Piazza SS. Annunziata

Piazza SS. Annunziata, dominated by its church, can be reached from Piazza San Marco by taking a right along Via Cesare Battisti to arrive on the square. Piazza SS. Annunziata's renaissance arcades are animated by a lively student population virtually year-round, but are at their best during the summer festival Firenze Estate, when the Piazza becomes the city’s main site for live jazz.

Chiesa di SS. Annunziata (Piazza SS. Annunziata)

Founded in 1250 and then expanded over the centuries, if you love tales of miracles, you’ll love this Michelozzo-designed church. It houses a painting of the Virgin Annunciate from which the church takes its name. According to local legend, an unknown 14th-century monastic painter finished the piece, except for the Virgin’s face, which an angel completed during his slumber. Suitably impressed, locals flocked here to pay their dues, later establishing a Cloister of the Voti where they would burn wax effigies of themselves in an act of devotion. Unfortunately, no effigies remain, but you should still visit both it and the Cloister of the Morti for their 16th-century frescoes created by Andrea del Sarto (his best known Birth of the Virgin and Madonna del Sacco), Rosso Fiorentino and Pontormo. The first two chapels on the left also contain works by Andrea del Castagno, including The Vision of St Jerome and The Trinity.

Spedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents,
Piazza SS. Annunziata)

Constructed by Brunelleschi in 1419, the construction features swaddled babes of varnished terracotta (the work of Andrea della Robbia) its loggia that give a good indication of this building’s original function as a hospice for abandoned newborns. Its well-proportioned structure and porticoed façade (novelties in civil architecture of the time) are considered the major architectural catalysts of the Renaissance, with architect after architect attempting to emulate Brunelleschi’s lucid style in the pietra serena, the gray stone of the Florence area that he favored. Inside, you’ll find two cloisters of note – Chiostro degli Uomini (Men’s Cloister) with an Annunciation by Andrea della Robbia and a holy water font by Antonio Rossellino, and the Chiostro delle Donne (Women’s Cloister) – plus a gallery containing a museum of painting, which includes Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Magi (1488), Luca della Robbia’s Madonna with Child (1450) and works by Piero di Cosimo and Botticelli (including a Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist created around 1460, above).

Museo Archeologico (Archeological Museum)

Head east out of the square and you’ll arrive at the Museo Archeologico, worth a peek for its collection of antiquities from Etruscan to Medici times. Included in the number of Etruscan bronzes that make up most of the collection are the fifth-century BC Chimera and the later Arringatore (Orator), but the museum’s much-envied showpiece is the French Vase (sixth century BC) discovered in an Etruscan tomb near Chiusi.

Continue along Via della Colonna and then south down Borgo Pinti to reach the Convent di Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, an old Cistercian convent given a new lease on life by Giuliano da Sangallo in 1492 and best known for Perugino’s famous Crucifixion fresco (1493-96) that adorns the Chapter Room. From here, a left down Via dei Pilastri will take you to the Sant’Ambrogio market area, the second of the city’s food halls and another spot for some delicious lunchtime bargains. Stop for a quick bite before heading into the square’s church, the site of an Orcagna fresco of The Madonna and Saints, a Mino da Fiesole tabernacle and the tomb of Verrocchio (in a chapel along the left aisle).