The
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
has become one of the most famous churches in the world, especially thanks to
the amazing dome of which Filippo Brunelleschi endowed it with.
Not
everyone knows, however, that the symbolic building of Florence has a very
troubled history, which lasted almost 600...
A 30 minutes drive from Florence,
there is a truly spectacular place, that looks like it came out of a fairy
tale: the Sammezzano Castle.
Sammezzano Castle is the most important example of Orientalist
architecture in Italy and is located in the municipality of Reggello in the
province of Florence....
In
via Maggio at n. 26, there is a very
particular building, recognizable by its beautiful facade entirely decorated with grotesques.
First documented architectural work of Bernardo
Buontalenti, the palace was commissioned
by Francesco I de’ Medici and built, between 1570 and 1574, upon an old
fifteenth-century building.
Francesco
I,...
With
Brunelleschi’s Dome, Giotto's bell tower and the tower of Palazzo Vecchio to
reign supreme in the Florentine skyline, the beautiful bell tower of the Badia Fiorentina often goes unnoticed,
although clearly visible next to the tower of the Bargello museum.
It
indicates the position of one of the
oldest...
The Medici Chapels of Florence are one of the most famous and
fascinating complexes in the city. Built by Michelangelo and Buontalenti
between the 16th and 17th centuries, the chapels are the mausoleum of the Medici family and
include the Chapel of the Princes
and the New Sacristy (so called...
The Medici Chapels complex is part of the Basilica of San Lorenzo and includes the New Sacristy designed by Michelangelo in 1519, and the grandiose Chapel of the Princes built in the seventeenth century.
Hard to decide which space is the most beautiful, the first emblem of formal purity, the...
Along the old provincial
road to Siena, at the top of the San Gaggio hill, there is a beautiful
residential area, a network of narrow streets that lead to villas in the
countryside. All very elegant but one is different from the others: Villa Bayon. Commissioned in 1963 by
the...
Eastern suburbs of
Florence, in Rovezzano, a public park with a large villa in the center, Villa Favard (not to be confused with
the homonymous villa in via Curtatone, home of the Polimoda Fashion School).
The history of this place
begins at the end of 1200, in a Florence...
For those interested in
architecture, Sorgane is a district
of Florence definitely worth visiting. In 1957
it was decided to build here a satellite city of public housing, a very
ambitious project. Initially designed for 12,000 inhabitants, the project is
entrusted to a group of young architects coordinated by Giovanni...
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...
Leonardo Savioli (1917 - 1982) was one of the most important
Florentine architects. Great illustrator, abstract expressionist and informal
painter, professor at the University of Florence. He had graduated with
Giovanni Michelucci and had participated in the planning of the Urban
Development Plan of Florence in the years after the...
The New Opera Theater has replaced the old Municipal Theater, the work of the engineer Telemaco Bonaiuti,
which dated back to 1862. The old
building was no longer considered to be up with the times, especially from
a technical and safety point of view and was no longer able to...
On June 24, Florence
celebrates its patron saint, San Giovanni, but this has not always been the
case. Back in the day, when the religion was still pagan, the city was devoted
to the god Mars. Many believe that
the current Baptistery of San Giovanni
was built from the ruins...
This time the title "Beyond
the Renaissance" should be interpreted as "Renaissance beyond itself", that is, at the top of its
idea of the world and of the rediscovery of classical culture. The facade of
Palazzo Rucellai, designed by Leon Battista Alberti and completed in 1465, is
celebrated as one...
The Manifattura Tabacchi: a district of 16
buildings on an area of 100,000 square meters, next to the Cascine Park. Pure
modernist rationalist architecture, designed by architects Giovanni Bartoli and
Pier Luigi Nervi in 1933, completed in 1940. According to modernist architectural
canons, the structure had to be functional to...
Leonardo Ricci died in 1994, construction began in 2000 and
the work was inaugurated in 2012.It is the second largest Palace of Justice in Italy, after the
one in Turin, covers 3 hectares of land and has a useful area of 126,000
square meters. The measurements are: 230 m by...
In
1988 Leonardo Ricci presented the preliminary project alone, but many ideas,
elaborated with Michelucci and contained in the beautiful sketches preserved in
the Michelucci Foundation in Fiesole, are maintained:-
The circular square in front of the entrance, also equipped with a "reflecting pool", a large body of
water to...
The New Palace of Justice is the most demanding, spectacular
and interesting work of recent decades. And of course it was a source of
endless controversy, like everything in Florence.The need to bring together the judicial functions dates back
to 1867, at the time of Florence Capital (1865 - 1870)....
Le Cascine Park, the largest in Florence, was built in 1563 as a
hunting reserve and agricultural farm of the Grand Duke Cosimo I de 'Medici. The name Le Cascine derives from the ancient
Tuscan word "cascio", from cacio, meaning cheese. The cascio was the place where cows were milked and
cheeses were processed. “Cascino” was...
The Florentines are famous for being polemical and disagree on everything,
since the time of Guelphs and Ghibellines. This side of the citizen character
has historically been very negative because many initiatives end up in nothing
due to discussions and disputes and, if they are successful, they still leave a...
The
restoration of the Church of San Giorgio dello Spirito Santo alla Costa - once again the seat of a neighborhood parish - financed by the Gianmaria
Buccellati Foundation under the direction of the Superintendence of Fine Arts
of Florence, has been completed.We are in Costa San Giorgio, one of...
The San Lorenzo Market or Central Market is famous all over the world and
frequented by anyone who visits Florence. Outside there are stalls for souvenirs,
clothing, items made with leather and fabrics, inside groceries on the ground floor,
restaurants and gastronomies on the first floor.The
building is also a...
The Orticoltura Garden was established for
botanical scientific experiments in 1859 by the Georgofili Academy, an
association founded in 1753, in the Enlightenment climate, for the study of
agricultural techniques. Vineyards, fruit trees, vegetables and eccentric and
rare ornamental plants were planted in the area. In 1876 the whole park...
Not only Renaissance, other times, other
architectures --- The VILLINO UZIELLI.
The original construction was built in 1870 on
commission of Guido Uzielli, a wealthy banker. The building was part of the
urban structure of the area according to Giuseppe Poggi's plan of 1865 Firenze
Capitale, when the residences of...
This tower has the honor of being
the oldest building in Florence, miraculously remaining in its original
appearance. Built in the 6th century AD, almost surely by the Byzantines during
the war with the Goths (535 - 553), it was part of the second smaller city
walls, after the Roman...
Florence too has a triumphal arch like Paris, even if few
people notice it, as it is isolated in a sea of traffic, in Piazza della
Libertà. Any time of the day, gas and noise prevent passers-by from stopping
for more than a few seconds, just long enough to wait...
We very often talk about Brunelleschi's
spectacular Dome - an unrivaled architectural enterprise- the largest masonry
dome ever built to date. Sometimes, however, we forget the other architectural
masterpiece that sits right next to it: Giotto's
Bell Tower!
It was July 18, 1334 when Giotto began to lay the...
Built in 1911 by the architect
Giovanni Michelazzi (1879 - 1920), it is considered one of the most significant
Italian Art Nouveau buildings, certainly the most interesting in Florence.
Michelazzi was a very refined architect, even if unfortunately he
designed very few works, committing suicide in 1920 at the age...
The Fortezza
da Basso, or fortress of San Giovanni Battista, today the main Florentine
exhibition venue, has a long history, which began after the experience of the
siege of 1529.
At the time, Duke Alessandro de’ Medici
commissioned to the artists and architects Pier Francesco da Viterbo and
Antonio da...
Palazzo Vecchio, with its high tower is one of the symbols of Florence, and the tower, which stands 95 meters high above the roofs of the city, is what marks the location of the ancient Palazzo della Signoria even from afar.
The tower of Arnolfo was built at the beginning...
The skyline of Florence is very a distinctive one, easily recognized by anybody in the world. The huge Brunelleschi’s Dome stands out among the terracotta red roofs, along with by Giotto’s bell tower, the tower of Palazzo Vecchio and on the Arno river, Ponte Vecchio’s famous silhouette.
From the panoramic...
A short walk from piazza della Libertà, on a street named after the first Medici Pope, Leone X (famous for having excommunicated Martin Luther in 1521), stands a beautiful and unexpected architectural gem.
We're talking about the Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ and Saint Nicholas, know to...
With the arrival of summer it will be possible to access the Torre di San Niccolò, Torre della Zecca and Porta Romana, usually closed to the public, and now opening their doors to visitors on selected days.
The Torre di San Niccolò already reopened, as usual, on the occasion of...
