Valkyrie - Florence Special Edition - Spring 2019 - Issue 4

LE MURATE: A timeline from
convent to multipurpose facility
1424. Le Murate
originally served as a convent
for nuns. These nuns were
initially located on a bridge
where the present day Ponte
alle Grazie is located, said
Deirdre Pirro, writer for the
English news magazine The
Florentine. They were moved
to Le Murate because their
original location constantly
flooded due to its location on
the Arno River. “It was called
Le Murate because they were
cloistered nuns. They were
walled in basically, that was
the life they chose.”
After years of abandonment, Le Murate was redesigned
and reopened as a prison. In its early years, the prison
housed men convicted of a variety of crimes, Pirro
said. “When Italy was fighting for its independence as
a kingdom, many very well known freedom fighters, if
you will, were imprisoned there. So it wasn’t just ruffians
and criminals,
but the
major part
were.”
1845
The “alluvione,”
or flood, occurred
when the water
from the Arno
River spilled out
of the river bed
and moved into the
streets of Florence.
The water
level reached
six meters high
inside Le Murate,
according to Bazzoni. Once the water level rose, the
prison guards allowed prisoners to leave Le Murate
and seek shelter from the flood at the surrounding
houses, Pirro said. While most of the prisoners left the
flooded area, seven prisoners helped rescue the governor
and his family, who were trapped inside Le Murate,
Pirro said. Once the flood was over, all but three of the
prisoners voluntarily returned to Le Murate.
1966
The conditions at Le Murate deteriorated
over time, to a point where prisoners
were unhappy with the building
that they were required to live in and
incited a riot which
contributed to the
prison’s later closing,
said Pirro.
1974
In 2011, the renovation
of Le Murate
was completed and
opened to the public
Pirro said. This
began the new and
current era in the life
of Le Murate.
2011
1810
Habsburg-Lorraine Grand Dukes banished from
Florence and the Napoleonic forces invade. After
Napoleon’s invasion of Italy, he ordered the closing
of monasteries and convents across the country to
increase the funding
for his militaristic
efforts, leaving
Le Murate to fall to
disrepair.
1920-1930
When the fascists rose to power in Italy,
anti-fascists were sent to Le Murate before
the government decided
what was to be done with
the criminals, said Pirro. At
the same time, Le Murate
became a holding area for
Jewish criminals who were
to be sent to concentration
camps, said Ennio Bazzoni,
a publisher at the Nardini
Editore bookstore at Le
Murate.
1970
At this time a large portion of the prisoners
at Le Murate were convicted terrorists,
as this was a period when Italy was
the target for
terrorism, said
Bazzoni.
1985
Due to overcrowding and poor conditions,
Le Murate ceased operations
as a prison and inmates were
moved to a new
facility, Pirro
said. Le Murate
then remained
abandoned until
the renovation
many years later.
10 Spaces of Florence
11