I. The Roman amphitheater

Having seen where San Pier Scheraggio once stood, follow Via della Ninna to its end where it opens onto Piazza del Grano (Grain Square). The Florentines kept lion cages here behind Palazzo Vecchio until 1550 when Cosimo I moved them to Piazza San Marco because the neighbors regularly complained about the smell and the noise (apparently, they roared a lot).

The historian Gregorio Dati (1362-1435) wrote: “Behind Palazzo della Signoria, there is a big house with a large courtyard where the lions are kept. They give birth to young almost every year, and when I last left, there were twenty-four of them, including males and females.” Giovanni Villani also mentions them and, in fact, records the birth of six cubs in 1331.

Florence’s citizens were especially proud of them, a fact that goes back even further that the invention of the Marzocco (the Lion on the other side of the building that holds a shield bearing a red lily: Donatello’s version, below, is in the Bargello). They publicly celebrated the animals’ births and mourned their deaths. The last lion to be kept as a sort of city mascot died in 1777.

Take a left onto Via dei Leoni, around the bump where Palazzo Vecchio juts out into the piazza. That bump in the building’s footprint covers the area where the public executioner used to live.

When you get to Borgo dei Greci, take a right. This street (probably named after a family called the Greci) is ancient. It connected the Roman colony’s theater (the backward D shape below) to their amphitheater (the elliptical shape to its right). 

On your way there, you’ll pass Via del Parlascio on your right. They say it gets its name from the Late Latin perilasium, from a Greek word referring to circular spaces: in this case, the amphitheater (a sporting arena modeled on the colosseum). It’s likely that Via Torta (Round Street), which runs along the northern edge, got its name in a similar way.

In 1887, a small portion of the amphitheater’s base was exposed during the construction of a sewer under Borgo dei Greci. Archeologists determined that it originally measured about 113m (370ft) in length and 90m (295ft) in width. Though somewhat smaller than Rome’s Colosseum, Florence’s served principally the same purpose. Indeed, St. Minias (Miniato) was said to have successfully faced wild animals here on two separate occasions.

By Dante’s times, most of the rubble from the amphitheater’s walls had been used to build homes here.

This is the end of the suggested stroll. If you still have energy, go see Dante’s statue at Santa Croce or visit his tomb inside.