Porcellino Market

This place is known by three names: Loggia del Porcellino, after the famous bronze animal—actually a wild boar—which is a copy of Tacca’s 17th-century original in the Stefano Bardini Museum; Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, to distinguish it from the old market on what is now Piazza della Repubblica; and Mercato della Paglia, because traditional Florentine straw hats were sold here from the 19th century. Designed by Giovan Battista Del Tasso in 1550, the building has three 19th-century statues in its corner niches. They depict figures from Florentine history: Michele di Lando, a leader of the 1378 Ciompi revolt by the lesser-ranking wool workers; Giovanni Villani, the noted 14th-century Florentine chronicler; and Bernardo Cennini, a pioneer of printing in Florence. As well as serving military functions, the loggia originally housed the market for silk and other precious fabrics. In the centre of its floor is the so-called Pietra dello Scandalo, where debtors and insolvent traders were punished. Today it houses a tourist market, one of Florence’s most visited, selling mainly leather goods and souvenirs.