Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
city magistrates had moved Donatello's
Judith and Holofernes
from the former
Medici palace to the piazza to remind all residents of the virtuous woman about
to slay her brutal assailant.
But the Medicis eventually came back to town and proved they could play the
symbolic-statue game as well. They placed Cellini's
Perseus,
done in 1545, directly
across from
David.
The work, depicting a battle-clad Perseus who has just severed
Medusa's head, symbolizes the military might that had defeated small, competing
governments, which are represented by the now-dead snakes in Medusa's hair.
As the Medici leader Cosimo I consolidated power through the 16th century,
he envisioned himself as a new Roman emperor. So he filled the square with mas-
sive Roman-influenced statues of himself. One of them portrays the warrior on
horseback, with reliefs at the base depicting his land-based military triumphs,
while the flamboyant
Neptune Fountain
is meant to show his mastery in naval
battles.
Near the fountain you'll see a small plaque commemorating the “Bonfire of
the Vanities.” In the 1490s, the famed rabble-rousing monk named Savanarola
briefly became leader of Florence, on a fire-and-brimstone platform of piety and
anti-materialism. He convinced citizens to bring their “vanities”--paintings, silks,
and books--to Piazza della Signoria, and torched them in a huge bonfire.
Eventually, Savanarola crossed the Pope and soon after he was branded as a
heretic, excommunicated, and burned at the stake at the spot of the plaque, in the
area of his original bonfires. It was an ironic and yet another symbolic moment in
the history of the Piazza della Signoria.
It's worth a visit to stroll through the beautiful central courtyard and chambers
of the
Palazzo Vecchio
(
%
055-2768224; www.comune.fi.it;
€
6; 9am-7pm
daily, Thurs closes at 2pm),
directly on the Piazza. The Gothic building looms
over the east side of the square with protruding battlements and a 90m-tall (300-
ft.) tower jutting up “like a stone hypodermic,” as author Mary McCarthy
described it. The multifunctional structure, built during the late 13th century and
modified over the years, has been home to the city hall, a residence for the
Medicis, and even the chamber of deputies for the Republic of Italy before
becoming again city offices. The museum portion of the building includes the
Salanoe dei Cinquecento (The Hall of Five Hundred), the historic gathering place
for Florence's 500-man ruling congress. Tour the rooms to see Vasari's frescoes and
Michelangelo's
Genius of Victory.
The second floor presents an interesting contrast
because it was converted into lavish living quarters for Cosimo I and his family
during the 1540s.
You'll also want to stop by
Orsanmichele
5
(Via Arte della Lana, 1;
%
055-
284944; free admission),
a 14th-century church and the last trace of high-Gothic
architecture in the city. Its hours and the hours of its attached museum are spo-
radic (call first), but you'll enjoy simply touring the exterior where you'll see
reproductions of the saint's images by such fabled names as Ghiberti, Donatello,
and Giambologna. To see the originals of these statues, you'll have to visit the
small museum (across Via dell'Arte della Lana from the church's main entrance)
to the
Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana.
Here you'll find such masterpieces as
Ghiberti's
St. John the Baptist
(1413-16), which was the first life-size bronze to be
cast during the Renaissance, and Donatello's
St. Mark
(1411-13).
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