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Great Synagogue of Florence
Via Luigi Carlo Farini, 6, 50121 Firenze, Italy Phone: +39 055 234 6654About
The synagogue was built between 1874 and 1882, thanks to a large donation made by David Levi, a member of the local Jewish community. His legacy was to build a synagogue worthy of Florence beauty. The architects were Mariano Falcini, Professor Vincente Micheli, and Marco Treves, who was Jewish. Their design integrated the architectural traditions of the Islamic and Italian worlds.[1]
Layers of travertine and granite alternate in the masonry, creating a striped effect like that of the Siena Cathedral. Old photographs show bold red and beige stripes, but the bold colors of the stone have faded over time, leaving a more mottled effect.
The overall form of the synagogue is the cruciform plan of Hagia Sophia emulated by so many mosques. The corner towers are topped with horseshoe-arched towers themselves topped with onion domes in the Moorish Revival style. Three horseshoe arches form the main entrance, above it rise tiers of ajimez windows, with their paired horseshoe arches sharing a single column. The copper roof was oxidized to make the green roof stand out over the Florence sky.
