On the edge of Piazza Santa Maria Novella, but a world apart from Santa Maria Novella, another large, amorphous square detracts from one of modern Italy’s finest buildings – Florence’s Stazione Centrale, designed by the Tuscan Giovanni Michelucci in 1935.
Adorned by only a glass block canopy at the entrance (and an early model of that great Italian invention, the digital clock), the station is nevertheless remarkable for its clean lines and impeccable practicality; form following function in a way that even Brunelleschi would have appreciated.
It has some 30 shops, car hire, left luggage, post office, and currency exchange
Piazza Santa Maria Novella
Hours Ticket office open 6am-9pm (there are also automatic ticket machines). For schedules see Trenitalia
Images by: Freepenguin, Creative Commons License