Florence & the best of Tuscany Guide
Piazza della Signoria and around
Whereas the Piazza del Duomo provides the focus for Florence's religious life, the Piazza della Signoria - site of the mighty Palazzo Vecchio and forecourt to the Uffizi - has always been the centre of its secular existence. The Palazzo Vecchio is still the headquarters of the city's councillors and bureaucrats, and the piazza in front of it is the stage for major civic events and political rallies. After work, hundreds of Florentines gather here for a gossip before taking the evening passeggiata back and forth between the Signoria and Piazza del Duomo, along the broad pedestrianized avenue of Via dei Calzaiuoli. This street is shop-lined for almost its entire length but does boast one great monument, Orsanmichele, a church as notable for its statuary as for the structure itself. There's one other major religious building in this area: the Badìa Fiorentina, the most important of several buildings in a district that has strong associations with Italy's foremost poet, Dante Alighieri. Immediately opposite the Badìa stands the forbidding bulk of the Bargello, once the city's prison, now home to a superb assemblage of sculpture, plus excellent collections of enamels, ivories, glassware, silverware and other objets d'art. To get a full idea of the achievement of the Florentine Renaissance, a visit to the Bargello is as important as a day in the Uffizi.