Discover Florence's curious facts when you are here!

THE EMBLEM OF THE CITY
The emblem of Florence is a red lily, the representation of which derives from the Florentine iris, a white flower that was very common in the local area.
At the time when Florence was a free comune, the city’s emblem was white on a red ground, but following the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines the colours were inverted, resulting in a red lily on a white ground. The emblem has remained virtually unaltered down the ages and the city council still uses it today.

FLORENTIA
Florentia, Roman Florence, occupied a quadrilateral area delimited by the modern-day Via Cerretani-Piazza Duomo to the north, Via del Proconsolo to the east, Piazza della Signoria-Via delle Terme to the south and Via dei Tornabuoni to the west. The two main streets, the decumanus (east-west) and the cardo (north-south) intersected more or less at the point where Piazza della Repubblica is situated today. The column in the piazza is topped by a statue of Abundance, an 18th-century copy of an original work – irreversibly damaged by the ravages of time – by Donatello. The current piazza, built in the 19th century, is on the spot once occupied by the Roman Forum.

FOUR QUARTERS
The historic centre of Florence is traditionally divided into four quarters, named after the most important churches. Three of them are on the right-hand bank of the Arno, “di qua d’Arno”: Santa Maria Novella, which has a red gonfalon decorated with a gold sun on a sky-blue ground; San Giovanni, which has a green gonfalon with a temple (the Baptistery, dedicated to Saint John) on a sky-blue ground; and the quarter of Santa Croce, which has a sky-blue gonfalon decorated with a gold cross. The only quarter “di là d’Arno” is Santo Spirito, which has a white gonfalon emblazoned with a dove.

THE MARZOCCO
One of the symbols of the city is the Marzocco, a seated lion with the emblem of Florence resting on its paw.
The name derives from Mars, the very first symbol of Florentia, which was then replaced by the lion. One little-known curiosity is that live lions were once kept in cages behind Palazzo Comunale, in the street that is still known as Via dei Leoni today.

GUILDS AND PROFESSIONS
The guilds or corporations of craftsmen, merchants and artisans have very ancient origins. In medieval Florence the guilds gradually acquired a dominant position in the city’s government, heavily influencing its political and administrative choices. The arti maggiori, namely the guilds formed by the leading manufacturers and merchants, were seven in all, each of which had its own crest: the Merchants (Calimala); the Judges and Notaries; the Moneychangers; the Wool Manufacturers; Por Santa Maria or Silk Manufacturers; the Physicians and Apothecaries; and the Furriers.

THE EAGLE OF SAN MINIATO
The façade of the Romanesque basilica of San Miniato, which overlooks Florence from the hill immediately above Piazzale Michelangelo, is crowned by a gilt copper eagle.
It may seem odd that a rapacious bird should have replaced the cross. But the eagle, which clutches a torsello (a sack of wool) in its claws, was the symbol of the Calimala, the powerful Merchants’ Guild, which was granted this unusual concession having been entrusted with administering the basilica in 1288