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Piazza della Libertà, Florence

Piazzas in Florence
Arch in Florence
Arch in Florence

Piazza della Libertà (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjattsa della liberˈta]) is the northernmost point of the historic centre of Florence. It was created in the 19th century during works to produce the Viali di Circonvallazione around the city. It hosts Triumphal Arch of the Lorraine and, in winter, an ice rink for skating.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Piazza della Libertà, Florence (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Piazza della Libertà, Florence
Piazza della Libertà, Florence Quartiere 2

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N 43.783888888889 ° E 11.261944444444 °
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Area Attesa Piazza della Libertà

Piazza della Libertà
50199 Florence, Quartiere 2
Tuscany, Italy
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Chiostro dello Scalzo
Chiostro dello Scalzo

The Chiostro della Scalzo or (Via Cavour, 69 vicino a Piazza San Marco) is a cloister in Florence, Italy that originally led to a chapel once belonging to a religious company known as the Compagnia del diciplinati di San Giovanni Battista or della Passione di Cristo. The term "scalzo" makes reference to the barefoot brother who carried the Cross during its public processions. "Compagnia" (English: "company") was the name given to these Florentine congregations of layman who contributed towards defending Roman Catholicism. Each company had a different practice: the "Laudesi" promoted prayer through the singing of hymns, those for the doctrine taught catechism to children, while the charitable companies offered assistance to the poor. The Compagnia della Scalzo was a disciplined confraternity that practiced penance, often in the form of self-flagellation. The Compagnia della Scalzo was established in 1376, and used the church of San Giovannino dei Cavalieri on the via San Gallo as early as 1390 for its meetings. When the company purchased land behind this church in the first half of the 15th century, it proceeded towards creating its own premises, which included a chapel (consecrated in 1476, but then totally renovated), the cloister and entrance (1478) still visible today. Back in 1455, it underwent a reform approved by the bishop of Florence, Antoninus, who was made saint in 1523 and who is portrayed in the painted terra-cotta bust now placed in front of the former doorway that led to the chapel. The brothers wore black hoods with holes to see through and a heavy, black over garment tied around the waist with a white cord; such apparel is documented in the polychrome glazed terra-cotta relief depicting St. John the Baptist and Two Brothers (1510 c.) over the entrance to the cloister from via Cavour. Every first Sunday of the month the company organized a procession and every June 24, the festivities in honor of the city's and its own patron saint, John the Baptist, which today see events like the famous fireworks (I fochi di san Giovanni).

Monument to Savonarola in Piazza Savonarola
Monument to Savonarola in Piazza Savonarola

The Monument to Savonarola in Piazza Savonarola is an outdoor marble statue on a plinth in honor of the 15th-century Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola; it is located in a piazza of the same name a few blocks outside of the Viali di Circonvallazione, in Northeastern Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. This monument has a colorful history of migrations. The statue was completed circa 1875 by Enrico Pazzi, a native of Ravenna, at a time, when anti-papal feelings ran high in Italy. However, Savonarola has always been a polarizing historic figure, maniacal in his faith, and the perpetrator of the original Bonfire of the Vanities. His theology was not compatible with contemporary liberal thought. The statue was conceived by Pazzi in 1861, who habitually created public monuments before they were requisitioned. A committee was formed in 1869 to commission a monument to Savonarola, which was to be placed in the convent of San Marco; however, they did not choose Pazzi's model, but instead chose one by Giovanni Duprè, a former mentor of Pazzi. This was to lead to fierce conflict between the two sculptors. In 1870, another committee, chaired by Prince Ferdinando Strozzi, selected to commission Pazzi's more grandiose and more anti-papal statue, and obtained the Commune's permission to site the sculpture in the first cloister of the Florentine convent. However, the drop in revenue caused by the transfer of the capital of Italy from Florence to Rome, cancelled this project. By 1873, Duprè completed his contribution: a simple plaque and relief bust placed in the cell of the friar in San Marco. Pazzi's work, completed only in 1875, did not find enough subscribers, and was donated ultimately to the Town Hall. It remained in studio till 1882, when it was installed, to much criticism, into the niche of the southern end of the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio. One justification for this placement was that Savonarola had commissioned the creation of this large hall in 1497. There was still rumors that it would be moved in the future to the precinct of San Marco. The statue had displaced none other than a Michelangelo statue, placed here by Vasari. Even in this niche, Savonarola's provincial and other-worldly causes did not fit the Italian nationalism that was in demand after the recent world war. In addition, many Florentine critics were never content with the removal of the heroic Genius of Victory by Michelangelo. Ultimately, even if unfinished, the subtle Michelangelo work was able to vanquish the polished sculpture of the somewhat unsufferable, faith-frenzied priest. In 1921, Savonarola's statue was exiled to this graffiti-ridden suburban park. In some ways, the Ferrarese priest was never quite at home in Florence. Savonarola stands on a plinth designed by Olinto Rimediotti. Savonarola is depicted with his right hand while raising a Cross, recalling his declaration during a public sermon in 1495, that Christ was the new King of Florence. The left hand of his gown protects, or perhaps smothers, the Marzocco, a symbol of the Republic of Florence. Restoration of the monument has been planned.The statue lacks the commanding and hypnotic drama of the bronze Monument to Girolamo Savonarola in Ferrara by Stefano Galletti.