Bellosguardo: the hill of villas
The quiet south-west hill Henry James loved, and the long view of the whole city from above. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Porta Romana
Start at the southern gate and head up Via di San Carlo or Via Villani, away from the traffic and into the lanes that climb the hill. The city falls behind you fast; this is a walk almost no visitor takes.

2. Via di Bellosguardo
The lane that climbs through olive terraces and high garden walls, past gates with the names of old villas on them. Cypresses, the odd dog, very little else. The name means 'beautiful view' and it's not lying.

3. Villa di Bellosguardo (Caruso's villa)
The grand villa where the tenor Enrico Caruso spent his last Florentine years; the formal terraces are private, but the gate and the cypress avenue are a sight from the lane. Past residents of the hill included Henry James and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

4. Piazza di Bellosguardo
A small irregular square at the top, ringed by villa walls, with a quiet that feels a century old. There's a bench and a tower house (the Torre di Bellosguardo) on the edge. Sit; nobody will hurry you.

5. The Bellosguardo overlook
Just below the piazza, where the wall drops away, the whole of Florence opens at once — duomo, tower, the river, the hills beyond. The view the painter Thomas Patch made famous in the 1700s. Better than the postcard terrace, and you'll likely have it alone.

6. Down through San Frediano
Drop back down the hill into the San Frediano quarter — workshops, wine windows, the real working Oltrarno — and out to the river at Ponte alla Carraia. A glass at a *fiaschetteria* (a little wine bar) on the way down is the right ending.

Bellosguardo: the hill of villas