Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
Firenze Santa Maria Novella | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Piazza della Stazione 50123 Florence Italy |
Coordinates | 43°46′34″N 11°14′53″E / 43.77611°N 11.24806°E |
Owned by | Rete Ferroviaria Italiana |
Operated by | Grandi Stazioni |
Line(s) |
|
Distance | 314.077 kilometres (195.158 mi) from Roma Termini |
Platforms | 15 |
Construction | |
Architect | Gruppo Toscano |
Other information | |
IATA code | ZMS |
History | |
Opened | 1848 |
Rebuilt | 1934 |
Location | |
Firenze Santa Maria Novella (in English Florence Santa Maria Novella) or Stazione di Santa Maria Novella (IATA: ZMS) is the main railway station in Florence, Italy. The station is used by 59 million people every year and is one of the busiest in Italy.[1]
It is at the northern end of the
History
The station was inaugurated on 3 February 1848 to serve the railway to Pistoia and Pisa, and was initially called Maria Antonia (from the name of the railway, named in honour of Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies); it was much closer to the Santa Maria Novella church than the current station. It was renamed after the church after the unification of Italy.
In 1932 through a number of newspaper editorials, published in La Nazione, Florence's main daily, Romano Romanelli a reputed and influential Florentine sculptor, criticized the original project by the architect Mazzoni for the new Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station.[2] A constructive debate resulted in the final choice of the project sponsored by the architect Marcello Piacentini and designed by Gruppo Toscano.
The station was designed in 1932 by a group of architects known as the Gruppo Toscano (Tuscan Group) of which
The building is a prime example of Italian modernism, but has little to do with the Italian Rationalism movement, being more strongly influenced by the Viennese architecture of Loos and Hoffman, with perhaps a nod to Wright; but it is the building's complete originality that makes it outstanding. The competition to design the station was controversial but the approval by Mussolini of the Gruppo Toscano project was hailed as an official acceptance of modernity. The station was designed to replace the aging Maria Antonia Station, one of the few example of architecture by
The Gruppo Toscano was only responsible for the main frontal building of the station. The
While it is of a "uncompromisingly modern"[3] design, the use of pietra forte (a hard sandstone) for the station's stone frontage was intended to respond to and contrast with the nearby Gothic architecture of the church of Santa Maria Novella. The interior of the station features a dramatic metal and glass roof with large skylights over the main passenger concourse, which is aligned perpendicular to the tracks and acts as a pedestrian street. The skylights span the passenger concourse without any supporting columns, giving a feeling of openness and vast space and reinforcing the convergence of all the public functions of the station on the passenger concourse.
Near platform #16 there is a statue and a memorial plaque in remembrance of the train loads of Jewish people who were deported from Italy to Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
Train services
The station is served by the following services:
- High speed services (Frecciarossa) Turin – Milan – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Naples – Salerno
- High speed services (Frecciarossa) Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Naples – Salerno
- High speed services (Frecciargento) Trieste – Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome
- High speed services (Frecciargento) Udine – Treviso – Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome
- High speed services (Frecciargento) Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome
- High speed services (Frecciargento) Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Fiumicino Airport
Preceding station | Trenitalia | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
toward Torino Porta Nuova | Frecciarossa | toward Salerno |
||
toward Venezia Santa Lucia | Frecciarossa | toward Salerno |
||
toward Trieste Centrale | Frecciargento | toward Roma Termini |
||
toward Udine | Frecciargento | toward Roma Termini |
||
toward Venezia Santa Lucia | Frecciargento | toward Roma Termini |
||
toward Venezia Santa Lucia | Frecciargento | toward Fiumicino Aeroporto |
See also
- Firenze Campo di Marte railway station
- Firenze Rifredi railway station
- History of rail transport in Italy
- List of railway stations in Tuscany
- Rail transport in Italy
- Railway stations in Italy
References
- ^ "Firenze S. Maria Novella". Grandi Stazioni (in Italian). Archived from the original on May 9, 2018.
- ^ Romanelli, Romano (July 10, 1932) [June 17–20, 1932]. "La Nuova Stazione di Firenze". La Nazione.
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1963). Europäische Architektur. Munich: Prestel. pp. 466–467.
- Zucconi, Guido (1995). Florence: An Architectural Guide (2001 Reprint ed.). San Giovanni Lupatoto (Vr): Arsenale Editrice. p. 130. ISBN 88-7743-147-4.
- Cresti, C. (1986). Architettura e Fascismo (1986 ed.). Firenze: Valsecchi Editrice.
External links
- Official website (in Italian)