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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The Torrigiani tower

Tucked away in the heart of Florence, in the area once known as the Campuccio, running from via del Campuccio and piazza Tasso to via dei Serragli, is a wall that incorporates the remnants of the fortifications built by Cosimo I in 1544 to defend Florence against attack from Siena.

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The statue of Cosimo Ridolfi

As cars, buses and motorbikes hurtle by in via San Agostino, a white marble monument seems defenceless as it stands precariously on the southern tip of Florence’s piazza Santo Spirito. ...

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The Croce al Trebbio column

In a square not far from the church of Santa Maria Novella, at the junction of via del Moro, via delle Belle Donne and via del Trebbio, stands the Croce al Trebbio column, one of two columns in the city that commemorate the triumphs of a Dominican friar, Peter of

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A tale of two obelisks

Chariot racing conjures up images, at least for me, of ancient Rome and, in particular, of Ben Hur, the Oscar-winning film in which the hero, played by Charlton Heston, drove his chariot and team of four white horses full pelt around the Circus Maximus. So it was quite a

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Queen Victoria’s fountain

On August 10, 2013, the local press photographed Florence’s mayor, Matteo Renzi, sitting on a bulldozer in the Cascine park, ready to help demolish the burned-out shell of the former nightclub Meccanò. In doing so, he declared that it was the city’s intention to

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Loggia del Pesce

Joyous celebrations were held in Florence for several weeks before and after the wedding on December 18, 1565 of the legitimate heir of Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, Francesco de’ Medici to Johanna of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and Anna of Bohemia and

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Le Murate

Withinwalking distance or a short bus ride from the historic centre and covering theentire block between via Ghibellina and via dell’Agnolo, just before vialeGiovine Italia, Le Murate is one of ...

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The facade of Santa Croce

Sometimes our trains of thought can take us in unexpected directions. Recently, I was contemplating what I would do at Christmas, now only a few weeks away. From there, with my gift list already made out in my head, I began thinking about the traditional symbols surrounding the birth of

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The statue of the Battle of Mentana

A man in dishevelled military dress and gaiters, his outstretched right arm pointing his revolver, ready to fire at the enemy as he struggles, with his left arm, to support the fallen comrade in arms who, with his dying breaths, is clinging to the company's tattered flag-the statue

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The column of San Zanobi

Known to all in town simply as the ‘Duomo,' the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, with its neo-gothic façade in white, green and red marble, Brunelleschi's amazing dome and Giotto's imposing bell tower, is probably the first place visitors to Florence go. Just

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The Olive Tree of Peace

No sound like it had been heard in Florence since World War II. An hour after midnight on May 27, 1993, a massive explosion echoed throughout the city. A white Fiat Fiorino van, stolen from via della Scala the evening before and taken to Isolotto where it was loaded with

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The statue of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere

No other outdoor monument in the historic centre of Florence represents it neighbourhood as much as the statue of Ludovico di Giovanni de' Medici, known as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, situated in piazza San Lorenzo. Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned the statue in honour of his father, the

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Fosco Maraini

When ethnologist, mountain climber, travel writer, poet and photographer Fosco Maraini died on June 8, 2004, at 92, the Gabinetto Vieusseux in Florence acquired his unique collection of over 8,000 volumes and 42,000 photographs centred on Asia, and especially Tibet and Japan. It was therefore fitting that, on

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The statue of Manfredo Fanti

Sunday lunch seemed as good a time as any to test one of my pet theories: people will pass by monuments or statues for years without ever really looking at them or knowing anything about them. Of the 12 of us sitting around the table, 9 were Italians (5 of

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The statue of Girolamo Savonarola

The brooding statue of Girolamo Savonarola, the fire and brimstone monk burned at the stake for heresy in front of Palazzo Vecchio on May 23, 1498, stands in the piazza named after him not far from piazza Libert?. Looking at it, it is easy to see why American author and

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The statue of Goldoni

Debonnaire and elegantly dressed in knee breeches, coat and flowing cape, a tricorner hat in one hand and a book in the other, the bare-headed but smartly wigged statue of playwright, Carlo Goldoni looks down on Ponte alla Carraia and over the Arno from the piazza named after him.

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The column of abundance

Possibly no other monument in Florence is more widely used than the Column of Abundance in Piazza della Repubblica. Tired tourists and weary locals often sit on the steps surrounding the base of the monolith, where they can rest and watch the ebb and the flow of people passing by,

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The Demidoff statue

Grieving the sudden death in Florence in 1828 of their father, Count Nicholas Demidoff, Tsar Alexander I's ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, brothers Paul and Anatole Demidoff commissioned Lorenzo Bartolini to sculpt a memorial to him. It was to be placed in the grounds of the sumptuous

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The white giant

After waiting 10 years for it to be completed, Florentines were very unimpressed when, in 1575, they first saw the statue of Neptune towering over his fountain in piazza della Signoria right in front of Palazzo Vecchio. Disappointed because he seemed so static and inexpressive, they disparagingly called him Il

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The Lady Justice column

Lady Justice stands proudly in the middle of piazza Santa Trinita, on top of the tallest ancient Roman column in Florence. The 11.17 meter high oriental granite column weighing about 50 tons originally came from the natatio, the monumental swimming pool of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.  

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The statue of Bettino Ricasoli

Distant relatives, the two men stand today, cast in bronze, looking at each other across one of Florence's most patriotic piazzas. Renamed Piazza dell'Indipendenza after it became the site of the bloodless uprising in April 1859 that led to the banishment of Grand Duke Leopold II from Tuscany,

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The Dante statue

On November 4, 1966, as the flood waters lapped about the base of his statue, almost reaching his slippered toes, the poet, writer and politician Dante Alighieri, considered the father of the Italian language, looked gloomily down from its pedestal in the middle of Piazza Santa Croce, where he then

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The Porcellino

All year round he sits there, resting on his haunches, patiently putting up with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of tourists rubbing his now very shiny snout and dropping coins at his feet in the hope, according to legend, that they will one day return to Florence.    

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A bridge to India

Unique in Europe for the dimensions of its structure, the most recent bridge to cross the Arno river in Florence was opened in 1978. It links the suburbs of Peretola to the north of the river to Isolotto to the south. Constructed on two levels, one for motor vehicles and

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