The Loggia dei Lanzi, is an historical monument located in Piazza della Signoria, next to Palazzo Vecchio and nearby the Uffizi Gallery. The Loggia was built between 1376 and 1382 on Benci di Cione and Simone di Francesco Talenti design, with the function of a public place for the numerous popular assemblies and for the Official ceremonies of the Florentine Republic.
The main structure is an example of Gothic style, but with more soft lines, a kind of Reinassance style forerunner.
The Loggia actually house several statues, it is a kind of open-air museum. On the left and right borders stands two marble lions, also named Marzoccos (the right one is from Roman times, and the left one was made by Flaminio Vacca in the 1600) that keeps guard over the square.
The most important statue is the bronze Perseo by Benventuo Cellini (1554), next to the Ratto delle Sabine (in the photo), marble masterpiece of Giambologna (1583) that also did the Ercole con il Centauro Nesso (1599). Patroclo e Menelao are Romans sculptures, while the Ratto di Polissena is by Pio Fedi (1865).
