The Torre della Pagliazza stands out in the center of Florence for its unusual semicircular shape, a defiant curve in a city defined by straight lines and stone corners. This structure dates back to between the sixth and seventh centuries,…
Medieval Tower Houses of Florence
This walk leads through Florence's narrowest medieval lanes to find the fortified stone tower-houses where rival families once lived and fought. You will see surviving towers from both sides of the Arno, revealing a skyline dominated by private fortresses long before the Renaissance.
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1. Torre della Pagliazza
2. Torre dei Donati Ian XII / XIII secolo
The Torre dei Donati rises as a stark, vertical stone structure that appears as a single unified building, though it began in the twelfth century as two separate towers belonging to the rival Ricci and Donati families. These original…
3. Torre della Castagna
The Torre della Castagna rises in Piazzetta San Martino as a slender, stone-walled tower that has kept its defensive silhouette for nearly a thousand years. Built before ten thirty-eight, it originally belonged to the Baccadiferro family…
4. Torre dei Cerchi
The Torre dei Cerchi rises from the block between Via del Corso, Via de' Cerchi, and Via dei Cimatori, identifiable by its sturdy medieval masonry and the two remaining family coats of arms embedded in the stone of its former loggia. This…
5. Torre degli Amidei
The Torre degli Amidei on Via Por Santa Maria is distinguished by two carved white marble lion heads set into its stone facade above the lower arched entrances. Built in the twelfth century by the powerful Amidei family, this structure…
6. Torre dei Gianfigliazzi
The Torre dei Gianfigliazzi stands as a stone medieval tower rising at the entrance of Via de' Tornabuoni, directly adjacent to the church of Santa Trinita. Built in the mid-thirteenth century by the Guelph Ruggerini family, the structure…
7. Torre dei Marsili
The Torre dei Marsili is a rectangular, five-story stone structure in the Oltrarno district, identifiable by the glazed terracotta figures of an Annunciation and angels mounted on its facade. Built in the twelfth century as a status symbol…
8. Torre dei Belfredelli
The Torre dei Belfredelli, located on Borgo San Jacopo in the Oltrarno district, is a seven-story medieval stone tower recognizable by the thick ivy covering the lower half of its façade. Built by the Belfredelli family in the twelfth…
9. Torre dei Mannelli
The Torre dei Mannelli occupies the southeast corner of the Ponte Vecchio, distinct for being the only survivor of the four defensive towers that once guarded the bridge’s corners. Rising from the stones of the thirteenth century, this…