Palazzo della Banca d'Italia, Renaissance Revival palace in Florence, Italy

Palazzo della Banca d'Italia occupies the site of the former Paradiso de' Pazzi garden between Via dell'Oriuolo and Borgo degli Albizi. Antonio Cipolla designed the main block, built 1865–1869, with an eleven-bay facade on Via dell'Oriuolo. The ground floor is clad in 1,860 square metres of rusticated ashlar, and Giovanni Bastianini carved the decorative sculptures, including pairs of naked children seated on cornucopias beside the Kingdom of Italy coat of arms.

The Banca Nazionale nel Regno d'Italia moved its general direction from Turin to Florence on 3 February 1865, when Florence was capital, and chose this site for its headquarters. The Neapolitan architect Antonio Cipolla designed the building, erected between 1865 and 1869 in a 16th-century Roman Renaissance Revival style meant to convey solidity and austerity. After the capital moved to Rome in 1871, the palace became a regional branch; the Banca d'Italia, formed in 1893, absorbed the Tuscan issuing banks and later acquired the Borgo degli Albizi wing.

The palace stands on the former "Orto" or "Paradiso de' Pazzi", a Pazzi family garden entered through a portal crowned by a shield with the family arms made by Donatello. The street then called Via Buia was widened in 1860-1861 by engineer Federico Gatteschi. The sculptural decoration of the facade, including the pairs of naked children on cornucopias flanking the Kingdom of Italy coat of arms, is by Giovanni Bastianini.

The palace remains an active bank building with limited public access inside. You can see and photograph the exterior facades and architectural details from the street without needing special permission.

The site was once the "Paradiso de' Pazzi", a garden whose entrance portal carried a family coat of arms carved by Donatello. The street then called Via Buia was widened in 1860-1861 by engineer Federico Gatteschi before the bank bought the land.