Tuscany Art, Architecture & Culture: the back story

About Tuscany Art, Architecture & Culture: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Tuscany Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Tuscany is where the Renaissance began, and its cities still hold the works that changed European art. But the story did not stop in the 16th century: Florence now stages some of Italy's biggest contemporary exhibitions, Prato has one of the country's first centres for contemporary art, and in Chianti a great wine family built a winery that disappears into the hill. Here is the back story, and where to see it.

Florence and the Renaissance

Begin at the cathedral. The complex of the Duomo, Brunelleschi's dome, the bell tower and the Baptistery is run by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore; entry to the cathedral is separate from the passes for the dome, the bell tower, the Baptistery and the museum, and the dome climb is by timed booking, so plan it first.

The Gallerie degli Uffizi bring together the Uffizi, the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, one of the world's great collections of Renaissance painting. The Vasari Corridor, the raised passage that links them across the Ponte Vecchio, has reopened with its own access rules; book everything on uffizi.it and check its notices before you go.

Tuscany taught Europe how to look; it is still teaching.

Near San Marco, the Galleria dell'Accademia displays Michelangelo's David in a tribune built for it, with his unfinished Prisoners along the gallery. For sculpture, the Bargello on Via del Proconsolo holds Donatello's bronze David and works by Michelangelo and Cellini, and Santa Croce keeps the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli and frescoes by Giotto.

On the Piazza della Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio is still the city hall, and its museum includes the Salone dei Cinquecento and the apartments of the Medici. By the Arno, the Museo Galileo shows the Medici scientific collections, including Galileo's own telescopes, a reminder that the Renaissance was a revolution in science as well as art.

Siena and the Gothic

Siena is Florence's great rival: a Gothic city of brick around the shell-shaped Campo, with the striped cathedral above. The cathedral is run by the Opera della Metropolitana, which also opens the museum, the crypt and the Baptistery; its marble floor is uncovered only for part of the year, so check the Opera's site before you plan around it.

The Pinacoteca Nazionale on Via di San Pietro traces Sienese painting from the 12th century onwards, the gold-ground school that gave Siena its own way of seeing. Opposite the cathedral, Santa Maria della Scala was one of Europe's oldest hospitals; its frescoed wards and underground spaces are now a museum complex.

Pisa, Lucca and Puccini

Pisa's white marble Piazza dei Miracoli is run by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, and climbing the Leaning Tower is by timed ticket on the Opera's own website. Twenty minutes away by train, Lucca is a calm walled city of churches and towers, and the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini: the Puccini Museum occupies his birthplace in Corte San Lorenzo. Each summer the Festival Puccini stages his operas at Torre del Lago, where he lived.

Further south and east, the Etruscans left their own art. In Cortona, MAEC in the Palazzo Casali shows Etruscan finds from the town and its tombs alongside the collections of its Academy.

Contemporary Florence

Florence has become a city of contemporary art too. The Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi stages two or three big exhibitions a year in the piano nobile of its Renaissance palace; after Rothko a Firenze closed in August 2026, the autumn exhibition, Broken: Il potere del frammento, runs from 25 September 2026 to 24 January 2027.

Facing the basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the Museo Novecento shows Italian art from the 20th century to today. And west of the centre, Manifattura Tabacchi is the regeneration of a 1930s tobacco factory of sixteen rationalist buildings, decommissioned in 2001, into a new quarter of studios, events, gardens and homes, with SANAA and Piuarch among its architects. Its Giardino della Ciminiera and open days are a good way to see it.

Prato and the Centro Pecci

Prato, just north-west of Florence, opened the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci on 25 June 1988. The Pecci family, textile entrepreneurs of the city, donated the land and the building by the architect Italo Gamberini, and the centre was modelled on the multidisciplinary approach of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 2016 it reopened with a bold new extension by the Dutch architect Maurice Nio.

Architecture in the vineyards

Between Florence and Siena, at Bargino, the Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery was inaugurated in October 2012. Designed by Marco Casamonti of Archea Associati, it is largely underground: from the road you see only two horizontal cuts in the hillside. Inside, terracotta and the natural cool of the earth control the climate, a spiral staircase links the three levels, and the barrel vault is one of the great modern spaces of Tuscany. Tours and tastings are by booking.

Cultural calendar

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino: the 2027 season and the 89th Festival del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino are announced on maggiofiorentino.com.

Festival Puccini, Torre del Lago: the 2027 season is the festival's 73rd (puccinifestival.it).

Palazzo Strozzi: Broken: Il potere del frammento runs from 25 September 2026 to 24 January 2027 (palazzostrozzi.org).

What's new

Manifattura Tabacchi's regeneration was some 70 per cent complete in late 2025, with completion planned for 2028. Checked October 2026 on manifatturatabacchi.com.

The Uffizi's Vasari Corridor has reopened to visitors with its own access rules. Checked October 2026 on uffizi.it.

Our advice: book the Uffizi, the Accademia and the dome on their own websites before you travel, give Siena a full day, and keep a slow afternoon for the Centro Pecci or a winery tour in Chianti.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Tuscany Art, Architecture & Culture: the back story before you go.