By Camilla Sarra. Cover image Margie Mitchem.
The Astrological Walk in Florence: A City Read Through Zodiac Signs, Places, and Scents
Florence can be experienced in many ways. Through the eyes, of course. But also by following symbols, and even scents. This is the idea behind the Astrological Walk: a route through the historic center that connects the twelve zodiac signs to architectural details, artworks, and specific locations, revealing a Florence that is not only visual heritage but a living symbolic system. Shaping this narrative is the artist Daniele Davitti, who treats the zodiac signs as archetypal keys to reinterpret urban space, alongside Manuela Ricci Bocciolini, whose work with Ephèmera Firenze translates each sign into an olfactory dimension. Each symbol becomes a scent, volatile, tangible, lingering, capable of amplifying its meaning. The result is an itinerary that weaves together history, aesthetics, and perception. Florence unfolds as a sequence of thresholds: each sign opens a different register, both visual and sensory.
Aries: Ponte Santa Trinita and the Energy of Beginning
Olfactory note: black pepper and a saline accord
Ponte Santa Trinita, one of Florence’s most refined crossings, holds within its central arches the sculpted ram heads designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati under Cosimo I’s patronage. These elements are not decorative excess but symbolic anchors: they evoke protection from the Arno’s floods and assert a controlled strength at the edge between water and stone. Aries, as the first sign, defines a threshold condition, an entry into movement and intention. Florence here reveals its underlying tension: beauty sustained by resistance and structural will.
The olfactory counterpart, black pepper with a saline nuance, acts in the same register. Pepper delivers an immediate, sharp ignition, while salt introduces a mineral echo of the river. Together they create a scent that activates perception rather than accompanies it, marking a beginning that is both physical and sensory.
Taurus: The Duomo Façade and the Weight of Matter
Olfactory note: Taif rose
Along Florence’s Duomo façade, between Via Ricasoli and Via dei Servi, Taurus emerges in the form of a marble gutter sculpted in the early 15th century . This is a sign embedded in function: it channels water, integrates into structure, and resists time. Taurus here expresses Florence’s material intelligence: the ability to transform stone into both utility and symbol. It speaks of continuity, repetition, and a city built through persistence rather than spectacle.
The Taif rose translates this density into scent. Rich, textured, and slightly spiced, it avoids fragility and instead affirms presence. It unfolds slowly, maintaining cohesion, mirroring Taurus’ grounded and enduring nature.
Gemini: San Lorenzo and Dual Layers of Perception
Olfactory note: cardamom and bergamot
In the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo, the celestial dome painted by Pesello introduces a second spatial order within architecture . Gemini operates here as a principle of duplication: earthly structure below, symbolic sky above. This layered condition activates interpretation. Florence becomes a constructed environment that operates as a cognitive field, where meanings circulate and multiply.
Cardamom and bergamot reflect this dynamic interplay. Bergamot offers brightness and lift, while cardamom introduces warmth and ambiguity. The resulting composition is fluid and shifting, echoing Gemini’s intellectual mobility and relational nature.
Cancer: San Miniato al Monte and Emotional Time
Olfactory note: vanilla milk and licorice
At San Miniato al Monte, the 1207 solstitial meridian inscribed in the floor situates Cancer within a cosmic-temporal framework. Here Florence withdraws from spectacle and invites introspection. Cancer is not directional but cyclical, rooted in memory and emotional depth. The city becomes a space of return rather than progression, where time is experienced as recurrence.
The scent, vanilla milk with licorice, builds a layered softness. Milk conveys comfort and enclosure, while licorice introduces a darker, slightly bitter edge. The result is an enveloping yet complex fragrance, reflecting Cancer’s intimate and ambivalent emotional landscape.
Leo: The Marzocco and Civic Identity
Olfactory note: amber
Donatello’s Marzocco stands as a concentrated emblem of Florentine identity. The lion holding the city’s shield is both image and statement: it constructs Florence as a self-aware political entity. Leo here embodies authority, charisma and representation. The city asserts itself not only through architecture but through symbolic clarity.
Amber reinforces this presence. Warm, deep, and persistent, it expands into space with confidence. It does not fade quickly but establishes a lasting imprint, mirroring Leo’s commanding and declarative nature.
Virgo: Palazzo Vecchio and Structural Order
Olfactory note: lavender, geranium, bergamot
Within the Quartiere degli Elementi, Vasari’s depiction of Ceres situates Virgo in a context of structured symbolism. This is Florence as system: organized, measured, and consciously composed. Virgo represents the intelligence of order, the ability to translate complexity into clarity. The city reveals its internal logic, where every element participates in a broader design.
Lavender, geranium, and bergamot articulate this precision. Clean, balanced, and sharply defined, the fragrance mirrors Virgo’s clarity and disciplined refinement.
Libra: Piazza Santa Trinita and the Idea of Balance
Olfactory note: orris butter
The statue of Justice atop the column in Piazza Santa Trinita holds the scales as a direct and unmistakable emblem of balance. Libra expresses itself as a continuous act of calibration, never a fixed state of harmony.The figure, elevated and exposed, embodies a condition of permanent adjustment, where equilibrium is not given but maintained through awareness, tension, and responsibility. In this sense, Libra reflects Florence as a political and cultural organism: a city shaped by negotiation, by the need to hold together opposing forces without allowing either to prevail completely. Balance here is not absence of conflict, but its precise orchestration.
Orris butter translates this refined condition into scent. Powdery, elegant, and meticulously measured, it does not impose itself but structures the air with quiet authority. It stabilizes without dominating, sustaining a sense of compositional harmony that feels both delicate and controlled, just like Libra’s equilibrium.
Scorpio: The Uffizi and Hidden Depth
Olfactory note: oud
Scorpio reveals itself in a detail that requires intimacy: the ferronnière worn by Elisabetta Gonzaga in Raphael’s portrait at the Uffizi. It is not immediately visible; it demands a closer gaze, a shift from distance to proximity. This is precisely where Scorpio operates, within the threshold between what is seen and what is sensed. The sign moves Florence away from monumental clarity into a more layered, internal dimension, where meaning is concealed, deferred, and gradually disclosed. It is a city of surfaces that hold depth beneath them, waiting to be read.
Oud captures this intensity with precision. Dark, resinous, and complex, it unfolds slowly on the skin, revealing different facets over time. It resists immediate interpretation, drawing the observer into a deeper engagement. Like Scorpio, it is magnetic and elusive, holding its full meaning just out of reach.
Sagittarius: Loggia dei Lanzi and Directional Force
Olfactory note: incense
In Giambologna’s Hercules and Nessus, housed in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Sagittarius takes form through a composition charged with tension and directional force. The bodies are caught in a moment of dynamic imbalance, suggesting movement that extends beyond the sculpture itself. Sagittarius takes shape through trajectory and movement, an impulse to move outward, explore, and extend beyond the immediate. After Scorpio’s inward pull, this sign reopens Florence, turning it into a space of expansion and forward motion.
Incense mirrors this kinetic quality. It rises, diffuses, and transforms the surrounding air, never remaining fixed. Its movement is its essence: it travels, expands, and subtly alters perception. As with Sagittarius, it carries a sense of direction and openness, inviting a shift toward what lies beyond.
Capricorn: Palazzo Budini Gattai and Structure
Olfactory note: vetiver
Capricorn appears in the frieze of Palazzo Budini Gattai as a Medici emblem tied to Cosimo I, quietly embedded within the architectural surface. It does not demand attention, yet it anchors meaning. Capricorn speaks of long-term construction, discipline, and the strategic shaping of power. It reveals Florence not as a spontaneous masterpiece, but as a city built through control, vision, and sustained effort. Beneath its beauty lies a rigorous structure, a system that holds and organizes.
Vetiver conveys this grounded strength. Dry, earthy, and linear, it establishes a stable base that supports the entire composition, functioning as an olfactory foundation of Capricorn’s endurance, precision, and structural clarity.
Aquarius: Boboli Gardens and Transformation
Olfactory note: ozonic rain accord
In the Boboli Gardens, the figure of Ganymede pouring water embodies Aquarius as a symbol of ideas in motion. The water shifts from physical presence to conceptual flow, representing transformation and the circulation of thought. Aquarius moves Florence away from solidity toward abstraction, opening it to possibility, experimentation, and intellectual freedom, where structure loosens and imagination takes over.
The ozonic rain accord expresses this transition. Airy, diffuse, and almost intangible, it creates a sense of space rather than filling it. It feels atmospheric, like a change in climate rather than a defined presence. This lightness aligns with Aquarius’ visionary nature, where ideas move freely and boundaries dissolve.
Pisces: Fountain of Neptune and Dissolution
Olfactory note: marine salty accord
In the Fountain of Neptune, Pisces emerges within the intricate marine imagery of the god’s chariot, completing the astrological sequence. Pisces dissolves structure and softens boundaries, returning everything to flow. It evokes imagination, depth, and the merging of opposites, where distinctions blur and the city becomes continuous, almost dreamlike. Florence, at this stage, feels like movement and resonance.
The marine salty accord embodies this state of suspension. Soft, expansive, and persistent, it lingers in the air without ever fully settling. It does not conclude the journey but extends it, leaving behind a trace that continues beyond the moment. Like Pisces, it opens rather than closes, allowing the experience to remain fluid and unresolved.
