Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella

Built as the Florentine base for the Dominican order, the church was completed by around 1360, although work on its marble, Gothic- Romanesque façade and the embellishment of its interior continued until much later. The upper section and the main doorway were designed by Alberti and completed in around 1470. The highlight of the Gothic interior is the superb fresco of the Trinity by Masaccio, one of the first artworks to use the then newly discovered techniques of perspective and proportion. The Cappella di Filippo Strozzi is a chapel that features lively frescoes by Filippino Lippi depicting the lives of St John the Evangelist and St Philip the Apostle. Also, look for a series of frescoes behind the main altar by Domenico Ghirlandaio. There are several other fresnos's relating the lives of the Virgin Mary, St John the Baptist and others, depicting the Florentine life during the Renaissance.

Chiesa di SS Annunziata

Chiesa di SS Annunziata was established in 1250 by the founders of the Servite order and later rebuilt by Michelozzo in the mid-15th century. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and in the ornate tabernacle within is the miraculous painting of the Virgin.

The painting, no longer on display, is attributed to a 14th-century friar supposedly completed by an angel. On display are frescoes by Andrea del Castagno in the first two chapels on the left of the church, a fresco by Perugino in the fifth chapel and the frescoes in Michelozzo's atrium, particularly the Birth of the Virgin by Andrea del Sarto and the Visitation by Jacopo Pontormo.

Chiesa di Santa Croce

Franciscan Chiesa di Santa Croce is a piazza which houses a church of the same name. Attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio, the church was built in 1294 on the site of a Franciscan chapel, and later the façade and bell tower were added. The piazza was earlier used for the execution of heretics, but today it is lined with souvenir shops. The three-nave interior of the church is grand, but austere. The floor is paved with the tombstones of famous Florentines of the past 500 years with the walls bearing monuments of the notable from the mid-16th century. The church also houses Michelangelo's tomb, designed by Vasari, and a cenotaph dedicated to Dante, who is buried in Ravenna.

Chiesa di Orsanmichele

Initially the site for a grain market, the church was formed when the arcades of the market building were walled in the 14th century. The exterior has statues of the patron saints and guilds of the city, commissioned over a period of 200 years and representing the work of many Renaissance artists. Most of the statues are now in the Museo Bargello. However, a few splendid pieces remain, including John the Baptist by Lorenzo Ghiberti, a copy of Donatello's St George and the splendid Gothic tabernacle, decorated with colored marble, by Andrea Orcagna..

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