Walks · Florence · English
10 narrated stops, 30 minutes of stories, 3.2 km on foot. Press play at each stop — no app needed — or open the walk in Avsha and let the stories keep coming as you move.
Stop 1 · Giardino Torrigiani, Florence, Italy · 3 min
In short: The Giardino Torrigiani is the largest private garden within the historical walls of any European city. Spanning nearly seventeen acres in Florence’s Oltrarno district, it features a Romantic English-style landscape and a Neo-Gothic tower rising nearly forty meters high.
↓ 150 m · 2 min to the next stop
Stop 2 · 3 min
In short: Located in the Oltrarno, Via dei Serragli is home to traditional workshops where gilders and leather-workers still practice centuries-old crafts. These artisans' ancestors once dressed the Medici Grand Dukes and continue to shape the beauty of Florence through their handiwork today.
↓ 650 m · 9 min to the next stop
Stop 3 · 3 min
In short: The Basilica of Santo Spirito has a plain façade because the Augustinian friars ran out of money to complete Brunelleschi’s grand marble vision. Funds were instead used for the church's interior, hospitals, and feeding the poor.
↓ 100 m · 1 min to the next stop
Stop 4 · 3 min
In short: They died eleven hours apart in 1587 after falling ill following a dinner. While the official cause was malaria, 2006 forensic tests found arsenic in their remains, supporting rumors of poison, though some argue it was used as medicine.
↓ 400 m · 6 min to the next stop
Stop 5 · 3 min
In short: The bridge was spared due to Hitler’s appreciation for the view from the Vasari Corridor windows, negotiations by German consul Gerhard Wolf, and the bravery of local resistance members.
↓ 400 m · 6 min to the next stop
Stop 6 · 3 min
In short: Local legend says Michelangelo carved this profile, known as L'Importuno. One story claims he etched a talkative man's likeness behind his back out of boredom; another suggests it captures the final expression of a man being led to execution.
↓ 100 m · 1 min to the next stop
Stop 7 · The church of Ognissanti, Florence, Italy · 3 min
In short: Sandro Botticelli is buried in the right transept of the Ognissanti church, marked by a simple marble circle. The church also features famous frescoes by Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio, as well as a portrait of the young Amerigo Vespucci.
↓ 300 m · 4 min to the next stop
Stop 8 · The Bargello, Florence, Italy · 3 min
In short: The Bargello was Florence's first seat of city government and later the headquarters of the Captain of Justice. It served as a feared prison and place of execution for centuries before becoming a museum housing masterpieces by Michelangelo and Donatello.
↓ 300 m · 5 min to the next stop
Stop 9 · 3 min
In short: La Torre della Pagliazza is Florence's oldest standing structure, built by Byzantines in the 6th century over 2nd-century Roman thermal baths. In the Middle Ages, it served as a women's prison named for the straw mats used by inmates as beds.
↓ 800 m · 11 min to the next stop
Stop 10 · 3 min
In short: A noblewoman spent her life at the window waiting for her husband to return from war. After she died, the palace reportedly shook when the shutters were closed, so they remain open today for her spirit to continue her vigil.