Florence - Piazza della Signoria

The Piazza della Signoria has been the political center of Florence since the 14th century when houses belonging to Ghibelline families had to make way for the new square. It is notable for its important buildings and statues - the Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo degli Uffizi, Loggia dei Lanzi and the copies of statues by Michelangelo and Donatello.

In the 1980s the Piazza della Signoria did not look its best.

When archaeologists carried out trial excavations they discovered unexpected treasures under its paving, with finds from the Roman and Etruscan periods, the Middle Ages, even the Bronze Age. However the Florentines were not prepared to have the finest of their squares transformed into a permanent building site or subterranean excavation, so the authorities finally bowed to public pressure and filled in the excavations in 1989.

The square contains two kinds of memorial. A granite disc in the pavement, not far from the Fountain of Neptune, marks the spot where Savonarola and his companions Buonvicini and Malruffi were executed and burnt at the behest of Pope Alexander VI. Near the fountain is the equestrian statue by Giambologna (1594) of Cosimo I who was elevated to Grand Duke of Tuscany by Pope Pius V in 1569.