Pitti Square
Related Topics:

Caffè degli Artigiani: At the Artisans' Cafe you will find atmosphere, home-made cakes, sandwiches, salads ... and more!

Le Telerie Toscane di Giulia: Bedsheets, tablelinens and textile articles with decorations from Tuscan tradition; kitchen accessories and household items.

Metallo Nobile: Trade School for Jewellery crafting and design; specialisation courses in casting, enamelling, engraving, stone setting.

Omero Benvenuti: Artisan workshop for traditional Florentine marble paper and artistic bookbinding.

Pitti Mosaici: Artisan production and sale of Florentine mosaic.

Roberto Ugolini: Men shoes made to measure. Artisan workshop.

Stefania Masini: Antique furniture, curiosities from the past, vintage and art creations.

Studio S. Spirito: Restoration of porcelains, majolica, terracotta, stone materials, ivory, glass, enamels, scagliole, mosaics, Florentine mosaic in semi-precious stones, marble inlays

The Art Gallery: On-line sale of hand painted Tuscan artistic ceramics.

Tipografia Etrusca: Artisan typography. Experience and innovation since 1956.

Church of San Felice in Piazza
Gallery of Costume
Gallery of Modern Art
Gardens of Boboli
Museum of Carriages
Museum of Porcelain
Museum of Silver
Oltrarno's Fountains
Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments
Pitti Palace
Specola Museum
Vasari Corridor

 

Tourist informations
Where is it: at the end of Via Guicciardini.

Pitti Square is probably the most famous among Oltrarno's squares; it is characterized by the imposing palace and counts to the few Florentine squares built without a religious function.

History

 History


The square was conceived in 1440, when the bankier Luca Pitti decided to build a very big palace in order to show to the whole city how rich and powerful his family was.
The ambitious project included a square in front of the palace: for its building Luca Pitti bought and demolished all the houses flanking a part of the street Borgo di Piazza (today: Via Guicciardini). This open place was soon called «Via del Palagio dei Pitti» ("Street of the Pitti's palace"), but the building of the palace and of the whole square remained uncompleted due to its frightening cost - even for the so rich Luca Pitti such an adventure proved soon to be too expensive.


Click to enlarge pictures.

In 1549 Elonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de' Medici, bought the palace, which was then enlarged and widened in several times; in 18th Century a part of the square was filled by the two side-wings of the palace, built after a design of Giuseppe Ruggeri and Pasquale Poccianti, and a portion of the ancient Palazzo Guicciardini was demolished, in order to give to the square a more regular shape.
On the side of the square facing the palace are some notable buildings which survived the demolition of Luca Pitti; among them are a second (and by far smaller) Palazzo Pitti, decorated with the coat of arms of the family, and the palace where in the years 1397-1482 lived the mathematician Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli, author of the maps used by Cristoforo Colombo in his sailing "towards India". In another palace the Russian author Dostojevskij completed in 1868-69 his novel The idiot.
The square is visited by countless tourists, and until 1993 was used as parking; since that year the square has been restorated and closed to the traffic.

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