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It was built in 1865, designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi on a hill just south of the historic center, to complete the redevelopment works on the left bank of the Arno. Since that year Florence was the capital of Italy and the whole city was engaged in an urban renewal, the so-called "renovation", or the bourgeois revival of the city: the boulevard-like boulevards were created instead of the walls of the city. right bank, Piazza della Repubblica was opened in the heart of the center, and Viale dei Colli was opened, a tree-lined panoramic road 8 kilometers long, at the height of which the square was built.
The chronicle of the rapid construction of this last enterprise has been described in detail by the Italian journalist Pietro Ferrigni (known under the pseudonym of Yorick) who does not fail to report how a part of the Florentines was displeased "for the excessive expense" of the construction.
The square, dedicated to the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo, presents copies of some of his famous works preserved in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the Medici Chapels of San Lorenzo. These copies are made of bronze, while the originals are all in white marble. The monument was brought up by nine pairs of oxen on 25 June 1873. Poggi also designed the neoclassical style loggia which dominates the entire terrace and which today houses a panoramic restaurant. Originally it was supposed to house a museum of Michelangelo's works, never built. In the wall of the balcony, located under the loggia, there is an epigraph in cubit characters that recalls his work: Giuseppe Poggi Florentine architect turn around here is his monument MCXXI. the panorama embraces the heart of Florence, from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce, passing through the lungarni and the bridges of Florence in sequence, especially the Ponte Vecchio; the Duomo, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello and the octagonal bell tower of the Badia Fiorentina stand out, not forgetting the opposite hills to the north of the city, with the central Fiesole and Settignano. The Piazzale can be accessed by car along the tree-lined Viale Michelangelo, built in those same years, or by walking up the monumental stairways called Rampe del Poggi from Piazza Poggi in the district of San Niccolò. |
