This book is an invitation to a luxury-class journey into art, to an excursion into the artistic history of an exciting and magnificent city, seen here from its most splendid side. Florence - nowhere else are so many art works of the first order to be found in such a small space: the world-famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Caravaggio and Raphael, Michelangelo's celebrated David, the magnificently decorated Florentine churches of Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, and Santa Croce with their outstanding fresco cycles and funerary chapels, and not least, architectural masterpieces such as the Cathedral, Giotto's Campanile, and the Baptistery, to mention just a few highlights. Year by year, they cast millions of visitors from all over the world under their spell. With more than 500 colour illustrations, this volume takes its readers on a journey through the city of art on the River Arno, and also on a journey through time. Gripping essays by Florentine experts tell the history of their city while introducing its world-famous art treasures. This is an unusual book for a special kind of enjoyable art experience - for old Florence hands, and for newcomers too!The authors, who, as recognized experts or directors of important museums (Accademia, Palazzo Pitti) are genuine connoisseurs of the history of Florentine art, introduce the city's treasures in their historical context, and take the reader on an easy-to-follow tour through the ages to the highlights of architecture, sculpture and painting that the Tuscan capital has to offer. More than 500 high-quality photographs, almost exclusively from the world-famous Alinari photographic studio, transform this book into a book-lover's jewel.
