Rebirth in the XI-XIII Centuries

While the figure of the Bishop assumed greater importance in city life, the fate of Florence intertwined more and more with the representatives of the Holy Roman Empire in Tuscany: Ugo of Tuscany set up headquarters there; the countess Matilda inherited the marquisate in the last quarter of the XI century and promoted the construction of a new circle of walls along the layout of the Roman walls.

One of the most important events for Florence and the cathedral area in the XI century was the ascent of the Bishop of Florence, Gerhard of Burgundy, to the papal throne with the name of Nicholas II. The new pope spent more time in Florence than in Rome and consolidated the city’s prestige, instilling new life in the oldest churches inside the walls, including the Baptistery of San Giovanni.
Nicholas II began to enlarge and embellish the religious center which developed between the XI and XIII centuries. The innovations perhaps included the total reconstruction in the Baptistery of the late-antiquity baptismal hall with the large building we know today, and the enlargement of Santa Reparata. This was also the period of the columns from Pisa, situated beside the east door of the Baptistery. Pisa gave the two porphyry pillars to Florence in 1115 for her help in the course of the battle of the Balearic Islands against the Muslims. It appears that the Pisans first removed the Venetian school mosaics that lined the columns before donating them, and that the columns were broken. It is told that the Pisans brought them to Florence already broken and that to hide the defect, had wrapped them in damask. Hence ensues the saying: the blind Florentines and Pisan traitors. It is more likely, however, that the columns broke during the flood of April 1424.
The rebirth of the XI-XIII century occurred in a context of political and economic evolution that saw the Church protagonist in affirming the city’s identity.
With the fall of Fiesole in 1125, the power of Guelph Fiorenza was indeed consolidated. This period marked the birth of the first nucleus of the “admirable” hospital system for which Florence was to become famous: the Spedale di San Giovanni Evangelista that once occupied the very narrow space between the Baptistery and Santa Reparata has been completely lost.
The nucleus that took shape around cathedral churches and the streets they irradiated in medieval cities, inevitably represented the center of gravity of town development. It was not until the XIII century, however, that Florence had the completely “circumnavigable” cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.