Place · Italy
The history of Florence
Assembled from 4 dug tiles · 35 sourced records · 91 BC–1951 · last reviewed 16 October 2026
Florence grew in layers: a Roman city overbuilt by medieval walls and a republic, its central piazza a stage for execution and statecraft, its cathedral raised over an older buried church, and its edges opened into walled gardens and surviving fortifications. Medici dukes, friars, mercenaries and botanists all left their mark on the same ground.
These are the individual spots Strata has dug in Florence — not a guide to the town, but a record of what happened on particular ground.
Digs in Florence
A private walled garden on old city wallsYou're standing beside the Giardino Torrigiani, a ten-hectare private garden built inside Florence's old city walls. Giardino Torrigiani
91 BC–1951 A friar burned on the stones he once purified with fire
a friar burned where you stand Fontana del Nettuno
1–1594 Florence's cathedral floor conceals an older buried church
A cathedral built over a buried cathedral Piazza del Duomo
300–1530 A columned façade still watches over a bloody square
bronze duke watches Piazza della Signoria Palazzo delle Farine
1545–1594
Florence in layers
91 BC to AD 542
A radiocarbon sample dated between 91 BC and AD 542 was recovered about 1.4 kilometers from here, part of a cluster of ancient and early medieval dating evidence from this part of Tuscany. Open Context / p3k14c
The octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni, dedicated to the city's patron saint, was where Florentine infants were baptized in mass ceremonies on Holy Saturday and Pentecost. Florence Baptistery
Florence is recorded as a findspot for Roman Samian ware pottery, discovered some 725 meters from here. Wikidata
1st century AD; excavated from 1876
Excavations begun in 1876 and resumed into the 2000s revealed a 1st-century Roman theatre lying directly under the Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Gondi, its auditorium once facing this square. Wikipedia — Roman Theatre of Florence
before 1296
Santa Reparata, Florence's earlier cathedral, once stood directly under the floor of the present Duomo, right where you're standing. Santa Reparata, Florence
405 AD
Florence was besieged in 405 AD as part of the barbarian invasions unraveling the Western Roman Empire. Siege of Florence
5th or 6th century AD
Around sixty skeletons, tightly packed and including children wedged among adults, were unearthed near the Uffizi from a fifth or sixth-century plague burial. The Local Italy
from 1115
The Florentine Republic, which originated in 1115 after the Florentines rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany, made this square its lasting political centre for centuries. Wikipedia — Republic of Florence
from 1272
Porta San Frediano, built into Florence's walls in 1272, still stands 533 meters north of here, one survivor among the city gates that otherwise came down over the centuries. OpenHistoricalMap
1296–1436
Florence Cathedral was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style and not finished until 1436, when Brunelleschi's dome finally capped it. Florence Cathedral
1299
Built as the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of Florence's ruling body since the medieval republic, the fortress-like town hall rises 53 metres away and has carried the city's power under many names — Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo Ducale, Palazzo Vecchio. Wikipedia — Palazzo Vecchio
1419–1420s
Baldassare Cossa, deposed as Antipope John XXIII, was given an elaborate marble-and-bronze tomb by Donatello after his death in 1419, one of the last papal tombs built outside Rome. Tomb of Antipope John XXIII
from 1424
The Brancacci Chapel, begun in 1424 within Santa Maria del Carmine, holds frescoes by Masolino and Masaccio and lies about 300 meters from here. Wikidata
1436
Inside the cathedral, a 1436 fresco by Paolo Uccello commemorates John Hawkwood, an English soldier-for-hire hired out as Florentine propaganda after his death. Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood
1441
Baldaccio d'Anghiari, a mercenary captain killed by order of Florence's government in 1441, is buried in the basilica of Santo Spirito, about 560 meters from here. Wikidata burials
1456
Andrea del Castagno painted a matching fresco of the condottiero Niccolò da Tolentino on the cathedral's left wall in 1456. Equestrian Monument of Niccolò da Tolentino
7 February 1497
On 7 February 1497, a year before his own execution on the same ground, Savonarola's followers piled up and burned books, paintings, mirrors and fine clothing in the piazza, destroying works by Boccaccio, Fra Bartolomeo and Lorenzo di Credi. The Conversation
23 May 1498
On 23 May 1498 the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola and two companions, Domenico da Pescia and Silvestro Maruffi, were hanged and then burned at the stake in Piazza della Signoria, a spot marked today by the plaque bearing his name at your feet. National Gallery, London
1522
The politician Piero Soderini, who governed Florence as its head of state before the Medici restoration, died in 1522 and is buried in Santa Maria del Carmine, about 300 meters from here. Wikidata burials
1525–1534
Baccio Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, finished in 1534 beside the Palazzo Vecchio entrance, was commissioned as a political counterpart to Michelangelo's David and provoked bitter rivalry between the sculptors. Wikipedia — Hercules and Cacus
1529–1530
Imperial and papal forces laid siege to Florence in 1529–1530, ending the last Florentine Republic and restoring Medici rule. Siege of Florence
1531 onward
Starting from a vegetable garden bought in 1531, the Torrigiani family expanded their grounds beside you for three centuries into a ten-hectare private park, still Europe's largest walled private garden inside a city. APGI - Associazione Parchi e Giardini Italiani
1545–1554
Benvenuto Cellini's bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa, unveiled in the piazza on 27 April 1554 before Michelangelo and other rivals, stands under the Loggia dei Lanzi 48 metres from here. Wikipedia — Perseus with the Head of Medusa
1545–1554, unveiled 27 April 1554
Benvenuto Cellini's bronze of Perseus, unveiled in 1554 alongside Michelangelo's David in the piazza a short walk south, stands under the arches of the Loggia dei Lanzi. Wikipedia
Questions about Florence
What is Florence known for historically?
Florence is known as the seat of the Florentine Republic, which took shape from 1115 around Piazza della Signoria, and for the Medici family, whose rule is marked by Giambologna's bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I (1587–1594) and the Fountain of Neptune (1560–1574), a wedding gift in bronze and marble.
What happened at Piazza della Signoria in Florence?
Piazza della Signoria was the site where Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned at the stake on 23 May 1498, alongside Domenico da Pescia and Silvestro Maruffi, a little over a year after he had lit the Bonfire of the Vanities there on 7 February 1497. A bronze plaque in the paving marks the spot. The square also holds Palazzo Vecchio, seat of the Florentine Republic from 1299, and a Roman theatre buried beneath it, excavated from 1876.
What is buried beneath Florence Cathedral?
Florence Cathedral, built from 1296 to 1436, was raised directly atop Santa Reparata, the city's earlier cathedral, which was dismantled piece by piece as the new building grew over it. The site also holds a fresco tomb to the English mercenary John Hawkwood, dated 1436, and nearby, the tomb of Antipope John XXIII, buried by the Baptistery in 1419–1420s.
Who is Palazzo Uguccioni and why does it stand out in Florence?
Palazzo Uguccioni, raised from 1550 for Giovanni Uguccioni, carries the only columned façade in Florence, its authorship long debated between Raphael, Michelangelo and Palladio. It stands at the corner of Via dei Calzaiuoli and Piazza della Signoria, watched over by Giambologna's bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I de' Medici.
Was Florence ever besieged?
Florence was besieged in 1529–1530 in the republic's last stand, and an earlier siege occurred in 405 AD, in the age of Rome's fall.