Florence: the geometry of urban form

Abstract

Unlike Rome, a city that originated from the union of various villages, Florence is a typical city of Roman founding, which reached the peak of its development around the year 1300. At that time an ambitious plan for the city, aimed at housing within the city wall a large number of inhabitants was put into effect. It was rivalled at that time in Europe only by Paris. As in Rome, pre- existing structures heavily influenced the subsequent development of Florence: from a methodological perspective this would suggest that to ‘read’ the city, it is necessary to identify its ‘substratum permanent structures’.