On a recent Saturday afternoon, I went on a guided walk of Florence. I saw all of the city’s famous sights, starting at the panoramic viewpoint of Piazzale Michelangelo, continuing on Piazzale della Repubblica, which, I learned, was the original site of Florentia, the ancient Roman town; then on to Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo complex, Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery, where I could see such famous paintings as Primavera by Botticelli up close.

All of this without coming close to not even one other tourist, while enjoying the explanations and anecdotes recounted by my Florentine guide. No, I wasn’t in a post-apocalypse version of Florence; I simply was on very pleasant virtual tour of Firenze run by The Tour Guy, a Rome-based tour company offering guided tours of Rome, Florence, Venice, Pompeii, as well as other European cities.