Monuments

It is no secret that Florence is an open-air museum, but many of its historical sites go overlooked or misunderstood. Delve into a broad selection of articles on the history of Florence’s lived environment, that document the stories behind the city’s most famous landmarks, as well as its lesser known, or almost completely hidden, locations.

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Oratory of San Niccolò of Bari, called “del Ceppo”

A little-known oratory in Florence is dedicated to the figure who inspired Santa Claus. Here is its history.

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Antonio Baldissera Barracks

Completed in 1909, these neomedieval barracks are named after an important figure of the first Italo-Ethiopian war.

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Fortezza da Basso

A closer look at five centuries of the fortress' history and the next five years of developments.

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Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio

A look at the fascinating life of the historical figure.

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The Tre Porte palace

Art Deco architecture and details make this landmark worth a visit.

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How the Pitti Palace came into being

The massive scale of Luca’s palace would make it the largest private home in the world at that time.

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The Questura building

Florence's police headquarters was once a hospital.

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The Caccini Garden

The Caccini Garden, off borgo Pinti, was one of the most beautiful and exotic gardens in Florence at the end of the 16th century.

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The Bank of Italy in Florence

The Bank of Italy in Florence is an imposing Neo Renaissance-style building along via dell'Oriuolo that dates to between 1865 and 1869.

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Sant’Ambrogio Market

After ten troubled years, the magnificent—although at the time controversial—cast iron and glass construction of the Vittorio Emanuele II gallery, which linked the city’s cathedral to the Scala theatre in ...

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Florence’s statue of Vittorio Emanuele II

Most major Italian cities and many smaller ones boast statues to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of the newly united Italy who reigned between 1861 and 1878. The most ...

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The Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal

The basilica of San Miniato al Monte recently celebrated its 1,000th birthday. Dominating the view from one of the highest and most scenic spots overlooking Florence, it is a jewel ...

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Porta San Frediano

Seven gates remain as reminders of the third circular wall built between 1284 and 1333 that once surrounded and defended the city of Florence: the Porta al Prato, Porta San ...

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The statue of Ubaldino Peruzzi

Two statues stand facing each other across piazza Indipendenza. One depicts Ubaldino Peruzzi de’ Medici, the first mayor of Florence and a minister in the newly proclaimed united Italy, and ...

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Piazzale Michelangelo

Every year, thousands of people from all over the world visit piazzale Michelangelo to take photographs of the spectacular view it gives of the bridges over the Arno river and ...

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Michelangelo’s tomb: five fun facts you probably didn’t know

When Michelangelo died in Rome at the venerable age of 88, the first priority was to bring his body back to Florence for appropriate burial and commemoration. This eventually took ...

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The Leopolda Station

On September 15, 1861, the king of the newly unified Italy Vittorio Emanuele II inaugurated the first Italian National Exhibition of Agricultural and Industrial Products and Fine Arts in Florence ...

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Santa Maria Nuova

In the middle of town there is a hospital that has been caring for tourists and residents over the last 700 years, never missing a single day, even during plagues, revolutions, wars or natural disasters.

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The piazza Santa Croce fountain

For several months between the end of 2016 and early 2017, the fountain on the outer edge of piazza Santa Croce bordering via dei Benci, opposite Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori, was hidden ...

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Massimo Ricci: the man who cracked the Duomo

Massimo Ricci was born into a deeply Florentine family, his ancestry going back centuries. The family name can be found on the base of the cathedral, where all the church’s ...

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“My beautiful San Giovanni”: Florence Baptistery

In his ‘Divine Comedy’, Dante described the building as “my beautiful San Giovanni,” yet he was not the only famous Florentine to be baptised here.

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The triumphal arch of the Lorraine

If there is an incongruous monument anywhere in Florence, it is the grandiose and cloyingly ornate neoclassic arch that stands not quite in the middle of piazza della Libertà. Based ...

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The Duomo clock

The clock above the main door inside the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo, as it is better known in Florence, is the only one of its ...

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Santo Stefano al Ponte

According to John Mason Neale’s Christmas hymn of 1853, when the good King Wenceslas rushed out with his servant to assist a poor man gathering fuel in the freezing winter weather, it was on the Feast of Stephen. In many continental European countries, including Italy, this holy figure

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