Let’s take an exciting but leisurely stroll through Florence’s compact medieval-Renaissance core, visiting many of the city’s major sites and monuments. Sights will include the Duomo (cathedral) with Brunelleschi’s awe-inspiring dome, the octagonal Romanesque Baptistery with its glorious mosaic ceiling, the Piazza Signoria (government square) , the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) covered with gold-jewelry shops, the imposing tower-houses of the great medieval families, and the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce (Holy Cross) with Giotto frescoes and memorial tombs of great Florentines from Michelangelo and Galileo to Enrico Fermi. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is the fourth largest church in the world after Saint Peter’s in Rome, Saint Paul’s in London and the Cathedral of Milan. 502 feet long, 295 feet wide at the transept, the building was conceived by Arnolfo di Cambio as a vast open piazza where the population of Florence could gather. Work began in 1296 but the church was consecrated only in 1436, when the magnificent dome built by Brunelleschi was finished. The Signoria square is the political centre of the city and takes its name from the imposing building, the Signoria Palace, built at the end of the 13th century as the city hall and still the seat of the local council. Many fine buildings face onto the square, famous mainly for the statues which form an open air museum. Among them the most famous are without doubt the Rape of the Sabine Women, carved by Giambologna, and the bronze Perseus cast by Benvenuto Cellini. The “old bridge” is one of the symbols of the city and one of the most famous bridges in the world. Built during the Roman period at the narrowest part of the river, it was damaged several times by floods before being rebuilt in 1333. The small shops along this unique bridge were goldsmiths’ workshops at the end of the 1500s and now sell gold and silver jewellery. It is the only bridge in Florence to have survived German bombs during the Second World War.