Column of Justice (''Colonna della Giustizia'' or ''di Santa Trinita'' or ''della Battaglia di Montemurlo'') is an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

marble Doric column re-erected by the Florentine Medici dynasty in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

as a free-standing victory monument with a

porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

statue of

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

at the top. It stands in the Piazza Santa Trinita, in central

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 ...

, Italy.

History

The column was originally installed in the

Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla () in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of empero ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and was given by

Pope Pius IV Pope Pius IV (; 31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 December 1559 to his death, in December 1565. Born in Milan, his family considered itself a b ...

Cosimo I de Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

. The transportation of the 50-ton, 11 meter long granite column from Rome to Florence was an immense challenge. It took months to move the column from the ruins of the Baths to the port on the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

, travelling about hundred meters per day. Part of the transportation was supervised by

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

, who had been sent by the Duke to Rome. It was then embarked at Ostia and taken by sea to the lower stretches of the

Arno The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a sou ...

. A special barge appears to have been towed by a galley. This convoy was threatened along the route by

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

raiders. Arriving in Tuscany, it had to be carried overland by oxen and horse-drawn carts to Florence. The move from the river bank a few miles upriver from

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

to Florence took nearly a year, arriving in 1563, and was supervised by Bartolommeo Ammannati. The column was erected on its pedestal in 1565. Contemporary documents state it took only two hours to erect the column. A temporary wood statue, depicting Justice was erected at the summit. This was replaced in 1580 by a purple porphyry statue of Justice designed by Ammannati, made from three fragments of ancient Roman sculpture in ''porfido rosso antico'' and clamped together with bronze. Since porphyry is one of the hardest stones to carve, it took the artisan Francesco del Tadda (Ferrucci) and his son Romolo nearly 11 years to complete the statue. The dedication of this column, erected by Cosimo I de'Medici, changed over time. Cosimo intended first to celebrate his 1537 victory over

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

in the

Battle of Montemurlo On 1 or 2 August 1537 (both dates are given in sources), near the Tuscan village of Montemurlo, the forces of the newly installed Duke Cosimo I of Florence defeated a hastily organized army of those who wished to overthrow the Medici and resto ...

(others cite the Battle of Marciano). This was apt because he had been here when he was informed of the victory of his troops over the rebellious Pietro Strozzi and his Sienese allies. In 1569, Pope Pius V had granted Cosimo the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany and the dedication was made to Justice with the present inscription.Palazzo Spinelli
civil architecture of Florence, entry on monument, 04/09/2014 by Claudio Paolini.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giustizia Florence