Breathtaking Florence is Europe’s premier Renaissance city. Discover the Piazza della Signoria, where the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s iconic city hall, presides over the square’s glorious statues and fountains. Cross the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio, a 1345 bridge so fabled that it was the only one the Nazis didn’t destroy, and walk as far as the Pitti Palace, the Medici’s last residence (outside). Back across the Arno, see the impressive Piazza Santa Croce, dominated by its magnificent basilica. On to the Duomo, Florence’s most famous cathedral topped by its architectural wonder, Brunelleschi’s Dome, and the adjacent Baptistery whose carved gilded doors were likened to the “Gates of Paradise.”