostro dello Scalzo, Casa Buonarroti, and other minor museums. The Synagogue and Giardino Torrigiani do not — they have independent tickets. The Giardino dei Semplici has a very inexpensive full-price ticket.
Practical info
When should you go to Secret Florence?
The best months are March, April, May, September, October and November, when there are fewer people.
Are there a lot of people in Secret Florence?
Secret Florence is very quiet compared to the more touristic destinations.
Where exactly is Secret Florence located?
Secret Florence sits in Florence, Italy.
Part of the complete guide
How to get there
- 🚆 Nearest station: Firenze Santa Maria Novella ~1 km as the crow flies
- ✈️ Nearest airport: Aeroporto Firenze Amerigo Vespucci FLR ~6 km as the crow flies
Nearest points as the crow flies (source OpenStreetMap): actual times depend on the roads, often mountain ones.
