The walls of Florence. What walls? Unlike many cities and towns in Italy there appear to be no walls surrounding this gem of the Italian renaissance. Yet before 1860 Florence had one of the finest defensive systems of any city. Extending over five miles the walls were designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect also of the Palazzo Vecchio and the basilica of Santa Croce in the fourteenth century. Florence’s walls were punctuated by great gates which also served as customs posts bringing in some useful cash into the city’s coffers.

In 1861 the unification of Italy changed the situation for Florence. Rome had not yet been captured and Turin became the temporary capital of the new kingdom. In 1865 the capital was transferred to Florence and the city fathers decided that its mediaeval street were unfit for purpose and that the place needed improvement. City development architect Poggi’s master plan brought some new features which are still appreciated today, especially the ‘viale dei colli’, the panoramic road which winds up to piazzale Michelangelo on Florence’s south bank. So much of great historic and artistic value, however, perished. Among these the greatest losses were the demolition of the ancient city heart centred around the old market and ghetto and also those walls. It would have been perfectly possible to have constructed a circle of roads outside the walls as has happily occurred in Lucca to magnificent effect but speculation was rife and Florence’s walls were demolished, often by dynamiting them – so solid were they – and French-style boulevards built where the defensive bastions had been situated.

Luckily many gateways were spared: the Porta San Gallo and the Porta Romana, for example, and they stand as reminders of what must have been perhaps Italy’s finest walled city. These gates have lost their original appearance for with the advent of fire power in the sixteenth century they were truncated to half their heights in order to be able to withstand damage from the new generation of weapons. Only one remains to its original height: the Porta San Niccolò by the South bank of the Arno river in the eastern part of the city.
Standing at a height of 45 metres the Porta is an imposing structure which we have often admired on our visits to Florence. With its set of three large arches and its cantilevered steps it had tempted me to climb to its top but it was always closed to visitors. Fortunately it is now managed by a friends of Florence association and visits can be booked.

Our guide was a very knowledgeable young lady who told me the history of Florence’s walls I have related above. The climb up those stairs was dizzying but even more spectacular were the views of this utterly rapturous city from the top.

I leave you with our photographs of those views!

I