This unusual street is vaulted along almost its entire length. It skirts the interior of the town walls and was designed to enable riders to go right round the fortress on horseback. Nowadays openings have been made to give views of the wooded hillsides of the surrounding Chianti valley and let in a deliciously refreshing breeze.

This was begun at the end of the 13C and has a high facade striped with green marble which crowns a triangular front added at the end of the 15C. Inside, much restored, the capitulary room (or Migliorati chapel) has frescoes by Nicola di Pietro Gerini, depicting the life of St Matthew.

The Romanesque church of St Reparata (the substructure, built on Paleo-Christian vestiges, can be seen in the Duomo crypt) was deemed too modest for such an important city as Florence. Consequently, work on a cathedral began in 1296 to plans by Arnolfo di Cambio (the unfinished façade was replaced in 1887); the work was continued by Giotto, Pisano and Talenti and finally completed in 1436. The insoluble problem of the dome was solved with genius by Brunelleschi in 1420.

Visitors have access to all of the church except one part, dating from the 14C, which is closed to the public. The Chapel of St Maria leads to the underground chapels where the members of the Acciaiuoli family are buried. Don't miss the parlour (on the left), where the monks were allowed one hour of recreation a week, the chapter-house (note the magnificent tomb) and above all the great Renaissance cloisters. The cloisters are adorned with medallions by the Della Robbia and are surrounded by monastic cells.