The current aspect of this very famous Florentine square dates back to the year 1628. This square witnessed the most important political and historical events of Florence: this place has always been the political centre of this city being also full of magnificent monuments. Beside this square there is the Palazzo Vecchio (that is the seat of the Florentine municipality), the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni and the famous Uffizi Museum. 

The interventions occurred after the year 1628 transformed the Lodge of the Signoria (Loggia della Signoria) in a sort of  an open museum that can be now admired by thousands of tourists every year.
Each one of the statues that adorn this square and its porches testifies a particular moment of the torment Florentine history.  Today, in order to preserve the original ones, these sculptures have been replaced by some copies.
Until 1873 this square was characterized by the presence of the famous David by Michelangelo that has been now opportunely replaced by a faithful reproduction of the original one that can be admired in the Accademia Gallery.
Always in this square  you can also admire other wonderful monuments like the following ones:

• The elegant  Loggia della Signoria or dei Lanzi (1382) was named in this way to celebrate the Lansquenets who were used to gather together in this place to protect Cosimo I.  This lodge is placed to the right side of the Palazzo Vecchio and it is a rare example of Gothic art characterized by some decorative elements that anticipate the Renaissance style.  Beside the staircase there are two marble lions: the more recent between them was created by Vacca (1600).  Under the lodge there are Roman sculptures and other works made during the XVIth century by some Florentine artists, among them it is important to quote: the Perseo that is the bronze masterpiece by Benvenuto Cellini (1553), The rape of the Sabines by Giambologna (1583) who obtained this statue working just on a unique marble block, Hercules and the Centaur, the group of Menelaos and Patroclus and the Polisena Rape.

• The Equestrian Monument dedicated to Cosimo I de’ Medici by Giambologna. On its marble base there are three bas-relieves representing three moments of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany.

•  The fountain of Neptune whose basin (built between the 1560 and the 1575) has in its centre a magnificent marble statue carved by Bartolomeo Ammannati in order to celebrate the naval Tuscan victories.

 

• On the square’s paving there is a marble memorial tablet that identifies the exact point where in 1948 fra’ Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burnt: he was the creator of a religious and social renewal and, for this reason, he was accused of religious intemperance and of ecclesiastic lack of discipline.

 

• Around the Palazzo Vecchio you can admire: the Marzocco (1420)  by Donatello (this is a lion that bears with a leg the Florence shield. This is a copy, the original sculpture is preserved at the Bargello), a copy of the bronze statue of Judith and Holofernes always by Donatello (1460), the copy of the David by Michelangelo (1503) and the marble group of the Hercules’ defeat of Cacus by  Duccio Bandinelli (1533).

 

• To the right side of the Palazzo Vecchio entry there is an engraved human head called the “Importuno” by Michelangelo.

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The city of Florence: an open-air museum

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