Florence

Cradle of the Renaissance, city of the Medici, and a place so storied it gave us Stendhal syndrome. The writer was so overwhelmed by Santa Croce – with its Giotto frescoes and tombs for Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli – that he fainted.

A single family bankrolled much of what overwhelms visitors today. For three centuries the Medici were bankers, schemers, popes, and patrons of virtually everything you'll queue to see – including the Uffizi, which began as their private offices.

The trap is that the centre is so walkable people assume it's legible. A morning covers the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio, and the temptation is to call it done. But cross the Arno into the Oltrarno, where Florentines actually live, and the city shifts: artisan workshops, buchette del vino, and piazzas no tour bus will find.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours bring depth to Florence's landmarks and texture to the streets beyond – the Medici's rise told palazzo by palazzo, a culinary trail through lampredotto carts and wine cellars, or five centuries of Jewish history hiding in plain sight.

Put your earbuds in. Let Firenze unfold at your pace.