Piazza della Signoria

The civic heart of Florence and an open air sculpture museum. The massive Palazzo Vecchio, contemporary with the Bargello, dominates the square. It was from the windows of the palace that the Pazzi and their supporters including the Archbishop of Pisa were hanged after their failed attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici in 1478. The Dominican monk Savonarola, whose apocalyptic sermons had helped to drive out the Medici in 1494, organised the bonfire of the vanities in the piazza in 1497, when priceless masterpieces were burnt. A year later it was Savonarola's turn to be consigned to the flames. Slightly later, under Pope Leo X, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, wild beast hunts were held here. The piazza is peopled by a race of 16th century marble giants, including a copy of Michelangelo's David and Ammannati's Fountain of Neptune. In the centre stands Giambologna's equestrian statue of Cosimo I, modelled on the statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. The Loggia dei Lanzi (named after the German halbadiers who stood guard here) is filled with sculpture with violent subjects: Cellini's bronze Perseus, holding the severed head of Medusa, Giambologna's spiralling Rape of the Sabine Women and his Hercules and the Centaur, both filled with dynamic movement.