Firenze Forma Continua originated from an invitation by the World Heritage Centre (2017 Advisory Mission) to enhance knowledge regarding the urban development of the city of Florence, addressing the need to examine more profoundly how the “Outstanding Universal Value of the site is expressed through its physical and social fabric […]”. The Advisory Mission’s invitation is, moreover, in full alignment with the foundations of the Faro Convention, which promotes the right of citizens, and the community as a whole, to access and benefit from their cultural heritage, encompassing evolving values, knowledge, and traditions, as well as all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between populations and places over time.
The web portal dedicated to the project, where research, maps, and produced materials can be consulted, is www.firenzeformacontinua.it.
It is an educational platform based on scientific research that narrates the urban history by dividing it into its most representative developmental phases. Each phase corresponds to a file composed of a synthetic text and a territorial map.
The narrative of the city’s evolution—the permanent core of the site—is supplemented annually by an in-depth thematic focus, with contents developed in three directions: the development of university courses, seminars, workshops, and laboratories to actively involve young students and researchers, creating a sensitive and attentive heritage community ready to disseminate heritage values; the creation of an installation or exhibition; and the organization of heritage walks and dissemination through the website.
The project began with an analysis of the layout of the last circuit of city walls, including both extant and demolished sections, in order to transmit awareness and knowledge not only of what remains but also of what has been lost. The focus on Fortresses, Gates, and Towers was previously established through summer visits organized by the MUS.E Association (now MUS.E Foundation) within the accessible structures (Porta San Niccolò, Porta Romana, Porta San Frediano, Torre della Zecca, Baluardo della Ginevra, and the two fortresses), but it is renewed in a project that integrates them into a more complex organism, identifying the defensive system as a connecting element between the interior and exterior, the Historic Centre and the periphery. The wall system served as the initial catalyst for the development of a broader project aimed at narrating the city’s evolution, from its most representative buildings throughout various eras to the expansion and modification of the urban fabric. In this way, the goal is to create a common format that allows for the narration of the history of places by reconnecting it to the entire system of cultural valorization, also giving space to intangible aspects.
The project envisions showing the evolution of the city through the use of topographic charts, maps, views, and historical photos (material to be organized in a database in collaboration with archives and foundations) to assist in understanding the urban fabric and its relationship with waterways, green areas, and external hamlets; its changes and expansions, from the Roman circuit to the sixteenth-century fortresses, up to the nineteenth-century demolitions, the establishment of municipalities, the mid-twentieth-century urban plans, and the current metropolitan city. Just as with the knowledge of the urban fabric, the study of each involved building should be conducted through material showing the various phases of construction, so as to understand its original appearance and the mutations that led to its current state. Particular attention should be directed toward buildings and entire areas of the historical fabric that no longer exist, to be investigated and virtually reconstructed (for example, the skyline of tower houses or areas destroyed during the war). It is planned to complement the already developed itineraries with thematic routes to be periodically renewed.
Associated with the points of interest in the urban context, at the Palazzina del Forte di Belvedere, is a multifunctional hub for attraction and cultural narration, where content related to the perception of urban evolution can be explored through multimedia installations and traditional physical elements. The activation of cultural projects, exhibitions, and workshops on the upper floors of the Palazzina del Forte would allow for the continuous use of these spaces, which are currently only accessible during the summer season.
Finally, four distinct heritage walks have been developed, centered on pivotal areas of the history and life of Florence, which trace the perimeter of the historic centre and cross the realities connected to it: the northern route, around Porta San Gallo, “New traces of ancient relations”; the southern one, along the Oltrarno walls, “Rethinking the margin”; the one around San Miniato al Monte, “Towards San Miniato,” aimed at valorizing the expansion of the UNESCO site; and finally, the one in the city centre dedicated to the reconstruction project after the Second World War, “Fire Spell.” The itineraries integrate the extant structures into paths aimed at understanding the city’s evolution; examples include Porta San Niccolò, now the starting point of the nineteenth-century system of ramps leading to Piazzale Michelangelo, and Porta Romana, linked to the Villa di Poggio Imperiale by the long seventeenth-century road axis. These last tracks are also part of the Florentine Greenway.
The four editions realized since 2022 are:
2025 / Contemporary City Observatory: FIRENZE FORMA CONTINUA LAB
2024 / Fire Spell: Modern Architecture and Historical Memory
2023 / Urban Settings The Evolution of the Walls
2022 / Urban Layers: The Evolution of the City Walls
Firenze Forma Continua is a project of the Florence World Heritage and Relations with UNESCO Office of the Municipality of Florence, developed with the support of the Heritage and Research Innovation Laboratory, HeRe_Lab, in collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence.
The project activities are carried out in collaboration with the Belle Arti e Fabbrica di Palazzo Vecchio Service, with the E.Q. Facility Manager Palazzo Vecchio, Security of Listed Buildings and Events, with the Superintendent Service of Florentine Civic Museums, with other city institutions, and with the organizational support of the MUS.E Foundation.
