Italy,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Travel galleries

Gallery: street art in Florence

November 15, 2025 / 56 Comments

People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish… but that’s only if it’s done properly.

Banksy, Wall and Piece

Opinion is very much divided on the topic of street art and graffiti. Some dislike it all, regardless of the skill (or lack of it) of the artist. They feel it disfigures a cityscape, rather than enhances it. Others love it for its rebellious nature, again regardless of the skill (or lack of it) of the artist. But many of us, me included, treat it like other art forms and find ourselves liking much of it, disliking some.

Personally I don’t like tagging, especially when done over someone else’s painting. And I don’t like to see artists deface significant or historically important buildings, nor to work in a way that makes an attractive building look less so. I like street art either to be attractive and artistic, and/or to carry a powerful message, and/or to make me smile. In Florence I found all three!

Over the next few weeks I plan to share a series of themed galleries of photos taken on my recent visit to Florence. Some will focus on a particular sight or sights, but most, like this, will be drawn from various locations in the city.

Pasteup

Street poster art is a kind of street art usually handmade or printed graphics on thin paper typically applied to surfaces via wheat paste, wallpaper adhesive or PVA.

Wikipedia

This style of street art, sometimes called pasteup, was among the most common that I came across in the city. I also found some more conventional street art, painted directly on to a wall or other surface. There was plenty of sculpture too; not just the classical pieces we all associate with the city but some more modern or quirky.

Below is a selection of some of my favourite street art finds. Others may crop up in future posts about specific areas of the city, perhaps in a Monday Walk, but I thought it would be fun, and colourful, to bring these all together in one gallery.

I’ve grouped them by style rather than location, but have added the latter to the caption (when I can remember it). Click on any photo to open a captioned slideshow of all.

My featured photo was taken in the Via di Belvedere and seemed the perfect choice to introduce this post which I’m sharing for Natalie’s Public Art challenge

Pasteup / poster art

Paintings

Sculpture

Among my favourite discoveries was a group of sculptures by Andrea Roggi on display in front of the Basilica di San Lorenzo. We later found another version of his Tree of Life tucked away in a back street behind the Uffizi.

I’ll finish with a few random sculptures, none of them classical. Those will follow in a future post (or posts!)

I visited Florence in October/November 2025

56 Comments

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