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The painting shows a topographically accurate view of the Piazza della Signoria looking east, with the Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi, and figures gathered around a puppet-show.
The Piazza della Signoria takes its name from the Palazzo Vecchio (or Palazzo della Signoria), which from the 13th century was the meeting-place for government and is still used as the town hall of Florence today. Straight ahead is the 14th-century Loggia dei Lanzi (1376-82), so named after Cosimo I de' Medici's Swiss lancers. Its function as an open-air sculpture gallery persists today, and Cellini's Perseus (1545) and Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine (1583) are still on display on the same sites. Other sculptures visible in the painting are still in situ today: Giambologna's equestrian statue of Cosimo I (1587-94), Ammannati's fountain of Neptune (1565-75), Michelangelo's David (albeit a cast of the original; 1501-4), and Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus (1534). The building seen sharply receding left of centre is a wing of the Uffizi, as it would have appeared in the 18th century, whilst the buildings at the right of the composition have since been modified.
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