Via Chiara _ _ _ First Itinerary From Piazza of Mercato Centrale you can see the houses in Via Chiara, once called Via of the Marmerucole (for marruche a thorny plant used as a hedge, demonstrating how this area was almost in the countryside at one time) which survived the demolitions of 1870. Here we can find the house where Benevenuto Cellini was born on November 1, 1500. He was one of the most important Mannerist artists in Florence and internationally. A real Renaissance man he was a goldsmith, sculptor and author. His fiery character and rebellious nature allowed him to hold his own with Grand Duke Cosimo de' Medici and Francis I, King of France. He himself, in his autobiography, remembers that he was born in "a small house in Via Chiara" which was bought from the monks of Sant'Orsola and "was inherited by his grandfather Andrea". You can still see the house today at number 22; you can recognize it from the bronze epitaph on the door IN THE 4TH CENTURY OF THE BIRTH OF BENVENUTO CELLINI THE FLORENTINE ACADEMY OF ART PLACES THIS PLAQUE NOVEMBER 1 1900