Right in front of you, you’ll see a striking cream-colored building with three grand floors, arched upper windows, and a long stone balcony facing the square-just look for the elegant palazzo at the corner, where rows of scooters are usually parked right in front.
Welcome to the former home of the Department of Italian Studies of the University of Florence! Imagine Florence in the late 1800s, the city buzzing with desires for grandeur when it briefly became the capital of Italy. The architect Enrico Guidotti, eager to make his mark, picked this plot after an urban expansion plan by Giuseppe Poggi, and built a stately palazzo packed with character-just picture the echo of horses’ hooves, and elegant residents strolling under these arched windows. Fast forward to the 1970s and picture students rushing up the grand entrance, ducking into large halls and a spectacular corridor, its vaulted ceiling bursting with grottesque paintings by Tuscan artists. Overhead, intricate frescoes tell silent stories-one hall even has an image of the Assumption, and there’s a dazzling White Room that once welcomed scholars, later filled with the rustling of pages in the library.
But wait, the story doesn’t end in academia. In recent years, real estate dreams swept in! In 2023, this building caught the eye of Palazzini Corporate S.r.l., who set out to turn it into luxury residences, branding it as “Palazzo Savonarola”-their crowdfunding campaign roared to life, as 375 hopeful investors poured in 1.4 million euros in just six days. But if you listen closely, you might just hear whispers of suspense-despite all the excitement, by 2024, nothing had happened, not a single hammer swing. Investors grew worried, waiting for news that never seemed to come. So as you stand outside, you’re part of a living story, full of ambition, art, tension, and maybe, a fresh new chapter just around the corner!
