Couvent de Scolopi

The former Collegio degli Scolopi is a large building in Florence, annexed to the church of San Giovanni degli Scolopi and located between via de 'Martelli, via dei Gori, Piazza San Lorenzo and Borgo San Lorenzo. Formerly the palace of the Martelli family (which gave the street its name), it was the seat of the Jesuit order, designed on a grand scale by Bartolomeo Ammannati, then housed the college of the Piarists and finally, after the suppression of the convents, it became a school. Today most of its rooms are occupied by the Galileo state classical high school, but in one part there is also the Ximenian observatory, with access from the rear Borgo San Lorenzo.