See the sun set, buy some original artwork and splurge on a souvenir or two: piazzale Michelangelo already offers all this. But, to all intents and purposes, it is still a car park.
Whilst Matteo Renzi’s plans to pedestrianize the world’s most memorable square have been put on hold, deputy mayor of Florence Dario Nardella is still exploring the option. Indeed, Nardella believes that pedestrianization of piazzale Michelangelo could go hand in hand with the move of some of the San Lorenzo market vendors, who are currently without a place to sell their wares (see theflr.net/sanlorenzomarket). In doing so, Nardella would effectively be landing two pigeons with one broad bean, as the Italian saying goes.
The city council has released renderings of how the square could look in the near future, with stalls set up around the bronze copy of the David.
Market stalls could be a welcome addition to the piazza, giving tourists yet another reason to visit the hilltop square. For this reason alone, the city administration is seeking to extend the parking time allowed for coaches.
This plan does not solve the issue of parking, however. At present, the plan is to move some of the parking for the piazzale to via delle Porte Sante and create still other spaces near Flò nightclub and behind La Loggia restaurant. But this falls short of the number of parking spaces currently available in piazzale Michelangelo. Nardella, currently running for the city’s top job as mayor, is confident that a solution will be found within the next three months.
