Spending a few days in Florence is one of the best things that can happen to an art lover. If we also add that this magnificent city is the capital of the Tuscany , one of the most beautiful regions of Europe, it is certain that our stay will be something spectacular that we will not forget. The city of the Medici hides secrets that we want to share with you, join us to know 25 Curiosities of impressive Florence .
Florence is a populous city of 380,000 inhabitants, the eighth most populous of Italy , but whose metropolitan area exceeds one million people. In the Middle Ages, with the help of the Medici family, it became an important economic, cultural, artistic and financial center. Getting lost in its streets is an invitation to suffer Stendhal syndrome before so much beauty and artistic magnificence, not in vain it is also known as "Florence Syndrome".
25 Curiosities of Florence
1. At Easter, a huge float runs through the streets of Florence, throwing fireworks to symbolically share among all the Florentines the blessed fire of Easter purification. It's the Brindellone. It measures almost 11 meters and is kept throughout the year behind a gigantic door on Via il Prato.
2. If you look carefully among the gargoyles of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, you will find one that is the head of an ox. It is believed that it is a tribute to the animals that carried the stones to build the cathedral.
3. However, there is a legend about the gargoyle in the shape of an ox head. He says that the author was a master stonemason who had a lover who lived in front of the cathedral and the horned animal represents her husband.
4. After the last restoration the clock of the Duomo has remained as it was when it was painted by Paolo Uccello. It also has the peculiarity of being divided into 24 spaces and that its needles turn inside out!
5. In the Piazza della Signoria, on the wall of Palazzo Vecchio you can see a "graffiti" made by Miguel Angel. He is known as "the importunate" (the inopportune) and tells the legend that Miguel Angel sculpted with one hand behind his back, to kill time while listening to the unbearable talk of a gentleman who pestered him every day.
6. If you want to see a virgin covering her nose, you can see her in Borgo San Jacopo, in a corner of Via Toscanella. It was sculpted and placed there in the 80s by the artist Mario Mariotti to denounce the smell of rust in that area and try to dissuade those who made their needs on the street.
7. Among the curiosities of Florence It is hidden from the view of everyone in the Piazza della Signoria. It is the face of Benvenutto Cellini hidden in the back of the helmet of the "Perseus and the head of Medusa" sculpted by him. If you want to know more details you can read them here: 3 works of art that tell a story .
8. Although it is impossible, if you get bored in Florence you can go to the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata and count the bees in the back of the monument of Fenando I de Medici. They represent the industrious Florentines and it is very difficult to count them just by looking at them, without using their hands to point them out or touch them. They say that if the number is correct you will have good luck.
9. Another of the curiosities of Florence is that the city is the one that is believed to be the oldest pharmacy in Europe. It dates from 1612 and is very close to the church of Santa María la Novella, in via della Scala, 16. Today it is not dedicated especially to perfumery and herbalism, but its owners have retained the atmosphere of the time.
10. Until the sixteenth century, the shops of the Ponte Vecchio were not the jewelries and goldsmith shops that we see today, but instead fishmongers, butchers and greengrocers who threw their waste directly into the Arno River from the bridge. Cosimo I Medici was the one who forced the change.
11. The famous Vasari Corridor that goes from the Pitti Palace to the Palazzo della Signoria was built by Vasari in just 5 months!
12. If you want to see the tomb of Galileo Galilei you have to go to the Basilica of Santa Croce. However, you must know that he was first buried in a secret place in the same basilica in the Novitiate chapel. In 1737 he was transferred to his current location. Surprisingly they found in his grave two other bodies, although the historians are not sure, believe that they were those of their daughter María Celeste and her assistant Vicenzo Viviani.
13. Another famous bridge in Florence is Santa Trinidad. On its sides there are sculpted two heads of sheep, symbol of war and force chosen by Cosimo I de Medici. They are there to protect the city from the floods of the Arno and the attacks of the Pisans.
14. In the Borgo Santi Apostoli you will find a little square called "Piazza del Limbo" because there was a cemetery there a long time ago where you buried children who died before being baptized.
15. In Florence, Leonardo da Vinci was accused of homosexuality and acquitted for lack of evidence. If you want to know more information about these events you can read the story in this post: The arrest of da Vinci in 1476 by homosexual .
16. Another of the curiosities of Florence It is in the hand of one of its most famous and visited statues: the David by Michelangelo. In his hand he carries a secret weapon that historians have identified as a fustíbalo. The fustíbalo served to increase the effectiveness of the sling.
17. The Piazzale Michellangelo is one of the best places to see the whole city. It was built in the second half of the 19th century and 9 pairs of oxen were needed to climb up the copy of David and the other statues that adorn it.
18. The oldest church in the city is Santa María Maggiore and on one of its walls, on the side that faces Via Cerretani, between the last and the last but one window, we can see one of the curiosities of Florence. It is a head of a woman known as Berta.
19. On the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore there is a golden copper metal ball that weighs 1,981 kg. and that it was executed in Verrochio's workshop. In 1492 it was struck by lightning and fell to the ground. It was not put back in place until 1601.
20. If you want to see where the huge and heavy ball fell, you only have to go to Via dell'Oriuolo and see the exact point where it hit the ground.
21. On the streets of Florence, normally perpendicular, you will find a rarity: a street that outlines a semicircular shape in a sector of Via Torta. This is because it follows the layout of the old Roman amphitheater of the city.
22. In the center of the Loggia del Porcellino you can see on the floor, made with two-tone marble, a wheel with six spokes, it is known as the stone "dello scandalo". It punished the debtors of the city and was the meeting point of the Florentine soldiers before going to battle.
23. If your senses are a bit saturated with Gothic and Italian Renaissance, in Florence you can also find a building of Art style Nouveau . It is the work of Giovanni Michelazzi and is located on Via Borgo Ognissanti, very close to the church "di Ognissanti".
24. On the top floor of the Palazzo Vechio there is a painting of a Virgin who has a particular curiosity. In the sky appears a strange flying object that many have described as a UFO. It is called "Madonna and San Juan" and is believed to be the work of one of these two authors: SebastianoMainardio Jacopo del Sellai. If you want to know more about this mysterious object you can read the post: The supposed UFO of the painting The Madonna and San Juan .
25. The last of these curiosities of Florence we dedicate it to sports lovers. Under the Ponte Vecchio, on the Arno river, the "Ponte Vecchio Golf Challenge" has been held for a few years, a very unique golf competition with great public success.
Other Curiosities of Cities
And if you love to travel and know the secrets of the different countries and their urban centers, you can discover with us curiosities of Europe , from the most surprising data from other wonderful cities that you will surely be interested in such as:
- Curiosities of Barcelona
- Curiosities of Seville
- Curiosities of Madrid
- Curiosities of Bilbao
- Curiosities of London
- Curiosities of Paris
- Curiosities of Prague
- Curiosities of Venice
As you see, the capital of Tuscany, hides a myriad of secrets and interesting places to discover. What do you think about our selection of curiosities of Florence ? Do you know any that we have not taken into account? Tell us and we can expand this list of curiosities.