  Spherical symmetry in $f(R)$ gravity is discussed in details considering also
the relations with the weak field limit. Exact solutions are obtained for
constant Ricci curvature scalar and for Ricci scalar depending on the radial
coordinate. In particular, we discuss how to obtain results which can be
consistently compared with General Relativity giving the well known
post-Newtonian and post-Minkowskian limits. Furthermore, we implement a
perturbation approach to obtain solutions up to the first order starting from
spherically symmetric backgrounds. Exact solutions are given for several
classes of $f(R)$ theories in both $R =$ constant and $R = R(r)$.
