The Colonna dell'Abbondanza is a monumental column located in the
Piazza della Repubblica in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, region of
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
, Italy.
History
While the open Piazza we see today dates to the 19th-century clearing of the Mercato Vecchio in Florence, a column at the site was erected in the 15th century, at the intersection of the Roman grid roads, the
Cardo
A ''cardo'' (: ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Rome, ancient Roman cities and military castra, camps as an integral component of Urban planning, city planning. The ''cardo maximus'', or most often the ''cardo'', was the main ...
and
Decumanus Maximus
In Roman urban planning, a ''decumanus'' was an east–west-oriented road in a Roman city or '' castrum'' (military camp). The main ''decumanus'' of a particular city was the ''decumanus maximus'', or most often simply "the ''decumanus''". In t ...
, thus once forming the center of Ancient Roman Florence.
It is likely a monument at the site was present in Ancient Florence, this column, made from gray granite from Elba, was erected initially in 1430–1431 by the civic officers of the neighborhood. At the summit, originally was placed a
pietra serena
''Pietra serena'' is a blue-gray sandstone used extensively in Italian Renaissance, Renaissance Florence for architectural details. It is also known as Macigno stone. The material obtained at Fiesole is considered the best and is also quarried a ...
statue by Donatello, depicting an allegory of ''la Dovizia'' (Abundance), holding a
cornucopia
In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...
, a theme befitting the surrounding marketplace.
Attached to the column were two chains: one rung the open and close of market, while the other was used to chain swindlers and insolvent debtors for
public shaming
Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...
. In this it served a similar role to the
Column of the Vicariate in Naples.
Weather-worn, the head of Donatello's statue fell and was destroyed, the statue was removed in 1721, and replaced by a marble statue by
Giovanni Battista Foggini
Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Foggini (25 April 1652 – 12 April 1725) was an Italian sculptor active in Florence, renowned mainly for small bronze statuary.
Biography
Born in Florence, the young Foggini was sent to Rome by the Medici Gra ...
.
During the clearing of the Piazza between 1885 and 1895, the column was dismantled, and the components stored in various sites. Only in 1956, under the engineer
Giulio Cesare Lensi Orlandi Cardini, and funded by the local Azienda del Turismo, the column was reassembled with a bronze copy of Foggini's statue by
Mario Moschi.
The column is sited some two meters from its original position.
Palazzo Spinelli
Repertorio delle Architettura Civili di Firenze, entry on the column.
References
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