Piazza della Repubblica. The site of the original Roman Forum. This column once marked the main square at the intersection of Via Corso and Via Roma: "the bellybutton of Florence." Sad story though, by the 1500s this this was the center of the Jewish quarter of Florence so in 1571, Cosimo had it walled in and turned it into a ghetto. The arch is from the 1860s and celebrated the reunification of Italy. To celebrate, the walls were taken down. No more ghetto!