Bellosguardo

Many would argue that the finest of all views over Florence is to be had from Bellosguardo, located almost straight up from Porta Romana at the end of the Boboli Gardens or Piazza Torquato Tasso. Non-mountaineers may want to take a taxi; the famous viewpoint, from where you can see every church façade in the city, is just before Piazza Bellosguardo.

The hill is a peaceful little residential oasis of superb villas and houses gathered round a square. The grandest villa, Villa Bellosguardo, was built in 1780 for Marquis Orazio Pucci, ancestor of the late Florentine fashion designer Emilio Pucci. The great tenor Enrico Caruso bought the nearby Villa Caruso; today it's a museum.