Description: Next to Ponte Vecchio, across the Borgo San Jacopo is a fountain of Bacchus and a Roman sarcophagus.
Via Guiccardini where we stayed for a week, starts here. The Guicciardini street (ex-Volterana because it leads to the town called Voltera) runs from the Ponte Vecchio towards Piazza Pitti. This narrow picturesque street is one of the busiest in Florence but the shops provide interesting possibilities for the Florence visitors. At the end of the road at No.15 is Palazzo Guicciardini, residence of Luidgi di Piero Guicciardini, Godfalonier of Justice. Famous historian and writer Francesco Guicciardini was born here in 1483. Francesco wrote here History of Italy in 1530. The courtyard and garden (1620) can be seen through the grille. Casa Campiglio in our courtyard was the house where Machiavelli lived and died in 1527. Dostoewski wrote "The Idiot" while living at No. 21, Piazza Pitti.
In the beginning of the street, on the left opens Piazza Santa Felicita with a granite column (1381) which marks the site of the first Christian cemetery in Florence. The Greek merchants settled here in 2nd century and introduced Christianity to the city. Here is Santa Felìcita (Mon–Sat 9am–noon & 3–6pm, Sun 10–11am & noon–1pm), probably the oldest church in Florence (or second oldest after San Lorenzo). The 1st church was built here in the 4th century, and restructured in the 11th and the 14th centuries. The interior has a single nave with pilasters that frame the side chapels. Between 1736 and 1739 Ferdinando Ruggieri restructured it yet again, though he preserved the portico done by Vasari. Brunelleschi designed the Cappella Capponi for the Barbadori family (inside, 1st on the right). In the 16th century it became the Medici chapel. The church worth a visit for the famous Pontormo’s paintings (The Deposition and The Annunciation).
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