The Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali is a building in the

Piazza della Signoria Piazza della Signoria () is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republ ...

in Florence, Italy. Originally the Palazzo Fenzi, built for the Fenzi banking family and designed in the Neo-Renaissance style by Giuseppe Martelli and is one of the very few purpose built commercial buildings in the centre of the city though it housed on the upper floors reception rooms for the Fenzi family. The site was formerly occupied by the "''Pisan Loggia''" and the "''Chiese de Santa Cecilia''" While the architecture of the palazzo is undoubtedly inspired by that of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, also in Florence, the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali was never intended to be a private house but the local

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

of the General Insurance Company which was founded in Trieste in 1831. There are other Palazzi delle Assicurazioni Generali in other Italian cities most notably Rome and Milan. During the latter half of the 19th century the Assicurazioni Generali (commonly known as "Generali") were expanding not only in Italy but also throughout Europe. The Assicurazioni Generali generally employed retrospective architectural style to reflect the surroundings of their offices in Rome the palazzo imitates the

Palazzo Venezia The Palazzo Venezia or Palazzo Barbo (), formerly Palace of St. Mark, is a palazzo (palace) in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval hous ...

which it faces, while in Milan the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali is in a form of 19th century

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

known as Beaux Arts. The Florence Palazzo delle Assicurazioni unsuccessfully vies for dominance in the piazza with the more historical and architecturally important Palazzo Signoria, today known as the

Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the City hall, town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David (Michelangelo), David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent ...

. In spite of its height and size the architecture of the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali harmonises with that of the surrounding buildings, and does not appear as a new

imposter An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise. Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but also often for purposes ...

in the piazza. However, this is not a view shared by all, one source describes those buildings of Piazza della Signoria occupied by banks and Insurance companies as "''seeming to belong to some cold northern climate rather than to the city that gave birth to the colour and vitality of the Renaissance''" Lord, p 99. Part of the ground floor is home to one of Florence's more fashionable and historical cafés – "Rivoire", founded in 1872.

Notes

References

Florence Monuments, Piazza della SignoriaPalazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, Milano

The Generali Group
* {{coord, 43, 46, 10.85, N, 11, 15, 18.62, E, source:itwiki_region:IT_type:landmark, display=title Assicurazioni Generali Renaissance Revival architecture in Italy Houses completed in 1871 Generali Group