FROM PIAZZA DEL DUOMO TO PALAZZO PITTI, THE LONG WAY AROUND.

If you've spent the last two days doing churches, and standing in line to see the Davide at the Accademia or Brunelleschi's Primavera in the Uffizzi, chances are you'll be happy for a change of pace. This walk is especially pleasant in the spring, when the flowers are in bloom, and again in the fall, when the air clears and you can see for miles. Depending upon how fast you walk and how often you stop, it will take between three and five hours.

You will want to begin in Piazza del Duomo. If you haven't yet had breakfast, try Scudieri's, the bar in the right hand corner of the Archbishop's Palace. Leave the piazza and head south, towards the Arno, on Via dei Calzolai. The building to the left, with the ambulances parked in front of it, is the Arciconfraternità Della Misericordia, a lay brotherhood founded to help the needy during the plague of 1326. To hide their identities, the brothers wore hoods, and the crews of the ambulanze normali, which are sent out when the services of a doctor aren't required, still wear black robes.

The portico to the right, attributed to Alberto Arnoldi, was built between 1552 and 1558 by the Misericordia to display orphans and abandoned children, in the hope that kind souls would adopt them.

Continue down Via dei Calzolai, turn left onto Via delle Oche, and then right onto Via Sant'Elisabetta. The round tower in Piazza Sant'Elisabetta, which has recently been restored and is now a four star hotel, is the Torre della Pagliazza. It's Byzantine, and dates to the sixth Century AD.

Via Sant'Elisabetta opens onto Via del Corso. Cross the street, and continue down Via dei Cerchi to Piazza della Signoria. Looking left at Via dei Cimatori, you will see the belfry of the Badia Fiorentina (a fine example of Florentine Gothic, built between 1310 and 1330 -- the church is also quite nice) and the tower of the Bargello, which was the residency of the Podestà, or chief of police. Via dei Cerchi opens out onto Piazza della Signoria, the town square. The horseman directly before you is Cosimo I de'Medici, by Giambologna (1594), while the white statue in the fountain behind him is Neptune, carved by Bartolomeo Ammannati between 1563 and 1575. Florentines call the statue the Biancone (big white one), while Michelangelo supposedly accused Ammannati of having ruined a perfectly good piece of marble when he saw it. The portico to the right of the Palazzo Vecchio, which is both a museum and the city hall, is the Loggia dei Lanzi, so called because Cosimo I garrisoned a unit of Lanzacanecchi, German mercenaries, in it. Designed by Andrea Orcagna and built in 1376-82, it houses one of the finest open air sculpture collections in the world. The leftmost statue is Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus holding up Medusa's head, while Giambologna did the statue under the right arch to show off his talents as a figure sculptor (only later did Raffaele Borghini think to call it the Rape of the Sabines).

The David in front of the Palazzo della Signoria is a copy of the original, whose arm was shattered by a bench thrown from a window during a brawl (Vasari, who did the frescos in the interior of the Duomo, and wrote The Lives of the Artists, brags of having salvaged the fragments). If you look carefully at the third stone in from where the horizontal bar of the railing to the right of the entrance to the palazzo is attached, you will see a face, in profile. Michelangelo is said to have done it after somebody bet him he couldn't sculpt a face with his hands behind his back.

Walk down the Galleria degli Uffizzi and turn left on the Lungarno. The first square houses the museum of the History of Science (open Mon.-Sat., 9-1 and 2-4), which contains, among other things, Galileo's finger and the telescope through which he saw Jupiter's moons. Visiting it will add about an hour to your walk.

Continue up river, past the Chamber of Commerce (the Greek Revival building), cross the river on Ponte alle Grazie, and turn left on Lungarno Serristori. The church with its façade in profile on the other side of the river is Santa Croce, while the building with the two squat towers is the National Library, which was badly damaged in the 1966 flood. Continue up river till you reach the park; the dam is the Pescaia di San Niccoló, one of several spillways that serve to keep the river from trickling away to nothing during dry spells. Cross over to the Porta San Niccoló (on your right). Though now isolated, the gate (built in 1234) was vital to the defense of the city. The ramps behind the tower were planned in 1865 by Giovanni Poggi and built in 1870.

Once you climb the first ramp, you will see, to your right, a short section of the medieval city walls. Looking across the river from the second ramp, you can see, from left to right, the Palazzo Vecchio with its tower, Orsanmichele (the high square building with the red roof), the belfry of the Badia Fiorentina and the red dome of San Lorenzo, the Duomo, and Santa Croce. The building with the green domes to the right is the synagogue, while the town perched on the hill on the other side of the valley is Fiesole.

Continue up the ramps to Piazzale Michelangelo. While the sculptor might not be happy with his monument (erected in 1875), Florentines love their square, especially in the spring and fall, when the sun is shining and it's not too hot. In the summer, on the other hand, people come up to the Piazzale in the evening to enjoy the breezes that are smothered by the buildings in the city below. On June 24th, the Piazzale is used as the staging area for the fireworks held in honor of Saint John, the patron saint of the city.

The large brick structure on the next ridge down stream, to which the mediaeval city walls climb, is the Fortezza Belvedere, built by the Medici both to protect and to dominate the city. Bear right when you leave the Piazzale, along Viale Galileo. After about a five minute walk you will come to the white marble stairs that lead to San Miniato al Monte, one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture left in Florence, and certainly one of the city's most beautiful churches. San Miniato is a functioning monastery, and the monks will expect you to behave properly (and be correctly dressed).

Little is known about Saint Miniato, who was, according to some sources, Armenian, and according to others, Florentine. In any case, he was a noble who became a hermit, withdrew to a cave on this hill, and was condemned to martyrdom during the reign of Decius (249-251 AD.). After the wild animals in the arena refused to touch him, he was decapitated in the presence of the emperor, picked up his head, and returned to his cave to die. The church was built on top of it.

The present church was begun in 1018, to replace an eighth century building. It was finished by 1200, though some of the decorative elements were added later. San Miniato is the one of the few Florentine churches whose crypt has survived, and it is well worth visiting. You should also note the floor mosaics in the central nave, in front of the altar, and the screen that serves as a banister for the presbytery. Both are Romanesque, and while there are mosaics in the Baptistery, this is about the only screen to have survived in Florence, where most of the major churches were rebuilt during the Renaissance. The ceiling is also spectacular, though it was completely restored and the painting dates to 1858. Some of the capitals of the columns in the nave are Roman. In the presbytery, note the panes of alabaster in the windows below the mosaic in the apse, and don't miss the fresco cycle of the Life of Saint Benedict in the sacristy, which was painted by Spinello Aretino in 1387. The charcoal line drawings to the left as you go down the stairs are sinopias, the line drawings that serve as guides to the artist when he is painting a fresco.

Upon leaving San Miniato, cross the street and turn left on Viale Galileo. In the past well to do Florentines built homes in this area to take advantage of the summer breezes; it is now tightly zoned, and extremely exclusive. It also offers beautiful views of the city nestled in the valley below, and the Viale is popular with runners as well (Madonna jogged it when she gave a concert in Florence). At the head of the valley there is a magnificent view of Florence, with the garrison hut of the Forte Belvedere in the foreground, and Brunelleschi's dome in the background.

Turn right at the yellow tourist sign for the Fortezza Belvedere, onto the Costa San Giorgio, Florence's most exclusive street. After about a half mile, you will come to the church of San Leonardo in Arceteri, a small eleventh century church with a nice pulpit, and a pleasant 15th century altar piece by Neri di Bicci. If you visit it in the spring, you may well find a wedding in progress.

After another half mile, you will come to the Forte Belvedere, the aptly if unimaginatively named fortress that dominates the city. Entry into the fortress is free unless there is a show on the grounds (it's worth paying the admission for the view), while the garrison house generally hosts art shows. The Forte is also a favorite place to come and get some sun or lie on the grass from March though October.

The view differs surprisingly from that at the Piazzale. In particular, you can admire the Oltrarno, the neighborhood on the left bank of the Arno, with the Boboli Gardens, Palazzo Pitti, and, a bit further away, Santo Spirito and the Chiesa del Carmine. The green area quite a ways down stream, on the other side of the river, is the Parco delle Cascine, Florence's largest park. The high mountain to the left of the hill upon which Fiesole is perched is Monte Morello, which doubles as an impromptu weather service (there's a saying, Quando Monte Morello si mette il cappello, Fiorentin prende l'ombrello -- When Monte Morello dons his cap, Florentines take their umbrellas).

When you leave the Forte, go through the arch and down the hill. According to the plaque, Galileo once lived in # 19. Duck into the Costa Scarpuccia, the street to the right after the building with the squiggly railing, for the view, then backtrack and continue down the Costa San Giorgio. Bear left at the intersection, and you will come out in the Piazza dei Rossi, which leads into Piazza Santa Felicità. The church, which was built over a Paleochristian cemetery, has a spectacular screened altar, and several paintings by Pontormo, one of the most important mannerist painters, including his Annunciation and his Deposition.

Piazza Santa Felicità opens onto Via Guicciardini; to the right, you have the Ponte Vecchio, and to the left, Palazzo Pitti. If you feel like lunch, and it will probably be about that time, Le Volpi e L'Uva (Piazza dei Rossi 1; closed Wed.) has tasty foods, and a fine selection of wines to go with them.