The Tower or Torre dei Rossi-Cerchi is a reconstructed medieval tower, now part of the B&B Hotel Pitti Palace al Ponte Vecchio, located on Via Guicciardini, corner Borgo San Jacopo, in the Oltrarno district near the entrance to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The present tower is a reconstruction after the prior structure was entirely razed by mining to destroy all the Florentine bridges over the Arno by retreating German forces during World War Two.
The tower was built in the early 1200s by the Guelph Rossi family. The tower and the adjacent house were partially destroyed, after the Ghibelline victory at the Battle of Montaperti and the property was inherited at first by the Cerchi family, and later by the Canigiani family. [1]
The structure is presently part of the B&B Hotel Pitti Palace al Ponte Vecchio.
A statue of Bacchus is now present in a niche created in the tower. At the site, this statue was previously a fountain with a Roman Sarcophagus, a grouping which had been assembled in 1838. The Sarcophagus was destroyed in the World War. The statue was attributed to Giambologna. The present statue is a copy of the original now kept in the Bargello.
Before the statue of Bacchus, the site had a statue of Centaurus, also by Giambologna, now moved to the Loggia della Signoria.
Bartolomeo Ammannati was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence, Italy. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 360,930 inhabitants in 2023, and 984,991 in its metropolitan area.
The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II, it is noted for the shops built along it; building shops on such bridges was once a common practice. Butchers, tanners, and farmers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers, and souvenir sellers. The Ponte Vecchio's two neighbouring bridges are the Ponte Santa Trinita and the Ponte alle Grazie.
The Boboli Gardens is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, which later served as inspiration for many European courts. The large green area is a real open-air museum with statues of various styles and periods, ancient and Renaissance that are distributed throughout the garden. It also has large fountains and caves, among them the splendid Buontalenti grotto built by the artist, architect, and sculptor Bernardo Buontalenti between 1536 and 1608.
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's David statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi.
The Palazzo Pitti, in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.
The Bargello, also known as the Palazzo del Bargello or Palazzo del Popolo, is a former barracks and prison in Florence, Italy. Since 1865, it has housed the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, a national art museum.
Piazza della Signoria is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The wide arches appealed so much to the Florentines that Michelangelo proposed that they should be continued all around the Piazza della Signoria.
Pierre Franqueville, generally called Pietro Francavilla, was a Franco-Flemish sculptor trained in Florence, who provided sculpture for Italian and French patrons in the elegant Late Mannerist tradition established by Giambologna.
The Vasari Corridor is an elevated enclosed passageway in Florence, central Italy, connecting the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, it joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing the Lungarno dei Archibusieri, then following the north bank of the River Arno until it crosses the river at Ponte Vecchio. At the time of construction, the corridor had to be built around the Torre dei Mannelli, using brackets, because the tower's owners refused to alter it. The corridor conceals part of the façade of the Church of Santa Felicità. It then snakes its way over rows of houses in the Oltrarno district, becoming narrower, to finally join the Palazzo Pitti. The corridor's full length is approximately one kilometre.
Piazza della Repubblica is a city square in Florence, Italy. It was originally the site of the city's forum; then of its old ghetto, which was swept away during the improvement works, or Risanamento, initiated during the brief period when Florence was the capital of a reunited Italy—work that also created the city's avenues and boulevards. At that time, the Loggia del Pesce from the Mercato Vecchio was also moved to Piazza Ciompi. The square's Giubbe Rosse cafe has long been a meeting place for famous artists and writers, notably those of Futurism.
The Torre dei Mannelli is a small tower on the southeast corner of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy. It is the only survivor of the four towers that once defended each corner of the bridge. In 1565, the Mannelli family refused to have it altered or demolished so that the Vasari Corridor could be built in a straight line. Instead the corridor swerved round it on brackets.
The Hotel Laurus al Duomo is a hotel in Florence, in the historical Via de' Cerretani, with a façade in Via dell'Alloro. The building is about 70 meters away from Piazza del Duomo, Florence, the Florence Cathedral and the Giotto's Campanile. The building is not far from the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and from the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station. The building is also in front of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Florence. The building of the hotel is also the location of Auditorium al Duomo and of Caffè Astra al Duomo. The hotel, together with Hotel Pitti Palace al Ponte Vecchio, Auditorium al Duomo and Caffè Astra al Duomo is part of the system Centro Congressi al Duomo and shares the ethos Life Beyond Tourism.
The Fountain of Neptune in Florence, Italy, is situated in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. The fountain was commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1559 to celebrate the marriage of Francesco de' Medici I to Grand Duchess Joanna of Austria. Cosimo I de' Medici was the Duke of Florence from 1537-1569 and responsible for a vast number of architectural and artistic elements in Florence that still exist today.
The Casino Mediceo di San Marco is a late-Renaissance or Mannerist style palace located on Via Cavour number 57 and via San Gallo in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The Palazzo del Circolo dell'Unione, also once known across the centuries as the Palazzo Corsi, Montauto, or della Commenda da Castiglione, is a late-Renaissance-style palace located on Via Tornabuoni #7 in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. In 2015, it still houses the Circolo society, and houses among other enterprises, a boutique hotel.
Nano Morgante was an Italian dwarf who was a famed buffoon and court jester in the court of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Morgante was ironically nicknamed after the giant from the poem of the same name by Luigi Pulci. He was the most celebrated of the five dwarves of the Medici court at the Palazzo Pitti.
Palazzo Acciaiuoli, also known as Palazzo Usimbardi' or Usimbardi-Acciaiuoli, is located in Borgo Santi Apostoli in the historical centre of Florence. It incorporates the older Torre degli Acciaiuoli, formerly dei Buondelmonti, located at the corner of Chiasso delle Misure. Today it houses a hotel.