Giunti Odeon Florence

Overview

The Giunti Odeon in Florence is one of Italy’s most extraordinary cinema interiors, combining a Renaissance palazzo shell with an intact Liberty-era auditorium designed in 1922. Housed within the fifteenth-century Palazzo dello Strozzino on Via Sassetti, the building layers six centuries of Florentine cultural life: a Quattrocento courtyard, a Baroque theatrical tradition, a Coppede-era Liberty hall, and, since 2023, a bookshop-cinema hybrid operated by publisher Giunti Editore. The combination makes it a singularly layered heritage venue in the heart of the historic centre.

Architecture

The Palazzo dello Strozzino was built in 1457 as a secondary residence for the powerful Strozzi family, its austere stone facade characteristic of Florentine Quattrocento civic architecture. The cinema hall was inserted into the courtyard structure in 1922 by architects Adolfo Coppede and Marcello Piacentini, who clothed the interior in elaborate Liberty plasterwork: floral column capitals, painted lunettes, ornate friezes, and a richly coffered ceiling. Slender columns originally from the Renaissance courtyard were incorporated as decorative elements within the Liberty scheme, creating an uncanny historical layering.

History

The Palazzo dello Strozzino passed through several aristocratic and institutional hands between the fifteenth and early twentieth centuries. The cinema hall was created in 1922 as the Teatro Savoia, later renamed the Odeon, and served as one of Florence’s principal cinemas through much of the twentieth century. The building fell vacant in the 2000s and underwent a long period of uncertainty before Giunti Editore undertook a careful restoration. The venue reopened in 2023 as Giunti Odeon, combining a cinema programme with a large bookshop occupying the ground-floor rooms facing Via Sassetti.

Interior

The cinema auditorium is the building’s centrepiece, preserving its 1922 Liberty decorative scheme in remarkable completeness. Ornate plasterwork columns with floral capitals frame the screen wall; painted ceiling panels and carved friezes cover every surface. The colour palette of ivory, gold, and terracotta creates an atmosphere of warm theatricality. The bookshop occupies adjacent historic rooms that retain original stone floors, coffered wooden ceilings, and Renaissance architectural details, providing an immersive context for the Giunti collection of art, architecture, and humanities titles.

Visiting

The Giunti Odeon combines a daily cinema programme with bookshop hours, typically 10:00 to 22:00. Cinema tickets can be purchased at the box office or online. The bookshop is freely accessible during opening hours and hosts regular cultural events, author presentations, and themed evenings throughout the year.

Getting There

Via Sassetti 1, 50123 Florence, Tuscany, Italy. Five-minute walk from Santa Maria Novella railway station. Bus C1 stops on Via Tornabuoni one block east. The venue sits just west of Piazza della Repubblica, Florence’s main central square.

In the Area

Piazza della Repubblica with its historic cafes is one block east. The Palazzo Strozzi, housing major international exhibitions, is two minutes south on Via de Tornabuoni. Santa Croce and the Oltrarno neighbourhood are each a 15-minute walk from the venue.