Tra la città e il fiume: l’area degli Uffizi tra tarda Antichità e Medioevo

The archaeological excavations in the area between the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Vecchio and Via dei Castellani, thanks to the collaboration between the Archaeological Superintendence of Tuscany and the Universities of Siena, Florence and Pisa, allowed us to reconstruct the history and the cityscape of this area of Florence between the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This area was crossed by the Roman walls and it had great urban changes from the 4th to the 16th century. In the Third courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, inside the Roman walls, the remains of the ancient theater had been discovered. In the Late Antiquity the monument began to be plundered and in the Early Middel Ages it was covered by dark earths. At the same time the area of Via dei Castellani, outside the Roman walls, was used as landfill and garden until the 12th century, when a big wall was built. This structure prolonged the eastern side of the city walls to the fortified castle of Altafronte, on the Arno river. Only in the second half of the 11th and in the 12th century new buildings were built on the remains of the Roman theater. The theater soon became part of the urban space, controlled by the aristocratic family of the Uberti, that made a real enclave, which also included the turris majors, the castle of Altafronte, the roman amphitheater and an harbor on the Arno river. In the 13th and in the 14th century new buildings and palaces were built on the remains of the Roman theater. Instead, the area of Via dei Castellani was urbanized, with a new grid of streets, only in the 13th century. The big wall was gradually demolished or reused. At the end of the 14th century all the available space was occupied by buildings, which were equipped with cellars. Only in the 16th century the ancient and medieval walls were demolished to allow the construction of the Third courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery.