Piazzale Michelangelo: A Terrace Built for a Capital

Why is it significant?

Walk to the balustrade and take it all in: the river with its bridges stacked one behind the other, the dome of the cathedral, the slim tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the long roof of Santa Croce, and behind them the hills rising towards Fiesole.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Walk to the balustrade and take it all in: the river with its bridges stacked one behind the other, the dome of the cathedral, the slim tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the long roof of Santa Croce, and behind them the hills rising towards Fiesole. This is the view on a thousand postcards, and it still works.

The terrace is younger than it feels. In 1865 Florence became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy, and the city set out to look the part. The architect Giuseppe Poggi tore down most of the medieval walls north of the river, laid out wide avenues, and on this side designed a winding boulevard climbing the hills, the Viale dei Colli, ending in this terrace, completed in 1869.

In the middle stands a bronze David, a copy of Michelangelo's marble one, surrounded by copies of the four reclining figures from the Medici tombs. When the bronze was cast in the 1870s, it had to be dragged up the hill by teams of oxen. And the elegant building behind you was planned as a museum of Michelangelo's works. It never became one.

By 1871 the capital had moved on to Rome, and Florence was left with grand plans and enormous debts. For a while the city was close to bankruptcy. But Poggi's work stayed, and today it is hard to imagine the city without the terrace that shows it off so well.

Come back at sunset if you can. The stone of the city turns pink and then gold, the swallows come out, and someone always starts playing a guitar. Now walk to the left end of the terrace, where a path and a gate lead down into a hidden garden on the slope beneath your feet.