THE OX HEAD ON THE FACADE OF THE CATHEDRAL
What on earth is a horned ox head doing on top of one of the cathedral’s columns (on the Via Ricasoli side)? There are two versions: a tribute to the animals used in the building of the cathedral, or an everlasting taunt of the baker who denounced his wife’s affair with the master builder to the ecclesiastical court.

LA BERTA
If you look up towards the truncated bell tower of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore you’ll meet the gaze of la Berta; and again there are two explanations: either a sign of gratitude to a greengrocer who gave a bell to the church, or the result of a curse by the scientist Cecco d’Ascoli on a woman who refused to save him from the flames.

MICHELANGELO’S FACE
The most sharp-eyed visitors will spot another face, carved into one of the stones to the right of the entrance to Palazzo Vecchio. It’s said to be the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti, who once whiled away the time spent listening to the ceaseless chatter of a man who was constantly badgering him by making this small portrait.

BENVENUTO CELLINI’S HIDDEN SELF-PORTRAIT
We stay in Piazza della Signoria, under the Loggia del Lanzi, for a self-portrait by Benvenuto Cellini, which appears courtesy of a particular optical effect between the neck and the helmet of his Perseus.

THE EVER-OPEN WINDOW
The last window on the right-hand side of Palazzo Grifoni in Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. Apparently the ghost of a young woman continues to wait for the return of her soldier husband there.

THE UPSIDE-DOWN BALCONY
You’ll find it at no. 12, Borgo Ognissanti and it was a challenge issued by Alessandro de’ Medici to the owner of the house, a certain Baldovinetti, as the only way he was permitted to build such a large balcony in the narrow street.

THE PIETRONE OF PALAZZO PITTI
It’s to the left of the main door, just after the second window. The story goes that Luca Pitti decided to include this huge stone, some 10 metres high, to symbolise his greatness in comparison with the Medici, the rival family that later bought the palace anyway.