If you're not already in the square, I suggest passing by Via dei Servi to reach it, with the dome of the Cathedral standing out in the background. As you can see, three of the square's four sides are surrounded by a row of "a tutto sesto", or rounded arches, which unites the square as a whole. Even here you can recognize the hand of the great Brunelleschi.
In the center of the square you can admire the equestrian statue of the Grand Duke Ferdinando I that was started by Giambologna and completed by Pietro Tacca in the early 1600s.
Tacca also created the two original bronze fountains that are symmetrically placed slightly behind the monument. See if you can find sea monsters, shells, fish, and garlands of molluscs and seaweed in the fountatins.
These fountains were originally commissioned for the port of Livorno and were placed here in the mid-seventeenth century, thereby bringing a piece of the Tyrrhenian Sea to Florence, even if it's a little odd.
If you look in the same direction as the Grand Duke Medici towards Via dei Servi, you'll see the statue framed by two beautiful palaces: Due Fontane, or Two Fountains on the left, and Palazzo Grifoni on the right. The latter deserves to be mentioned not only for the strange triumphal arch at the center of its façade on the first floor, but also because as you can see, it is made of brick, a building material that's rarely used in Florence. Perhaps in another city the beautiful reddish color of the façade could go unnoticed; here in Florence, however, it adds a touch of fresh originality.
FUN FACT: at the corner of the square you can see Palazzo Budini-Gattai, which is famous for a love story that was taken to the grave. A noblewoman waited for her husband's return from war at one of the palace's windows. She waited for him all her life. When she died, as soon as her relatives tried to close the window, utter chaos erupted in the room until they left it open. They say that the ghost of the woman is still there waiting at the window.
Language: English