Opening onto the Arno at Lungarno alle Grazie, this square is dominated by the imposing National Central Library.
The site once belonged to the convent of Santa Croce. It was later transferred to Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici, who built cavalry barracks here, giving the square the name it still bears.
The barracks were demolished when construction of the National Library began in 1911, but the square kept its name.
Alongside the river and the library, Corso Tintori and Via Magliabechi define its edges.