FLORENCE FINEART PROJECT 2
Calzaiuoli Street
It is the most central street and one of the best known in Florence , a constant destination for intense pedestrian traffic.
The street , about four hundred meters long , has no sidewalks , since it has been in the pedestrian area for many years and along its sides there are many elegant shops.
It was enlarged for the first time in the 15th century , when it was dedicated to the numerous clothing and footwear shops that had their headquarters there.
Natural connection between religious and political power (i.e. between piazza del Duomo and piazza della Signoria) , before that it was divided into smaller , narrower segments.
Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria is the square of Florence , the seat of civil power and the heart of the social life of the city.
It is located in the central part of medieval Florence , south of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
In the past it has taken on various names , such as piazza dei Priori or
piazza del Granduca.
Thanks to the archaeological findings made starting from 1974 , it was possible to establish that the first activities in the area of the square date back to the Neolithic period and that the current square constituted an important area of the Roman city , with a thermal system from the Hadrianic period and a fullonica of industrial dimensions near the theater , the remains of which were found under Palazzo Vecchio.
Palazzo Vecchio
The central element of the square is the fourteenth-century Palazzo Vecchio , built between 1299 and 1314 to give a worthy seat to the Priors of the Arts , the representatives of the professional guilds that since 1282 held the government of the city and who used to reside in the Bargello.
It is the seat of the Municipality.
It represents the best synthesis of the city's fourteenth-century civil architecture and is one of the most famous civic buildings in the world.
Loggia of the New Market
The loggia of the New Market , also known as the Porcellino loggia , is a historic building in Florence , located in the center of the homonymous square.
The name derives by distinction from the Old Market , located in the area where Piazza della Repubblica stands today , while the popular reference is linked to the presence of the famous Porcellino fountain.
The building appears in the list drawn up in 1901 by the General Directorate of Antiquities and Finearts , as a monumental building to be considered national artistic heritage.
The Porcellino Fountaine
The Porcellino fountain actually portrays a wild boar.
The statue is positioned on the representation of the environment in which this animal used to be seen , that is the marshes.
It was originally a bronze reproduction of a Greek marble statue , brought to Florence by Cosimo I De 'Medici (to whom it was given by Pope Pius IV).
The copy was made by Pietro Tacca , Giambologna's best pupil , who used the lost wax technique to make it.
Over the centuries the Fontana del Porcellino has gone from a simple statue to a water source , to become a real good luck charm in more recent times.
This thanks to the spread of the belief that performing a certain ritual guaranteed a prompt return to Florence and good wishes for the future.
First of all, it is necessary to rub the muzzle of the boar , then placing a coin inside the animal's mouth.
At this point it will be dropped into the water drainage grid : only if the coin passes beyond the outcome of the attempt can it be said to be positive.
Piazza della Repubblica
Piazza della Repubblica is a rectangular square in the historic center of Florence , measuring approximately 75 m by 100 m.
It is the best known result of the "Risanamento" era , when the urban planning of the city was redefined following the settlement of the capital of the Kingdom of Italy in Florence (from 1865 to 1871).
Piazza della Repubblica has been the center of the city since Roman times.
Here , exactly where the Colonna dell'Abbondanza is , the cardo and the decumanus maximi met and the great forum opened : the Cardo corresponds to via Roma , via Calimala and via Por Santa Maria , while the Decumano corresponds to via del Corso , via degli Speziale and via degli Strozzi.
The current appearance of the square is due to the urban interventions implemented following the proclamation of Florence as the capital of Italy (1865-71).
In particular , the works in Piazza della Repubblica took place between 1885 and 1895. That period , which upset the structure of a large part of the city center is known as the period of the Restoration , according to the nineteenth-century celebratory terminology , while by detractors it is called more prosaically , the gutting of the city.
Giotto's Bell Tower
Giotto's bell tower is the bell tower of Santa Maria del Fiore , the cathedral of Florence, and is located in Piazza del Duomo.
Its foundations were dug around 1298 at the beginning of the construction of the new cathedral , when Arnolfo di Cambio was the master builder.
In 1334 Giotto di Bondone took over the position of master builder.
Vasari, in the Life of Giotto , refers of his arrival "in the year 1334 on the 9th of July , at the bell tower of S. Maria del Fiore" , when he immediately began to take care of the construction of the first floor of the bell tower , disinterested (according to Giovanni Villani) from the construction site of the basilica.
The unusual position of the bell tower , aligned with the facade , reflects the desire to give it great importance as a sign of strong verticality in the center of the Insula Episcopalis , as well as probably the practical need to free the view of the apsidal area for the large dome , foreseen since Arnolfian project.
Giotto provided an original plan for the bell tower , with a pyramidal cusp termination 50 Florentine arms high (about 40 meters) , according to which the total elevation should have been about 120-125 meters.
A drawing preserved in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Siena is considered by some scholars to be inspired by this project.
The height of the bell tower that can be visited to the public is still 82 meters and the number of original steps to climb to the top is 398 to which 15 must be added which are part of the first access ramp.
San Lorenzo Market
The Central Market of Florence is located between via dell'Ariento , via Sant'Antonino , via Panicale and piazza del Mercato Centrale.
It was one of the results of the period of the Restoration , from the period of Florence as the capital of Italy at the end of the 19th century.
With the growth of the population and the destruction of the Old Market to make room for Piazza della Repubblica , the market at the Loggia del Porcellino was no longer sufficient for the city , so three new covered spaces were designed : that of San Lorenzo, the Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio and a third near San Frediano , the latter was built to a design by Giuseppe Mengoni , was then inaugurated in 1875 and demolished in 1915.
Michelangelo’s Monument
The David is a sculpture made of marble (height 520 cm including the 108 cm base) by Michelangelo Buonarroti , datable between 1501 and the beginning of 1504 and preserved in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.
Widely considered a masterpiece of world sculpture , it is one of the emblems of the Renaissance as well as a symbol of Florence and Italy abroad.
The work , which portrays the biblical hero as he prepares to face Goliath , was originally placed in Piazza della Signoria , as a symbol of the Florentine Republic , vigilant and victorious against its enemies.
Always considered the ideal of male beauty in art just as Sandro Botticelli's Venus is considered the canon of female beauty , many believe that David is the most beautiful artistic object ever created by man.
A project by Leonardo Bandinelli