Fortezza Da Basso

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  • Address
    Viale Filippo Strozzi, Santa Maria Novella
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Lonely Planet review

Alessandro de' Medici ordered this huge defensive fortress built in 1534, and the task went to a Florentine living in Rome, Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane. The Medici family in general and Alessandro in particular were not flavour of the month in Florence at the time, and construction of the fortress was an ominous sign of oppression. It was not designed to protect the city from invasion - Alessandro had recently been put back in the saddle after a siege by papal imperial forces.

The idea of this fort was to keep a watchful eye over the Florentines. Nowadays it is used for trade fairs, exhibitions and cultural events.