Loggia dei Lanzi

This grand structure on the right-hand side of Piazza della Signoria, beside the Uffizi Gallery, was built in the second half of the 14th century. It is also known as the Loggia dell’Orcagna, after the artist to whom it is attributed, or the Loggia della Signoria. Originally conceived as a covered space for ceremonies and public gatherings, under Grand Duke Cosimo I it housed the Landsknechts, commonly called Lanzi, a garrison of imperial soldiers defending the palace. During the 16th century it became an open-air museum, with numerous sculptures including the Renaissance masterpieces Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini and The Rape of the Sabine Women and Hercules and the Centaur Nessus by Giambologna. The Matrons, female figures along the rear wall, the Patroclus and Menelaus group and the lion on the right are Roman. Pio Fedi’s Rape of Polyxena dates from the 19th century. On the loggia’s roof, a hanging garden in Medici times, is the terrace of the Uffizi café.