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[Dario's version] The San Firenze Complex, the Florentine Baroque

Florence through the Mayor's eyes - Chapter 1

Discover Florence through the Mayor's eyes: a trip through the places and the mysteries of Florence.

This chapter is dedicated to the Florentine Baroque, a very rare sight in Florence, city known as the capital of the Renaissance.  
The San Firenze Complex is the structure par excellence of Florentine Baroque architecture and style. Its history is tied to San Filippo Neri, though it has held many roles throughout history, most recently as the Palazzo di Giustizia, the city’s courthouse.
When the administration relocated to outside the city center, the building lost much of its former life, but it was recently revived as the Franco Zeffirelli International Center for the Performing Arts.
Franco Zeffirelli was born in Florence and is one of the best-known figures in opera, music and the arts. He is responsible for the most remarkable projects in theater and cinema, unforgettable films, not to mention his ties to masterpieces (from Verdi to Puccini) that play a central role in the history of opera. We linked his name to San Firenze, which now houses his private collection, because he born while the world witnessed the first displays of “recitar cantando” [speaking in song] and the birth of the Camerata di Caccini, Peri, or Monteverdi, when spoken word began merging with music.
The melodrama and opera both began in Florence at the height of the Italian Baroque era, when buildings like the one in San Firenze were emerging.
Today, the building is open to visitors, and if you want to know more about that, then you should absolutely visit it.