Piazza della Signoria - the political heart of Florence
Since Medieval times this has been the political heart of Florence. The square owes its original form to the Gulephs who, at the end of the 13th century, on regaining control of the city, destroyed the houses of the Ghibellines, beginning with the towers of Foraboschi and Uberti.
The square is a veritable open air museum, a stage on which the statues act out the most important artistic events in the city's history.
On the South side of the square, in front of Palazzo Vecchio, is the Piazzale of the Uffizi, bordered by the Loggia dei Lanzi (1376-82), designed by Orcagna and finished by his brother in 1382. The Loggia was named "dei Lanzi" after Cosimo I's bodyguards, the Lanzichenecchi. Under the late Gothic vaults of the loggia are 15 statues some of which are copies.
Here you find the extraordinary Perseus holding the head of Medusa, by Benvenuto Cellini. Another famous statue is the Rape of the Sabines, the dynamic statue by Giambologna (1583). This statue was sculpted from a single block of marble. The work is thought to be the first group of European sculpture created so as to be seen perfectly from all sides.
