Piazza della Libertà: Porta San Gallo & the Lorraine Arch
Why is it significant?
Two monuments face each other across the traffic. On one side, a tall medieval gate in plain stone, standing alone with no wall on either side. On the other, a grand triumphal arch crowned with statues. Between them, arcades and a garden, and cars circling like the chariots of a racetrack.
Key Facts
| Place | Piazza della Libertà: Porta San Gallo & the Lorraine Arch |
|---|---|
| Address | Piazza della Libertà, 50129 Firenze FI, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 43.78400, 11.26180 |
| Part of Walk | Florence, Capital of Italy: Boulevards, Exiles and the English Cemetery |
| Generated | Generated |
Two monuments face each other across the traffic. On one side, a tall medieval gate in plain stone, standing alone with no wall on either side. On the other, a grand triumphal arch crowned with statues. Between them, arcades and a garden, and cars circling like the chariots of a racetrack.
The gate is Porta San Gallo, built in the 1280s as part of the last ring of walls of medieval Florence. For centuries, travellers from Bologna and the north entered the city here, under the eyes of the customs men. Its wall has gone, and what was once the front door of Florence is now a gatehouse with no house.
The arch tells a story of the end of a dynasty. In 1737 the last Medici grand duke died without heirs, and the European powers handed Tuscany to Francis Stephen of Lorraine, husband of the future empress Maria Theresa. Florence built this arch to welcome him, and he entered the city in January 1739. He stayed only a few months and never came back. The arch, meanwhile, took years to finish. A monument to a ruler who visited once.
What you see around the two monuments is the capital of Italy at work. Giuseppe Poggi, the architect in charge of enlarging Florence, cleared the walls, kept the gate as a monument, and wrapped the space in uniform porticoes, an elegant Parisian-style square at the start of his new boulevards. It was first named after Cavour, the statesman who made Italy. The name Liberty came later.
Florentines still argue about Poggi. Some call him the man who murdered the medieval walls, others the man who gave a cramped city air and light. Make up your own mind as you walk his boulevard: head south-east down the wide avenue of Viale Giacomo Matteotti.