Florence As It Was

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.

Learn More

Buildings

The Bargello		Palace of the Podestà, jail, and chapel for the condemned
The Bigallo		Fourteenth-century charitable institution
The Innocenti		15th century children's hospital
Orsanmichele		Fourteenth-century granary and church of the guilds
Palazzo Davanzati		14th century merchant's residence
San Lorenzo		Fifteenth-century parish church, brainchild of Brunelleschi and burial ground of the early Medici
San Miniato		Eleventh-century Olivetan church and monastery
Santa Croce		Fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Franciscan church and friary
Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo)		Early Christian foundations; 14th century nave; 15th century cupola
Santa Maria Novella		Dominican convent and cloisters of Santa Maria Novella (1275)

Models

Bigallo by Sam Joseph for Florence As It Was on Sketchfab

The Loggia of the Bigallo

Florence As It Was' first 3D model is that of the Loggia of the Bigallo, one of Florence's most visible structures on the Piazza San Giovanni and a physical reminder of the city's rich Medieval past. The structure housed charitable organizations that ministered to orphaned children, poor unwed girls, the homeless, and pilgrims on the way to and from Rome. These confraternities sponsored the creation of some of the city's most unique art in order to decorate their residence and proclaim their importance in the fabric of Florentine society. And like much of Florence's past, the Bigallo has undergone significant changes—changes that we hope to unravel, peeling back the layers of time to find the Medieval city that gave birth to the Italian Renaissance. The Bigallo, then, is a perfect starting point for our work, and a snapshot that captures the essence of Florence As It Was.

Sam Joseph created the model using thousands images (which he took with a point-and-shoot camera and a tripod over the summer of 2017) and pieced it together using a process called photogrammetry. For future models, we hope to gain access to a high-resolution drone for detailed exteriors and a laser scanner for interiors.

Resources

Del Migliore

Italian, 1628-1696

Ferdinando del Migliore was born in 1628 and spent his adult life researching and writing about the history of Florence. A gifted archivist, del Migliore scoured the registers and contracts of individuals and institutions in an effort to present to his readers accurate accounts of the city’s past.

Migliore on the Bigallo