Vasari's Loggia del Pesce: a troubled history

The fish market was once located in today's Lungarno degli Archibugieri, then Piazza del Pesce, right next to Ponte Vecchio. In 1565, on the occasion of the marriage between the son of Grand Duke Cosimo I, Francesco, and the Archduchess of Austria Giovanna of Austria, the famous Vasari Corridor was built which passed right above the market.
To prevent the smell of fish from reaching the corridor, they decided to move the fishmongers to the Mercato Vecchio (Old Market), then located in the current Piazza della Repubblica.
Here, to arrange the fish stalls, a beautiful Loggia del Pesce was built, commissioned to Vasari himself.
The loggia was built in 1568 and consisted of seven arches, which later became 9 in 1609, resting on Tuscan-style columns. In the spandrel of each arche there is a tondo depicting different species of fish.
At the corners there are four coats of arms and in the center a marble scroll showing:

"The fish market that until now was held, in times of Lent, at the Ponte Vecchio, now the most illustrious and excellent Cosimo de 'Medici, second duke of Florence and Siena, and his son Francesco, excellent prince, they had it built with much greater expense and magnificence than that with which it was built before, so that the fish will be sold here from now on. 1568 ".

The loggia was located on the west side of the market, where today we find the Hard Rock, but this, as we know, was not its final location. During the renovation of Florence in 1865, when the Mercato Vecchio was moved under the Loggia del Porcellino and became the Mercato Nuovo (New Market), the Loggia del Pesce was dismantled and placed in the warehouse of the San Marco museum.

Only in 1955, the Loggia was recovered, rebuilt and definitively placed in Piazza dei Ciompi. The last restoration work dates back to 2015, and has brought the loggia back to its former glory.

A decidedly troubled history, made up of removals and reconstructions. Today, however, the Loggia del Pesce seems to have found its home, in the heart of the Sant'Ambrogio district, it is a meeting place much loved by Florentines, and we would not be able to imagine it anywhere else!