Florence

Florence is home to one of the most undeniably magnificent and stunning UNESCO-endowed town centres in all of Italy. It has long been a bastion of cultural immersion in a country where there’s clearly no shortage of competitors, home to the famous Uffizi Gallery and lumbering Ponte Vecchio, two of the most veritable symbols of the high- Renaissance in Europe. For all its regal palatial complexes, piazzas and basilicas, the cultural capital’s historic centre dominated by the Duomo in its middle is deceptively compact, and first-time visitors with just a few days should probably ask their Florence tour guide for walking routes that encompass all the major ‘must sees’ and epochal works of art (think towering pieces like David by Michelangelo and Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus!). What’s more, visitors will be delighted with the trattorias that rival even the best gastronomic joints in Rome or Naples, and better still can sign up to hone their culinary skills in Tuscan dishes. There’s also a lively nightlife scene nestled beneath the Renaissance façades, and the legendary shopping of Florence, from the designer houses it headquarters to the colourful open air markets of San Lorenzo.