Everyone in Florence goes to Piazzale Michelangelo for the view, and they are right to. But the city has half a dozen other places to see it from above, and most of them are emptier, cheaper or closer to a glass of wine. Here are six, from a free garden five minutes from the Piazzale to the dome itself.
1. San Miniato al Monte
Keep climbing past Piazzale Michelangelo for another five minutes and you reach a Romanesque church from the eleventh century with a green-and-white marble facade and a view that is strictly better than the one below: higher, wider and without the coach parties. Come in the late afternoon, when the Benedictine monks sing vespers in Gregorian chant inside. It costs nothing and it is one of the great free experiences in the city.
2. Giardino delle Rose
The rose garden on the slope just below Piazzale Michelangelo. Free, open all year, and in May it holds around four hundred varieties of rose in bloom. The view takes in the Duomo, Santa Croce and the Arno through the terraces, with bronze sculptures by the Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon scattered among the beds. Bring a sandwich: this is where Florentines eat lunch on a sunny day.
3. The Terrace at the Oblate Library
The best-kept secret on this list. The Biblioteca delle Oblate is a public library inside a former convent two streets from the Duomo, and its top-floor cafe opens onto a terrace with the cupola almost close enough to touch. Anyone can go up. A coffee costs what a coffee costs anywhere, and you will be sitting among students rather than tourists.
4. Brunelleschi’s Dome
The only viewpoint here that is itself the thing everyone is looking at. Four hundred and sixty-three steps, no lift, with the last stretch squeezed between the inner and outer shells of the dome. Entry is by timed ticket and slots sell out days ahead in high season, so book before you arrive. On the way up you pass within arm’s reach of Vasari’s Last Judgment on the inside of the cupola.
5. Arnolfo’s Tower, Palazzo Vecchio
The medieval tower of the town hall, two hundred and twenty-three steps up, with a view that includes the Duomo, which the dome climb by definition cannot offer. Far fewer people book it. The ticket combines with the palace museum, and the Uffizi is next door, so it slots easily into a museum morning.
6. Fiesole
The Etruscan hill town above Florence, twenty minutes on the number 7 bus from Piazza San Marco. From the terrace by the monastery of San Francesco the whole city sits in the valley below, small enough to cover with your hand. Fiesole has Roman ruins, a good market on Saturdays and restaurants with the same view for the price of lunch. It is the one on this list that turns into a half-day.
Which One, and When
For sunset with a crowd, Piazzale Michelangelo. For sunset without one, San Miniato. For a free hour in the middle of the day, the Oblate terrace or the rose garden. For the climb, the dome if you have booked and Arnolfo’s Tower if you have not. And if you want a view with a garden attached, the Bardini Gardens across the river combine both.
