Piazza della Indipendenza

"On April 27, 1859, the people of Florence gathered in Piazza della Indipendenza (then “Maria Antonia”, but for the Florentines still “Piazza di Barbano”) for that patriotic demonstration that would have removed Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine and irreversibly started the process of national unity. On that day, in that square, the unity of Italy was born. The writer Guido Nobili, an eyewitness and attentive chronicler, recounts that the tricolor flag was the first to wave in Florence from the balcony of his home at number 22, on the occasion of the peaceful revolution of April 27, 1859, which exiled Grand Duke Leopold II and irreversibly started the process of national unity. “Uncle Niccolò took the flag, brought it to the terrace and waved it,” Nobili recounts. That same flag, secretly made by Nobili’s mother, is today jealously guarded by his heirs. The physiognomy of the square has remained almost unchanged except, in 1869, the planting of a double row of lime trees that partly changed its image with the protests of the inhabitants. There are two great artists who have lived in this important green corner of Florence: Edgar Degas and Francisco Goya."

"This is located a few blocks up from the train station. The third Sunday of the month, and the Saturday before the piazza hosts a wonderful antique market."