Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence

Loggia dei Lanzi is an open-sided sculpture gallery, built for civic gatherings and ceremonies before becoming a setting for major works of art. Its structure dates from 1376 to 1382 and is credited to Benci di Cione Dami and Simone Talenti, in architettura gotica. Three broad arches open toward the piazza, carried by clustered columns with Corinthian capitals; their generous sweep even inspired Michelangelo to imagine the form repeated around the square.

Under the arches, Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus raises Medusa’s severed head while gripping a sword, a charged image commissioned by Cosimo I. Cellini spent 1545 to 1554 completing the statue, overcoming repeated casting failures; his desperate solution included feeding household furniture and pewter dishes into the furnace. Nearby, Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine Women twists upward from a single block of marble and was designed to be viewed from every side.

The pair of Medici lions guards the entrance: one is ancient Roman, while Flaminio Vacca carved its companion in 1598. Above, a terrace created by Bernardo Buontalenti allowed the Medici family to watch ceremonies in the piazza. The loggia’s name recalls the German mercenary guards who once occupied it under Cosimo I.