| PIAZZA
DELLA SIGNORIA
This enormous piazza is the heartbeat of Florentine political
life and has been a the centre of a number of controversies
over the centuries... Even way back at the beginning in 1268
when the Guelph party took control of Florence they immediately
decreed that all of the Ghibelline party rivals houses in
and around the area of Piazza della Signoria should be raised
to the ground. The first to be destroyed were the towers belonging
to the Foraboschi and the Uberti families. Ironically enough
these families had recently successfully defended the city
from the Ghibelline army after the Guelphs had been spectacularly
defeated at the battle of Montapertii (September 4th 1260)
In total 36 houses were demolished which accounts for 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 has ever
to be built on the site again).
More recent controversies involved the replacement
of the every single paving stone with a new concrete one...
the city's artisans and craftsmen were appalled at his project
but the town council who convene in the Piazza della Signoria
decreed that it was necessary to modernise the square.
Famous films which have used Piazza della
Signoria include James Ivory's A Room with a View and Hannibal
starring Anthony Hopkins who threw one of his victims out
of the main balcony directly beneath the tower...
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Hotel
Botticelli Florence > Florence Virtual Tour > Piazza della
Signoria Firenze
