Face-to-face with the Medici

Untold generations of Florentines and tourists have strolled through the Piazza della Signoria, the great municipal square that was for centuries that city’s locus of temporal power. A short walk away is the Piazza del Duomo, the religious heart of the community. These two squares are the poles that, since early medieval times, have defined the city’s character and its destiny. Sitting at an outdoor table at the venerable Caffè Rivoire, on the east corner of the Piazza della Signoria, one can savor the unparalleled sight of the massive thirteenth-century Palazzo Vecchio. The wider plaza stretches beyond on the left, and there one will spot a grand bronze equestrian statue of Grand Duke Cosimo