Torre della Zecca to reopen

Torre della Zecca is one of the first monuments seen by visitors to the city. Now the 25-metre-high tower has been restored.

The monument showed signs of disrepair in 2014, which led to the intervention by the City of Florence. Closed for 15 years, the city plans to reopen the tower to the public as soon as possible.

Torre della Zecca once marked the old eastern city limits. It was erected to protect a bridge that was never built, Ponte Reale, planned in the years preceding the 1966 flood. The tower was also constructed to defend a section of the city walls that stretched as far as the river. The name is believed to derive from the fact that it once was home to the city’s mint.

When Florence expanded in the late nineteenth century based on plans by architect Giuseppe Poggi, the city’s ring roads were designed to pass by the tower.

The restoration is part of the Florence I Care programme to preserve the city’s artistic heritage. The work has been funded by the advertisements taken out on the billboard affixed to the tower: all proceeds have gone directly to the restoration of the Torre della Zecca. Restoration cost 300,000 euro and took a year and a half to complete.

The City plans to centre future tourism around the walls and towers. At the press preview, Florence mayor Dario Nardella commented, ‘This restoration is part of a project that has been underway for years, whereby San Niccolò and Porta al Prato have been restored. Next up are Porta San Frediano, Porta Romana, Porta di Piazza Beccaria and San Giorgio.’ Indeed the next tower to be reopened to the public, in February, will be Torre della Serpe by the Porta a Prato tram stop.