2-637-268 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fountain of Neptune by Bartolomeo Ammanati and the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, Italy, 1927. The Loggia dei Lanzi was built between 1376 and 1382 by Benci di Cione and Simone di Francesco Talenti to house the assemblies of the people and public ceremonies. The building's name dates from the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany, when it was used to house his German mercenary pikemen, the landsknechts (lanzichenecchi in Italian). After the construction of the Uffizi Palace at the rear of the Loggia, the Loggia's roof was modified by Bernardo Buontalenti to function as a terrace from which the Medici princes could watch ceremonies in the Piazza della Signoria. From Italien in Bildern, by Eugen Poppel [August Scherl, Berlin, 1927]