This is the first Renaissance square, a harmonious urban space created for the measure of man which Brunelleschi began building in the early 15th century. It is closed on three sides by round arch porticos.

This structure is thought to be linked with the "Rificolona" festival which is held on the evening of September 7th to commemorate the birth of the Madonna, to whom the square and church are dedicated. Traditionally this was the evening when the farmers came into Florence bearing colourful paper lanterns and then slept under the porticos while waiting for the festival and Mass of the following day. Today children carry these lanterns ("rificolone") among the stalls. The name of these lanterns is thought to come either from the bright dresses of the sellers of dried figs or from the clothes of the farmers all dressed up in their best for the festival.

An equestrian statue of Ferdinando I dei Medici, stands in the centre of the square, the last work of Giambologna and completed by his pupil Pietro Tacca in 1608. The two beautiful fountains in bronze representing sea monsters and recently restored are also by Tacca and his workshop (1629). The brick facade of Palazzo Budini Gattai by Bartolomeo Ammannati (1570 c.), today head office of the Region of Tuscany, stands at the corner of the square with Via dei Servi. At the corner of via della Colonna and the Archeological Museum