Oltrarno evening before the opera

What the Oltrarno is

Oltrarno means beyond the Arno, and the district lies south of the river. The Wikipedia article says it contains part of the historic centre of Florence and lists the church of Santo Spirito, Palazzo Pitti, the Belvedere and Piazzale Michelangelo among its sights. UNESCO inscribed the Historic Centre of Florence in 1982. The church of Santa Monaca sits in the stretch between Piazza del Carmine and Piazza Santo Spirito, so a walk before the concert can take in both squares without crossing the river again.

Piazza Santo Spirito and its basilica

Houses were bought in 1301 to create a public square in front of the church of Santo Spirito, which is why the piazza exists. The Augustinians began a church and convent here in 1252. Filippo Brunelleschi began the designs for the present basilica in 1428, and after his death his successors continued the work. The basilica holds a wooden crucifix that Michelangelo carved at the age of seventeen, in exchange for the chance to study corpses from the convent's hospital. It now stands in the octagonal sacristy, reached from the west aisle. Check the basilica's own site for opening hours before you plan a visit.

Read next: Finding the Santa Monaca church

Piazza del Carmine and the Brancacci Chapel

Santa Maria del Carmine was founded by Carmelite friars from Pisa, with construction beginning in 1268, and a fire in 1771 destroyed the interior. The Brancacci Chapel, with frescoes begun by Masolino and Masaccio and finished by Filippino Lippi, is the reason many visitors come. The church is larger than Santa Monaca and is not the concert venue. If you want to see the chapel, treat it as its own visit with its own ticket and hours, and do not squeeze it into the half hour before a concert.

Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens

Luca Pitti, a Florentine banker, commissioned the palace in 1458. Work stopped after financial losses, and he died in 1472 with the building unfinished. Eleonora di Toledo bought it for the Medici in 1549, and it became the chief residence of the ruling family of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The Medici added the Boboli Gardens, and today it is the largest museum complex in Florence. It was also where Peri's Euridice was first performed in 1600. As with the basilica and the chapel, opening hours and tickets belong to the palace's own site. Because the palace holds several museums, treat it as a separate outing rather than a stop before the concert.

If you only have an hour

With a single hour before the concert, choose one thing and do it unhurried. A coffee on Piazza Santo Spirito suits a tired evening, and a walk past the Carmine church suits an interest in painting; neither needs a ticket. Anything that does need one, the basilica, the Brancacci Chapel or the palace, deserves its own slot in the day, with hours checked on its own site. The concert then becomes the quiet end to the evening instead of one more deadline.

Planning the evening around an hour of music

The concert runs for about an hour, with the start time given on your confirmation. The hour leaves room either side. Use the early part of the evening for a square, a coffee or a table booked nearby, and keep dinner for after the music if you prefer to eat late. The ticket covers no food or drink, and wine is paid for separately in the interval. Because the Oltrarno's streets are narrow, plan your walk to the church with a margin and look for the street name Via Santa Monaca on arrival. The squares, with their cafes and tables, are a pleasant place to wait out the last minutes before the doors open.