PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA: PALAZZO VECCHIO, LOGGIA, & UFFIZI
Created in 1268, The Piazza della Signoria is the historical hub and civic center of Florence, home of the Loggia dei Lanzi, the Palazzo Vecchio (the podesta’s headquarter’s with its crenellated tower, now a museum), the Uffizi galleries, and many famous sculptures. In 1497 Girolamo Savonarola and his followers initiated the Bonfire of the Vanities, where they burned books, dresses, musical instruments, gambling tables, pornography, mirrors, and cosmetics; Sandro Botticelli was convinced to roast a large body of his paintings, and ostensibly never painted again. One year later, Savonarola was tortured, hanged and likewise roasted in front of the fountain of Neptune (a fitting punishment for depriving us of Botticelli’s genius), but not before he could utter the following rebuke: “Thy sins, O Florence, are the cause of these stripes. But now repent, offer prayers, become united. I have wearied myself all the days of my life to make known to thee the truths of the faith, and of holy living; and I have had nothing but tribulations, derision, and reproach.” Is it any wonder that the square was used to film “Hannibal”?
