Renaissance Geometries

The beginning of the modern age sees the human being as the protagonist of his own time and the architect of his own destiny. Humanistic philological studies restore to classical culture the value and importance that the Middle Ages had completely removed. Man is reevaluated in his rationality and as part of the civil consortium and the nature that surrounds him. All branches of knowledge are affected by this "renaissance."

Renaissance urbanism theorizes the Ideal City, which underlies an exemplary model of life and government, valuing the spaces in which man relates to his fellow man and is able to best express his ingenuity, culture and skills. Just as in classicism - the forum in ancient Rome and the agora in Athens - the Renaissance square is the place par excellence where human assembly expresses itself and where daily life takes place, a place that responds to strict rules of perspective organization of space, where architectural design employs proportions and measurements that give the whole harmoniousness.

In Florence, Piazza della Santissima Annunziata is one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architectural design. The most prominent architects of the time contributed their studies and works to the qualification of the area where the Basilica stands. Filippo Brunelleschi in 1419 kicked off the rearrangement of the Piazza, designing the loggia of the Spedale degli Innocenti, around which subsequent projects were developed.

In 1444, Michelozzo started the construction of the present Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata , which would rise on the oratory founded by the Servi di Maria in honor of the Virgin. Antonio Manetti, between 1447 and 1452, built the first one-arched portico in front of the church, which was later enlarged between 1599 and 1601 by Giovanni Battista Caccini.

Facing and mirroring the Loggia of the Spedale degli Innocenti, the Loggia dei Servi di Maria was built between 1516 and 1525, designed by Baccio d'Agnolo and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. Taking Via dei Servi, towards Santa Maria del Fiore, on the right stands Palazzo Grifoni, built by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1563 using exposed brick and stone for the rustication, cornices, windows, serlianas and friezes.

On the left we find the Palazzo delle due Fontane, specially renovated to become the twin of Palazzo Grifoni. In the first half of the seventeenth century the square was enriched with precious elements of street furniture: the equestrian monument to Grand Duke Ferdinand I  by Giambologna, completed in 1608 by Pietro Tacca who also designed the two bronze fountains with marine figures in 1629.

​Piazza della Santissima Annunziata defines the conceptual perfection of the ideal City, bringing harmony for the urbanistic study employed in centuries of architectural interventions, for its proportions, symmetries and specularity.

We offer a selection of artisans practicing their craft in the Santissima Annunziata neighborhood and in close proximity.