Former Leopoldine

It is a public space for events created in the premises of a former convent first of the Camaldolese order, then of the Knights Hierosolimitan nuns of San Giovanni in Fieri. The vicissitudes of the complex were varied and manifold, used as a hospital, military depot, until in 1786-1787 Pietro Leopoldo of Habsburg-Lorraine chose it to house the “Royal Free Normal Schools for the poor spinsters of the Santo Spirito district”. These were the Scuole Leopoldine, established for the education of “maidens of low condition”, a destination preserved until 1890.

Since the 1980s, the Municipality of Florence has taken over the much degraded complex, restoring the former convent rooms, creating new accommodation and also public spaces such as halls and rooms for socialising in the district. 
Interesting is the large cloister dedicated in 2007 to Don Danilo Cubattoli, a Florentine priest who spent his life with prison inmates, which despite some restoration work retains a certain charm in its extreme simplicity.