L'immagine urbana di Firenze capitale: la questione della Cinta daziaria tra Piano regolatore di ampliamento e Piano regolatore edilizio (1865-1871)

Master plan and customs bounderies: Florence, 1865-1871. The change of the Italy Kingdom’s capital from Turin to Florence, in 1864, produced many transformations in the urban setting of the Tuscan city. The architect Giuseppe Poggi was commissioned to design the new master plan for the city now become capital. To better connect the new expansion areas with the city he decided to demolish the medieval surrounding walls, and create in their place large boulevards. However, the old city walls were still used as excise boundary line and the ancient city gates as tollhouse for controlling and enforce the duty payment for the goods introduced into Florence. Therefore with their demolition it was necessary to create a new closed boundary line in order to collect the tax duty. This article examines the difficult question of the customs border during the realization of the town planning project: on one hand it was necessary to have a closed customs border to ensure the City's revenue and finance the urban transformation; on the other, the work that had to be run to complete the town planning project foresaw demolitions and reconstructions, creating breakings and passages in the urban fabric that were at odds with the needs of a closed customs border.