About This Location
This small corner is easy to walk past, but it holds a very old Florentine marker. The Colonna della Croce al Trebbio stands in a little widening where several streets meet, including Via del Trebbio, Via delle Belle Donne, and Via del Moro. At the center is a granite column topped by a white marble cross with relief details. If the light is good, look up at the capital - it is decorated with acanthus leaves and the symbols of the Evangelists, replacing the usual corner shapes. Tradition links the column to 1308, and it is often connected with the memory of a violent clash in 1244, when the militia associated with Pietro da Verona - later known as Saint Peter Martyr - fought heretical groups active in the city. Over time, the column became a public reminder of that victory and of the Church’s push for control in medieval Florence. There is also a small “mystery” attached to it. An inscription mentions Saint Ambrose and Saint Zenobius and refers to a “great mystery,” but even local historians have disagreed about what that phrase was meant to point to. Standing here, the nearby scene is all about the streets: narrow lanes, shopfronts, and the steady flow of people cutting between Santa Maria Novella and the city center. It feels like a quiet pocket of medieval Florence tucked into modern walking routes.