Free audio walk in Florence
The Icons of Florence
- 14 stops
- Free
Starts at Piazza del Duomo
About this walk
A loop through the spots that draw all of Florence, with a detail at every stop that almost everyone walks right past.
The stops
Walk them in order; each story plays when you reach its pin.
- 1Stop 1
Welcome to Florence
Where this loop takes you, what you'll see inside, and what a ticket costs.
- 2Stop 2
The ox head and the dome
An ox head above a side door, and the dome that seemed impossible for a hundred years.
Read the story - 3Stop 3
The house of beans
The oldest building in the city, where every Florentine was baptised and the population was counted with beans.
Read the story - 4Stop 4
The Painter's Tower
A painter who started a tower, and reliefs at eye level showing ordinary work.
Read the story - 5Stop 5
The saints of the guilds
A grain warehouse that became a church, with every niche showing off the calling card of a guild.
Read the story - 6Stop 6
Savonarola's Stone
A round stone set into the pavement marks the pyre of the monk who held the city in his grip for four years.
Read the story - 7Stop 7
The hall with the hidden wall
Behind the walls of the town hall lies a chamber where a lost Leonardo may still be waiting beneath the plaster.
Read the story - 8Stop 8
The face in the helmet
A museum without a door, with a self-portrait hidden on the back of a bronze helmet.
Read the story - 9Stop 9
The Duke's Offices
An office building that swallowed a church and is now one of the busiest museums in Europe.
Read the story - 10Stop 10
The bridge of the goldsmiths
Butchers who became jewellers, and the only bridge that survived the war.
Read the story - 11Stop 11
The Head of Spring
A bridge fished out of the river, and a stone head that went missing for seventeen years.
Read the story - 12Stop 12
The palace of the returned exile
An exile who came back and built a palace that was never quite finished.
Read the story - 13Stop 13
The name that came from a lichen
A family name born from a dye, and a stone bench along the facade for anyone who had to wait.
Read the story - 14Stop 14
The hole in the wall
The wall where perspective came out right for the first time, with a skeleton that speaks to you.
Read the story
Ready when you are
Walk The Icons of Florence with ROODS.
14 stops through Florence. Open ROODS in your browser, walk to the first pin and the story plays.
- Stories on a map, with narrated audio
- Walk at your own pace, stop where you like
- Runs in your browser. An app is optional.
