Florence view from San Miniato

For me, the finest view of Florence is not from the Boboli Gardens, or Piazza Michelangelo, but far above the latter, from the church and monastery/cloister of San Miniato al Monte, run by Olivetan monks. You go up the winding road past Piazza Michelangelo to the top of the hill, climbing the last 75 steps or so, to the basilica of San Miniato. (If you saw the Brian de Palma movie, "Obsession", with Cliff Robertson and Genevieve Bujold, inside this church is where key scenes in that movie take place.) The view of Florence from this spot is magnificent. The Romanesque church and monastery are also magnificent, and worth an hour or two of your time. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_San_Miniato_al_Monte

And if you are there around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, you can go inside the church and hear the monks wnderfully singing Gregorian chant....just sit on the steps in front of them and listen quietly...they don't mind. These monks make several famous liquors, which you can buy at a shop there.

There is also a fascinating cemetery in front of the church (the creator of Pinocchio is buried there, as well as the poet/author Luigi Ugolini), and the defensive walls around the church were built originally by Michelangelo.