The 500 Touring Club pass the Duomo
COMPILED BY AMANDA CANNING, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM VIRGINIA MAXWELL AND NICOLA WILLIAMS. PHOTOGRAPHS: PAUL LINDSAY/ALAMY, ENRICO LANARI/GELATERIA PASTICCERIA BADIANI
Badia Fiorentina
SIGHTS
(jerusalem.cef.fr/it/ firenze-la-badia)
Delve into the Florence of the past in this 10th-century abbey in the city centre. Pop by for their daily choral service at 5.30pm, or get here earlier to explore the quiet cloister and purchase souvenirs from the shop selling soaps and condiments made by the clergy.
Museo Novecento
(museonovecento.it)
Florence’s fantastic modern-art museum is in a 13th-century convent once used as a pilgrim shelter, hospital and school. A well-articulated itinerary guides visitors through modern Italian painting and sculpture from early 20th century to late 1980s. Installation art is on the irst-loor loggia; fashion and theatre get a nod on the second loor; and the visit ends with a montage of the best ilms to have been set in Florence.
500 Touring Club