Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali

The Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali (General Insurances) is located in Piazza della Signoria; at the beginning of the XX century it became property of the Assicurazioni Generali of Venezia, hence the name; it is also known as Palazzo del Leone, Palazzo Lavison or also, erroneously, Lavisan or Lawyson, from the name of the client, the Baron Edoardo Lavison. In 1864, according to the new arrangment of the city, becoming capital, several buildings (Torre degli Infangati, Chiesa di Santa Cecilia, Loggia dei Pisani) were destroyed and in the same area, 1871, it was built the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, on a design of the architect Giovanni Carlo Landi. The palace displays nine axes and a shape recalling the XVI century structures of the palaces of the more important florentine families (Medici, Strozzi, Gondi); anyway, there are some variations linked to the period of construction and to new building models such as the presence of a fourth floor and a cast iron made ledge. On the main façade are visible the monumentally finely carved door, realized in wood, and the opening of arches which characterize the ground floor, used for commercial activities. Today it still hosts the offices of the Assicurazioni Generali Group.

The main and secondary façades are made in Pietraforte Sandstone. The mullioned windows are in Apuan Marble.