Florence By Area >> Oltrarno

This part of Florence is best appreciated by wandering around the square and its market, looking at the many furniture restorers' workshops and medieval palazzi. The biggest house in the square is the Palazzo Guadagni at No.10, on the corner with Via Mazzetta. It was built around 1505, probably to the designs of Cronaca. The windows have distinctive stone surrounds with tear-drop shaped keystones. The top floor forms an open loggia, the first of its kind to be built in the city.

The loggia set a fashion among 16th century Florentine aristocrats, who incorporated the design into their own palazzi.

Opened in the mid 13th century, this road became a fashionable residential area after the Medici Grand Dukes moved to the Palazzo Pitti in 1550. It is lined with 15th and 16th century palazzi, such as the Palazzo Ricasoli at No.7, and antique shops. Via Maggio runs into Piazza di San Felice, where a plaque marks the Casa Guidi. The English poets Elizabeth and Robert Browning rented an apartment here after eloping in 1847. Inspired by Tuscan art and landscape, this is where they wrote much of their best poetry.