Apartment XXV April

With our eyes on the Palazzo del Bargello, a palace of justice but also an ancient Florentine prison, let us retrace together the road on which those condemned to the gallows took their last steps. Via dei Malcontenti, formerly Via della Giustizia, then in the Santa Croce area and on Via di San Giuseppe, where inside the oratory of Santa Maria Croce al Tempio the Compagnia dei Neri used to meet for prayers.

Enjoy a walking tour that will catapult you back in history to 15th-century Florence. Departure from Piazza San Firenze, a place adjoining the Palazzo del Bargello: first Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, then Palazzo del Podestà, until it became a prison and, from 1865 by Royal Decree, the first Italian national museum!

Our professional guide will tell you the secrets of a Florence that was: shrouded in the mystery of the Company of Blacks, buried in the shame of the Executioner’s House but also made of forgiveness: the extreme journey of the malcontents was, in fact, accompanied by a series of tabernacles. On November 30, 1786, the Grand Duke of Florence and Tuscany, Peter Leopold of Lorraine, abolished the death penalty.

Curiosity:
Did you know that not being Florentine worsened the condemned person’s condition in the trial and in case of conviction?