WHIZZING THROUGH HISTORY

Enjoy an unforgettable ride through Florence on this up-to-the-minute Segway tour. What a glorious way to get a close look at the squares and bridges, the monuments and magnificent facades of the city’s favourite buildings as you sail along smoothly and silently on your own personal transporter! Time travellers will enjoy the best of Florence’s iconic attractions together with a tailor-made commentary from their expert guide while cruising around aboard the very latest and greenest motorized vehicle. This carefully planned tour will lead you past picture-perfect piazze, through lively markets, down hidden alleys and fashionable streets, allowing you to gain a real feel for the texture of life in Florence, past and present, in record time. There’ll be ample opportunities for snapping shots of the city’s major landmarks as well as everyday scenes and bustle that take your fancy.

Your guide will meet you in the city centre and give you a brief orientation session on how to manoeuvre this 2-wheeled, easy-to-handle, electric vehicle. Once you’re ready, hop on your Segway and begin your exciting ride back down the centuries. You’ll roll across charming squares, beside the River Arno, past glorious churches and noble palazzi, while learning about the most significant events in the history of the city. From its early days as an ancient Roman military settlement, through its rise in the Renaissance as a prosperous trading centre and thriving artistic hub, to today’s prestigious role as one of Italy’s major travel destinations… you’ll have 2,000 years to cover.

Make your way to Piazza del Duomo, the city’s religious heart, graced by three striking monuments: the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence’s best-known landmark and an astonishing feat of engineering; Giotto’s Bell Tower, a fine example of Gothic architecture; the Baptistery, the city’s oldest religious site where poet Dante Alighieri himself was baptized. As you lap up views of the square, you will discover how architect Filippo Brunelleschi, back in the 15th century, built the largest masonry dome still in existence and hear about the competition for the creation of a bronze door that, according to tradition, marked the beginning of the Renaissance era in 1401.

Gripping tales of capture, conspiracy and coups await you in Piazza della Signoria. The square is dominated by the towering Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of political power and intrigue for over seven hundred years. Here, in the out-door sculpture gallery of the Loggia dei Lanzi, you will come face to face with Greek heroes Hercules and Perseus, brought vividly to life on the cusp of their triumphs by Giambologna and Benvenuto Cellini.

Highlights of your tour also include the Uffizi courtyard, with twenty-eight statues featuring Tuscany’s great and good; Piazza San Lorenzo and its imposing basilica, once the ruling family’s private place of worship and mausoleum; the popular shopping street of Via Tornabuoni… And don’t forget to rub the boar’s snout as you wheel through the Porcellino Market so that you will – as legend has it – one day return to Florence.