The Digital Reconstruction of a Medieval City

Welcome to Florence As It Was, a digital project that aims to reconstruct the city the way it appeared at the end of the fifteenth century. Here you can review, inspect, tour, and visit the streets, palaces, churches, shops, and offices that formed the fabric of one of Europe’s most vibrant cities. Here you will find images, people, payments, relationships, literary references, contemporary descriptions, and sometimes even music related to the individual structures that shaped a Florentine’s daily experience in 1500.

Here you can read, in English, the Italian and German interpretations of these people and places that were written by critics and scholars in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. See the seat of government and power in the late Middle Ages. Walk through the streets and buildings where Cosimo de’ Medici spent much of his time. Examine the most important cult painting in the city and the tabernacle that framed it. Zoom in close, fly high above, or approach these places from below. Search for names, places, dates, and events, and see how links and connections can be made in unexpected ways. Above all, imagine.

There’s a lot of information and a lot of data in these sites, so have patience while they load. It’s worth the wait.

Buildings

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SS. Annunziata

Cult center and convent of Santissima Annunziata.

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SS. Apostoli

Ninth-century parish church.

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Badia

The Benedictine Abbey of Florence.

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Bargello

Palace of the Podestà, jail, and chapel for the condemned.

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Bigallo

14th-century charitable institution.

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S. Croce

Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Franciscan church and friary.

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S. Giovanni

Eleventh-century baptistery of S. Giovanni.

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S. Lorenzo

Fifteenth-century parish church, brainchild of Brunelleschi and burial ground of the early Medici.

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S. Maria del Fiore

The Duomo of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; foundations of early church of S. Reparata.

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S. Maria Novella

Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Dominican convent, ca. 1275.

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S. Miniato

Eleventh-century church and monastery.

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Orsanmichele

Fourteenth-century granary and church of the guilds.

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Thumbnail of the Innocenti
Ospedale degli Innocenti

15th century children's hospital.

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Palazzo Davanzati

14th century merchant's residence, Davizzi family.

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Palazzo Medici

Residence built by Cosimo de' Medici.

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S. Remigio

Thirteenth-century parish church.

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S. Spirito

Fifteenth-century Servite convent designed by Brunelleschi.

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S. Trinita

Fourteenth-century church built on top of twelfth-century structure.

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