La Loggia

The project

The loggia that Giuseppe Poggi built on Piazzale Michelangelo, suspended above Florence: a protected building to be given back to the city in every season, without touching a single stone.

Poggi had conceived it as a museum of Michelangelo; over time it became the shelter and meeting point of the piazzale, for the Florentines and for those who climb up to look at the city from above.

On the side, in place of an old and worn-out veranda, a glass dehors is born: two joined volumes, one replacing the existing one and one new, free in form, which leave the loggia’s façade clear. A marine-plywood deck, a slender structure in anthracite grey steel, floor-to-ceiling sliding glazing on three sides, and a roof that partly opens. In the evening the light runs along the base and the veranda lights up among the trees of the piazzale.

In 2025 the work focused on the loggia itself. A free-standing glass box hooks onto the steel trusses already present beneath the arches: sliding glazing below, transparent curtains above. It stays up for the six winter months and comes down without touching the historic masonry. At the same time the toilets go from three to six.