Qibla direction in Florence

How to face the Qibla in Florence

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 34.1° towards south: the result is the bearing of 124.1°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Florence.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Florence, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Florence to Mecca points to 133.2° (south-east), 9.1° away from the correct 124.1°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 11 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 124.1° obtained? From the coordinates of Florence (43.7793° N, 11.2463° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Florence to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,619 km from Florence as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,351 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 45 min, although most pilgrims from Florence connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Florence run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Florence rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Florence

On 312 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Florence while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 February 2027 it happens at 08:33 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Florence during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Florence: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Florence compared with other cities

Compared with Rome, 234 km away, the Qibla in Florence is turned 0.9° further clockwise (124.1° against 123.3°), and Mecca is 202 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Prato (16 km), prays towards 124.1°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 42 cities in Italy on this site, the Qibla ranges from 115.2° in Cagliari to 130.0° in Trieste, a spread of 14.8°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Italy.

Qibla in cities near Florence

• Prato124.1° · 16 km
• Arezzo124.6° · 62 km
• Pisa122.9° · 68 km
• Livorno122.6° · 78 km
• Bologna125.2° · 80 km
• Forlì125.8° · 80 km