The Loggia del Grano is a 17th-century rectangular building with an open ground floor arcade, located on Piazzetta del Grano, at the corner of via de' Neri and via de' Castellani, just southeast of the Palazzo Vecchio, in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, region of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, Italy; the portico served as the marketplace for grains while the upper stories were used for storage. The loggia was commissioned in 1619 by Grand Duke Cosimo II de'Medici from the architect

Giulio Parigi Giulio Parigi (6 April 1571 – 13 July 1635) was an Italian architect and designer. He was the main member of a family of architects and designers working for the Grand Ducal court of the Medici. His father, Alfonso Parigi the Elder, was an ...

, pupil of

Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Buontalenti (), byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole ( 1531 – June 1608), was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist and inventor of italian ice cream. Biography Buontalenti was born in ...

. The bust of the Grand Duke stands on the facade on Via del Neri. In the 19th century, the upper structure was converted into a theater, later into a cinema. On the Northwest corner is a small marble fountain, ''Fontana del Mascherone'', with a grotesque face, designed and sculpted by

Chiarissimo Fancelli Chiarissimo d'Antonio Fancelli (died 1632) was an Italian sculptor and architect of the late-Mannerist and Baroque periods, mainly active in Tuscany. Domenico Pieratti and Giovanni Battista Pieratti were his pupils. It is unclear how he fits i ...

, inspired by the Fontana dello Sprone in

Oltrarno The Oltrarno (''beyond the Arno'') is a quarter of Florence, Italy. It is located south of the River Arno. It contains part of the historic centre of Florence and many notable sites such as the church Santo Spirito di Firenze, Palazzo Pitti, Bel ...

that had been built by

. Fancelli also was the author of the bust of Cosimo II.Loggia del Grano, restaurata la Fontana del Fancelli
Nove da Firenze, Culture section, July 30, 2014.

References

{{reflist Loggias in Florence Buildings and structures completed in 1619 1619 establishments in Italy