Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, Florence, Italy

The Piazza della Santissima Annunziata is characterized by the Renaissance aspect

which Brunelleschi conferred in it with the construction of the colonnade for the Ospedale
degli Innocenti. The elegant harmony of the hospital building conditions the entire square,
and the colonnade itself is later repeated in the Loggiato dei Serviti, and in the façade of the
church. As a result, Brunelleschi’s design assumes a certain urbanistic importance,
underlined by the fact that this square is one of the few points of the city from which one can
see the cupola of the Cathedral, the monumental symbol of the fifteenth-century city.

The square has also always played a significant role in the religious, cultural, and
economic life of Florence, which is closely related to the religious institute of the Servants of
Mary. In fact, the presence of an image of the Annunciation which is believed to be
miraculous has made the church of Santissima Annunziata an important center of devotion,
and a destination for pilgrimages and processions. As well as this, the fact that in Florence
the feast of the Annunciation (25 March) coincided up until 1750 with the start of the new
civil year, made the square the obvious choice for the celebration of this holiday which was
both civic and religious.