Mistery and suggestion at the Torre Pagliazza

FLORENCE, ITALY – An institution placed in the historical heart of Florence, Hotel Brunelleschi will take art and history lovers to a trip into the secrets of its original façade, Torre della Pagliazza. Although the building is placed in Piazza Santa Elisabetta, a square in the city centre of Florence, this building is rarely noticed by tourists looking around for the pearls of the Renaissance .

Where does the Tower’s charm come from and what is the history behind it? Its roots date back among the VI and VII century. Nevertheless, these origins are uncertain and arguably recognised: some people say that those are attributable to the Byzantines and others to the Lombards. Surely this is the oldest construction remaining in the heart of Florence.

The main building was erected at first on a Roman wall (possibly hiding a big thermal pool), in the XII century turned into the location of a female prison. Exactly during this period the Tower was given the name of “Pagliazza”, referring to the uncomfortable pallets left to the prisoners, made up with rough and stinging straw (in italian “paglia”). This detention aim was replaced in a short time by religious activities: the tower hosted the first Saint Michael’s Church and, later on, the Visitation Church.

Only during the Nineteenth Century the Tower hosts inside for the first time a hotel: the Giglio Hotel. After its closure though, the building and its hidden treasures is forgotten and neglected for years until 1980, when the National Insurance Institute decided to renovate the structure and bring back to life the ancient splendour  of the building. Nowadays Torre della Pagliazza is part of Hotel Brunelleschi’s complex: the authorities researches allowed to recover the old thermal calidarium of Roman age and inside the walls is hosted a Museum devoted to archaeological findings telling the history of the building throughout the ages.