Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Street-by-Street:Around Piazza della Repubblica
Underlying the street plan of modern Florence is
the far older pattern of the ancient Roman city
founded on the banks of the Arno. Nowhere
is this more evident than in the rectilinear grid
of narrow streets in the western half of the city
centre. Here the streets lead north from the river
Arno to the Piazza della Repubblica, once the
site of the forum, the main square of the ancient
Roman city. It later became the city's main food
market
(see p54)
until the city authorities decided
to tidy it up in the 1860s, building the triumphal
arch that now
stands in today's
café-filled square.
Palazzo Strozzi
This monumental palazzo
dominates the square
5
Piazza di Santa Trinità
The square is marked by an
ancient Roman column
6
.
Santa Trinità
Ghirlandaio's frescoes,
The Life of St Francis
(1483), depict scenes that took place in this
area. Here, a child is restored to life, after
falling from the Palazzo Spini-Ferroni
7
Palazzo Spini-Ferroni,
a medieval palazzo
featured in Ghirlandaio's
frescoes in Santa Trinità,
now houses the fashion
boutique of Salvatore
Ferragamo
(see p108)
.
The statues
of the Four
Seasons decorating the
approaches to Ponte Santa
Trinità were erected in 1608
to celebrate the wedding
of Cosimo I.
KEY
Suggested route
Santi Apostoli
A plaque claims Charle-
magne as founder
8
0 metres
200
0 yards
200
