| PIAZZA
DELLA SIGNORIA
Piazza della Signoria has been the political heart of the
city from the Middle Ages to the present day. It is a singular
urbanistic creation that began taking shape from 1268 onwards,
when the Guelph party gained control of the city again and
decided to raze the houses of their Ghibelline rivals to the
ground.
The first to be destroyed were the towers
belonging to the Foraboschi and the Uberti families, in spite
of the fact that the head of the family (the famous Farinata
celebrated by Dante in his "Comedy"), had defended
the city from destruction after its army had been disastrously
defeated at the battle of Montaperti (September 4th 1260)
by the Ghibelline coalition led by Siena.
In the end 36 houses were demolished which explains the unusual
"L" shape of the square and why the buildings around
it are unaligned, all that remained after the city's enemies
had all been "wiped out" (nothing was ever to be
built on the site again).
Its gets its name of course from the most
important monument there, Palazzo della Signoria, designed
by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1298-99 (much of it already completed
by 1302, only three years later) for the seat of the Republican
government and which was later to host the Gonfalonier of
Justice and the Priors of the Arts (it was in fact at first
called Palazzo dei Priori).
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Grand
Hotel Minerva Florence > Florence Virtual Tour > Piazza della
Signoria 
