Can you imagine a better way to contemplate the Florentine beauty than to admire the city from above, with a privileged 360-degree view? It was for this purpose that we created the Terraces Tour – Snooping Florence and its beauties from above. It is an in-depth visit of Florence comfortably seated in our terraces, accompanied by a good glass of Chianti Classico – or whatever drink you decide.
You will learn about the city from a breathtaking point of view, with a guide that will explain the most important monuments and lead you through the history of Florence with no walking, tumult, or crowds, which are so common this time of the year in center. You will see, learn, and enjoy everything comfortably accommodated, with Florence under your feet.
The cost of the tour is € 360,00 for 2 pax for a duration ranging between 1 and 2 hours.
Inside the history
In the Middle Ages, Florence was a city of tower houses: in the 13th century there were around 160 of them and they were up to 65 meters high! Many of them no longer exist, but the Antica Torre Tornabuoni persists, with its spectacle of architectural beauty.
It was built in the mid-thirteenth century by the Guelf Ruggerini family and was later sold to the Fastellis or Pietrobonos. From the early 1300s until the end of the 1700s it was the Gianfigliazzi residence, whose name dates back to a certain Giovanni, son of Galeazzo, called “Gian son of Azzo”.
It belonged for a long time to the Gianfigliazzi family, which in this area had extensive properties, “and until 1770 it was destined for the public conversation of the noble class”, hence the name by which it is still known today (casino of the Nobles).
The Gianfigliazzi were a Guelph family of bankers and traders who did not hold public offices until the Battle of Benevento (1266), when the opponent Ghibelline faction lost supremacy over the city and was almost definitively defeated in the whole Italian panorama. In fact, throughout Italy the Ghibellines were driven from the cities.
The Gianfigliazzi family died out in 1764 with Canonico Rinaldo of Lodovico whose tomb can be visited at the Basilica of Santa Trinita located next to the Antica Torre Tornabuoni in Piazza Santa Trinita.
In the palace, on the second floor, was the early 20th century the Pensione Piccioli, a privileged residence of aristocrats, English writers, artists and musicians, where among other things they were guests in 1932 and in 1935 the Russian writers Dmitri Merezkovskil and Zenaide Hippius.
The Pensione Piccioli closed after World War II and thanks to the heirs reopened in 2001 as a historical residence with the name “Antica Torre di Via Tornabuoni 1”, in fact today Antica Torre di Via Tornabuoni 1 is not a boutique hotel but a historic mansion where guests can relive an authentic moment of history, not as spectators but as protagonists.