Have you ever wandered the streets of Florence and happened upon the via dei leoni, the street of lions?  Do you, like me, ask yourself why there is a street devoted to lions in the center of the historic citta?

No, you don’t?

Well, humor me, okay?

See this street running roughly north-south in the center of Florence, right behind the Palazzo Vecchio?

It turns out that the street, located at the rear facade of the Palazzo Vecchio, was so-named because from the 14th – 16th centuries, a menagerie of exotic animals–including some lions–were kept here. Wild and exotic animals were bred in Florence from at least the Middle Ages, both as objects of curiosity and symbols of wealth and prestige. In Florence, particular importance was given to the lions, because they were the very symbol of the city of Florence, as in the Marzocco.

The presence of these animals in Florence has been documented since the 13th c., although probably they were there even earlier. Initially they were kept at the expense Republic in cages at the Palazzo del Podesta (now the Bargello ), then on the site of the what is now known as the Loggia dei Lanzi and, c. 1350, moved behind the Palazzo Vecchio,  on the streets called the Via dei Leoni.

Mystery solved!

P.S. As I sit at my studies on this rainy Florentine Sunday, I see out my window this view of the campanile of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Do you see the Marzocco at the very top of the structure, holding aloft the Florentine lily?  Lions and lilies and Florence, oh my!

Thank god the inhumane practice of keeping wild animals in captivity is no longer a part of Florentine life.