San Frediano, Florence

San Frediano is both a Florentine street and the quarter around it, known for the former workshops of artisans who worked across the Arno. Its local speech became especially prominent here, and the writer Vasco Pratolini made the district the setting of his book Le ragazze di San Frediano. This street once received traffic arriving from Pisa and Livorno’s port.

The church and convent dedicated to Saint Frediano stood along the street and in Piazza del Carmine until Grand Duke Peter Leopold suppressed them in 1783. The former church of the Romite di Ponte later became the sculpture studio of Pasquale Romanelli, who worked there from 1851 to 1887; a plaque with his portrait remains, and the space is still an atelier used by his descendants. San Frediano also gave its name to a gate in Florence’s walls.