29 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Florence - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Florence

Florence, Italy

Galileo's Middle Finger

The middle finger of modernity.

Florence, Italy

Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy

The oldest operating pharmacy in the world features 800-year-old recipes.

Florence, Italy

Michelangelo's Hidden Drawings

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel.

Florence, Italy

Buontalenti Grotta

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

Florence, Italy

La Specola Anatomical Collection

The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.

Florence, Italy

Medici Hall of Maps (Sala delle Carte Geografiche)

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.

Florence, Italy

L’importuno di Michelangelo

The famous sculptor left his mark on this Italian wall in an internationally protected example of street art.

Florence, Italy

Il Porcellino

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

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Unique Food & Drink in Florence

Lampredotto

The secret to this sandwich is the cow’s fourth stomach.

Alkermes

Once an insect-dyed health tonic, this liqueur now adds a scarlet tint to Italian pastries.

Atlas Obscura Trips

Rome Behind Locked Doors: Music, Magic, and Secret Crypts

Join us as we go beneath Rome’s streets and behind its locked doors to explore hidden and overlooked places, witnessing a capital city that most tourists rarely experience—strange, magical, and filled with intrigue.

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Stories About Florence

These woodcuts are from the <em>Decameron</em>, a collection of novellas in which young people fleeing plague-ridden Florence tell stories that often provide accounts of life during the pandemic.

In 14th-Century Florence, Some Residents Socially Distanced While Others Hit the Bars

A contemporary debate would feel familiar to Europeans alive when the Bubonic plague arrived.

by Rachel Ashcroft

August 19, 2020

Babae’s wine window was the first of Florence's put into use—even before the pandemic.

The Coronavirus Is Bringing Back Florence's Wine Windows

This isn't the first time they've come in handy during a pandemic.

by Matthew Taub

August 11, 2020

Demogorgon was never a deity in Greek or Roman mythology. In fact, “Demogorgon” wasn’t even a real word. The character's popularity dates back to the 1300s, when he began appearing in Latin literature.

The Many Lives of Demogorgon, From Scribal Error to 'Stranger Things'

How vague and various descriptions made a medieval mistake into a lasting horror.

by Daniel A. Gross

October 25, 2019

Nelli’s Christ and Saint John, restored.

A Nun's 450-Year-Old 'Last Supper' Makes Its Museum Debut in Florence

Plautilla Nelli was likely the first woman in history to paint the iconic biblical scene.

by Karen Chernick

October 17, 2019

Babae's wine window is open an hour each day.

One of Florence's 'Wine Windows' Is Open Once More

It's a reminder of when Florentine families sold wine from their palace cellars.

August 14, 2019

Galeotti and his plants.

Meet the 'Citrus Archaeologist' Who Rediscovered Dozens of Ancient Plants

Paolo Galeotti unearthed the citruses at Florence's Villa di Castello gardens, which belonged to the Medicis.

by Federico Formica

Sandro Botticelli's <em>The Birth of Venus</em>.

Found: The Earliest Depiction of Breast Cancer, in Renaissance Paintings

The disease may have been relatively common in the 16th century.

by Vittoria Traverso

February 28, 2018

Michelangelo Caetani's cross-section of Hell, 1855.

Mapping Dante's Inferno, One Circle of Hell at a Time

A topography of torment.

by Anika Burgess

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